10 Most Beautiful Board Games

4. Wingspan

Hey, you know who makes reliably trouser-tighteningly beautiful games? Stonemaier Games.

They made Scythe, that’s a pretty game, they made Tapestry, that’s a pretty game, they made Viticulture, the board game for only the fanciest of alcoholics, but to date their visual masterpiece is Wingspan, an engine-building game all about BURBS.

Big burbs, small burbs, some as big as your head, production-wise, it’s dripping with avian charm, from this little birdbox dice tower, to these little egg tokens that I have to constantly remind myself not to eat, to bloody hell lads, this rulebook feels amazing.

No please, don’t leave, I’m serious this rulebook is just the nicest goddamn texture, oh I’ve really lost the plot.

Gameplay-wise it’s quite a solitary experience, building collections of birds that give you the power to buy more birds to get more points, but the artwork totally elevates the gaming experience to a blissful wallowing in nature, plus all the cards have little bird facts. Sold.