Mariposas

Quick Takes: 2-5 players  45-75 minutes Ages 10+ Level 1 (easy to learn, easy to play and FUN!)

By the famed board game designer, Elizabeth Hargave (behind Wingspan), Mariposas is her next big box game, recently released in 2020.  Simpler and lighter weight than Wingspan, the theme behind mariposas is the seasonal migrations of beautiful monarch butterflies across the eastern US and Mexico. Fun fact on the theme: every spring, millions of monarch butterflies leave Mexico to spread out across eastern North America. Every fall, millions fly back to Mexico. However, no single butterfly ever makes the round trip.

As a player, you represent a group of monarch butterflies over the course of three seasons. Your group will move across the map using movement cards. As they travel, you will collect blossom tokens which will enable the butterflies to breed when they are next to a milkweed. Timing your breeding is important to make sure you can get the right amount of butterflies to the right areas on the board at the end of each season, in order to meet the objectives on that season’s scorecard.

Waystations (special preservation areas in major cities) provide another source of points. Landing on a waystation grants a life-cycle card or bonus card or flower which adds to your total points at the end. After the three seasons, the player whose butterfly group has amassed the most points wins.