Our favourite release of 2019, Wingspan, now has its spiritual successor in Mariposas. The resemblance is familial, with that same level of love and detail. But beyond its outer layers, Mairposas, is a very different offering from designer, Elizabeth Hargrave.

Mariposas design is the standard to which all big-budget games should be held up to. A reinforced game-board is a component that gets overlooked, but for board game cafe it’s a great detail. The colours are visually striking, while maintain consistency across-the-board. The same plastic trays from Wingspan are here again to add some organization for packing up. The one area for improvement would be a custom insert for the box.

Mariposas is a game about the migration of monarch butterflies across North America through three seasons - spring, summer & fall. Players begin the game with a single generation 1 butterfly in Mexico. From here there are numerous paths players can take to travel north; acquiring flowers and breeding more butterflies. Each season has its own goal card, offering opportunities for players to gain points. By the end of the fall season, butterflies that have managed to return to Mexico reward players an exponential amount of points.

The cities on the board are randomly assigned a token which can offer players additional things such as life cycle cards and bonus movement cards. Movement is determined by action cards which allow players to split movement among two butterflies, or combine them to move one. Each tile provides flower tokens, which are used to breed additional butterflies.

Mariposas has a very quick turnaround from reading the manual to getting started. The rules and mechanics are straight-forward and accessible. Strategy becomes more apparent as the seasons progress. Much like its predecessor Wingspan, games are often determined by a thin margin of points. This makes every move and decision meaningful, because it can be the difference between winning and losing. The two-player experience did feel a bit empty and more of a solitary experience. A large portion of the board typically goes unexplored with less than 3 players.

It’s difficult not to compare Mariposas and Wingspan because they inherently have a similar feel, despite belonging to very different genres. But on its own merits, Mariposas, is a very good game. There’s just enough room in the skill ceiling to make for meaningful play. It’s not the deepest experience but it makes for a great gateway game, especially for more casual gamers used to the roll-and-move classics of the past. If you know people who love games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne or Settlers of Catan because of the accessibility, I would strongly suggest Mariposas as a great alternative!