Wingspan has been a breakout success for designer Elizabeth Hargrave and publisher Stonemaier Games. The original game featured birds from North and South America and its success meant it was almost inevitable that we'd see expansions covering birds from Europe, Asia and Oceania.
The ornithological theme and beautiful art contributed much to the appeal of Wingspan. The game's success also made it probably the most 'pimped out' game since Terraforming Mars (FryxGames/Stronghold Games): Etsy is packed, for example, with 3D-printed pieces that you can substitute for the cardboard tokens in the original game. Inspired by the art in Wingspan, fans were soon producing their own. Some publishers might've called up their lawyers and issued 'cease & desist' notices but not Stonemaier Games; quite the reverse, they fully embraced the contributions of fans and invited them to send in more. This Fan Art Pack is the result.
Let's be clear, this is not an expansion: there are no new rules or mechanics. All the birds depicted on each of the 255 cards in the box are the same as those in the various sets in which they originally appeared and with identical text and icons. All that's different is the artwork: 255 alternative designs in a wide variety of styles from photorealistic to cartoon, with even some sculpted and knitted representations. If you want to play with some or all of the fan art cards, you just add them into the relevant decks in place of their original counterparts.
Think of the Wingspan Fan Art Pack then as a continued celebration of Wingspan and the fandom it has generated in the five years since it first flew over the horizon. And let's thank Stonemaier Games too for recognising the contribution of fandom to the success of a game that has even succeeded in making the transition to mainstream recognition. In 2022, Wingspan even got a mention in the long-running British TV soap Coronation Street - a very welcome but surprising change from the mainstream TV norm of framing every board game reference around Monopoly.