Other busy gamers will relate to this: Although Mariposas has been in our possession for a couple of years, we just got around to opening it and playing it a couple of weeks ago. Read our review below the game details to see if this game might be a good match for you.
| Player Count | 2-5 | Age Range | 14 and up |
| Time to Play | ~45-75 minutes (official) ~60-90 minutes (IRL) | Setup Time | ~5 minutes |
| Mechanics | Movement, Set Collection, Resource Gathering, End of Game Bonus | Vibe | Summery, family-friendly; conservation theme weighs heavy on the mind |
| Designer/ Developer | Elizabeth Hargrave | Publisher | Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) |
| Illustrator | Indi Maverick | Graphic Designer | Matt Paquette Co |
| Table Space Needed | ~32” x 32” for 2 players; ~40” x 48” for 3-5 players | # of Cats Fit in Box Lid | 1 Cat |
| Component/ Production Quality | Low | Rule Book Quality | High |
| Box Quality | Medium | Storage Design | Medium |
| Theme Quality | High | Graphic Design Quality | High |
| Interactivity Level | Medium | Hostility Factor | Low |
| Complexity/ Strategy | Medium | Replayability | Medium |
| Originality | 9 | BGM Rating/ Recommendation | 7/ Recommended |
Game Objective
Get as many mariposas (monarch butterflies) back to Michoacán as possible after the breeding season across North America.
Win Condition
Achieve the most points by the end of the last season by achieving goals on season cards; collecting life cycle cards and life cycle ability tokens; and moving mariposas to Michoacán.
Playing and Fun Factor
The primary goal of the game is ostensibly to get as many mariposas (monarch butterflies) back to Michoacán as possible. In reality though, the best way(s) to score points might not necessarily be prioritizing the southern migration of your mariposas, but rather to flit about the board achieving other goals as they turn up: collecting sets of pupae, caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterfly cards (“life cycle waystation cards”) from waystations; collecting bonus movement cards from waystations; achieving in-season card goals, which range from getting points for breeding that occurs north of a certain city on the board, to points for ending a season with butterflies in various regions of the board, to points for sets of flowers, and so on.
This is a game of high opportunity costs, and after our first play, each of us only successfully got two of our 9 mariposas back to Michoacán. One of us got 35 points, and the other 48 points (the score track ends at 50). Achieving auxiliary goals seemed to provide as much if not more scoring benefit than bringing mariposas back south. Would getting more mariposas back south be more psychologically satisfying than simply chasing points? I think it might be, personally.
The conservation message from the game designer at the end of the rulebook added a bit of gravity to the game, while also providing motivation – a sense of responsibility, even – to try to get my butterflies back south, darn it, even though my success or failure in the game has no bearing on the success or failure of monarch butterflies in real life. Though I enjoyed the game, I felt a little deflated at the end because of how few mariposas made it “home,” regardless of how our final scores turned out. I would like to play the game again with a different approach to breeding and positioning of my mariposas in later rounds to see how many I could bring back south, even if it requires foregoing the plethora of extraneous goals that are available.
Let’s talk about the map on the board. It’s neat, and weird, and compelling, but: I wasn’t super down with the seemingly arbitrary nature of the “region” definitions (places on the board map distinguished by different colors), especially since they created visual confusion when trying to determine which hex spaces were to the right of a city. Some yellow region spaces would be to the right, and some would not; and some would be above it, and some would not, etc. Since such definitions matter for scoring points, squinting to see which hexes lined up with a city, while trying to ignore the color, was a task of surprisingly high cognitive load. But, the arbitrariness of the regions actually did remind me of butterflies, which are so associated with randomness that the “Butterfly Effect” is named for them.
After my first playthrough, I can see several possible strategic approaches to the game. Unlike some games that are mostly probabilistic, or that present clear patterns to follow from the first play, Mariposas was a total mystery to me at first despite the number of total turns being known to all players from the beginning. Games that reveal strategies over time rather than being obvious up front can create a “slow brain burn” and a desire to dig in and learn more by playing more. I don’t know that it will have infinite replayability, but there is definitely enough depth to make me want more.
Theme
Mariposas is dripping with theme. It’s a quite unique game that has a strong mood, or maybe ambiance, during play. The chaotic movement, the bizarrely proportioned map, the randomness of board “regions,” and even the fact that many butterflies don’t make it back south felt thematic. Butterflies breeding near milkweed (the only plant that monarch caterpillars can eat, the rulebook tells us) was a nice touch. Stopping at feeding “waystations” to collect goodies and additional movement is also intuitive. The game creators consulted with actual entomologists when creating the game, resulting in attention to detail that manifests throughout the game.
Game Art, Visual Design, and Production Value
The game is very aesthetically pleasing. The spring/ summer colors pop right off the dark gray background of the board and the rulebook. Negative space is used to good effect. I appreciated the thematic visual touches, like the random curve of the scoring track, and the non-aligned positioning of the season goal placeholders that evoke the pattern of butterflies in flight.
Iconography is fairly simple to comprehend, though I did have to reference several items in the rulebook. Kudos to the rulebook designers, who included a quick-glance visual reference for all the symbols.
The box is typical game box size for easy shelf storage and printed with a matte linen finish. The box insert was unimpressive though sufficient.
Component quality was lacking. One of the included plastic storage containers was missing a lid when we opened the box. Another had a warped lid, such that it won’t close properly and risks spillage of tokens in the box. The flower tokens were mis-printed so that the flowers were cut off on the edge. Worst of all, the main game board is extremely delicate. It ripped after only about the second opening and it feels like one of those boards that’s going to rip more with each open.
Rulebook, on the other hand, was very nice. Glossy, high-quality paper, large imagery, simple instructions and turn examples, lots of whitespace for readability and beautiful design featuring repeated motifs of “flying” butterflies and whimsical heading type to mimic their playful style of flight. Visually speaking, the rulebook blends seamlessly with the rest of the game (board, box cover, cards, tokens, die).
Conclusion
All in all, this game was interesting, thematic, and unique, but not as compelling as Elizabeth Hargrave’s most famous blockbuster board game, Wingspan. Of course, Wingspan is a high bar to clear; between its relaxing nature and relatively quick play time, Wingspan is easy to get to the table. It’s possible that we’ve played Wingspan more often than any other single game so the comparison might be unfair, but it’s a natural comparison since Wingspan shares the same lead game designer.
I would recommend Mariposas, especially to anyone who is looking for something “a little different.” We’ll definitely play again. It’s a unique game that feels like summer – maybe that’s why we opened it in mid-June, when anticipation of summer was most potent!
