The Insectarium board game could do for insects what Wingspan did for birds

A new insect-themed board game could do for bugs what Wingspan did for birds.

Insectarium is an upcoming board game in which players create their own board of insect species to display in the exhibit hall of the large Insectarium or in a zoo that features a collection of insects. Similar to 2019’s Wingspan, Insectarium features various illustrations of the natural world (in this case, of specimens that players have gathered during their insect hunts) created by artist Meg Lemieur, who has previously illustrated for Defenders of the Wild and Corvids.

To create their insect exhibits, players will gather and use their equipment, as well as the tools they need to organize and attach the specimens they collect to their exhibits. On their turn, a player must choose a card and a token from the shared pool, before selecting an insect specimen to attach to their board. Players can use their equipment tokens to activate certain abilities that will help them with their exhibits.

Watch on YouTube

The more carefully thought out the arrangement of the specimens, the better, as players can earn bonuses and points based on certain categories. The player who scores the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Insectarium was designed by Kristen Mott, a designer who has previously created other board games themed around cataloging aspects of the natural world, including Dinosaur Exhibit, Sharks, and Clownfish Cove.

Insectarium will be published by Snowbright Studios, a company whose previous titles include Birds of a Feather: Western North America, a board game about birdwatching along the West Coast of North America, and Harvest Hoppers, a board game about racing to deliver fresh vegetables to the citizens of a fictional town. This new board game from Snowbright will be produced under the company’s co-production program, which reportedly grants a 50/50 revenue split between the studio and Insectarium’s creator.

A crowdfunding campaign for Insectarium will be launched on Kickstarter sometime this year.