Featherweight Fiesta by Gigamic and Hachette Board Games UK is a colourful game for kids age 7+ that combines dexterity with pattern matching. Games last around 20 minutes and takes place over two phases.

The goal is to make the birds on the telegraph wires match the patterns on the selfie cards which award end game points.

Phase 1 is “PERCH AND POSE” and your turn, you can:

1. add a bird from the fence to a telegraph wire; or
2. move a bird from 1 wire to another wire (including pushing other existing ruffled residents along the wire but beware as fallen birds are removed from the game and you might need their preened presence later on!);or
3. grab an egg for spending on extra bird movements later on.

If have a selfie card showing the same configuration as the wires, you get to flip that selfie card over. And you can do that on any player’s turn. You also get to pick another selfie card from the 2/3/4/5 point value decks. But no matter whose turn it is, you can still only complete one per turn.

When all the birds are up on the wires, phase 2: FLY THE NEST begins.

Here, everyone takes a turn to pull down on the tail of any bird in a group of birds on the wire. The goal is to ping the birds off the wire so that only 1 bird remains – if you do it, you get to try and complete one more selfie card (or grab an egg if you have none left to complete!)

Our son really enjoyed Featherweight Fiesta. Phase 1 was easy to understand, and he loved pinging birds in phase 2!It’s a very light game but the goal cards include different size, breed, and colour birds. Pattern matching is an easy mechanism for younger kids to grasp And dexterity is always popular with our wee gamer.

The components are really nice. The wooden telegraph poles attach to the box (which also acts as the fences for Phase 1) and you can tighten or loosen the wires to suit. Tighter wires are intended to make it more challenging as it can be harder to keep the birds on the wires when they are shuffling around or flying away. But we didn’t find any particular tension level overly tricky. The cardboard birds are also super colourful, and their faces make us all laugh!

You can also play Featherweight Fiesta co-operatively. It feels tricker in a way because you can’t take individual selfies and complete cards whenever you want (or can). Completing cards can only be done collectively when a player uses a special smartphone token.

Having tried both co-op and competitive mode, our son’s favourite way to play Featherweight Fiesta is as a competition. But he is happy to play Featherweight Fiesta either way. And with games lasting only 20 minutes, it’s a great one for after tea before his bird-bath routine begins!

This blog was written by Favouritefoe