Birdwood Games

16/05/2025

As we finish working on our next major game - which is looking... incredible - we'll be less active online. If you need a hand or our attention, please email [email protected]. More news soon!

21/03/2025

Thanks Board's Eye View for the review of Dog Park and New Tricks 🐶🐶
Great action view of the game play!

𝗗𝗼𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸 & 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀 (Birdwood Games)

Designed by Jack and Lottie Hazell, Birdwood Games' Dog Park game may look like a canine version of Wingspan (Stonemaier Games), but it's actually much more chilled with hints of Tokaido (Funforge), and a bit of auctioning thrown in as well.

The description starts just like Wingspan: over the course of four rounds, players will gain animal cards and deploy them using resources, trying to score the most points by having the best collection at the end as well as making the most of in-game scoring opportunities and end-game bonuses. However, there is more to it than you might think...

The dogs that players are recruiting and walking are drafted via an auction at the start of each round, with players bidding their 'reputation' (victory points). Shrewd bidding can certainly be advantageous but this element isn't so significant that it should put off people who don't ordinarily like auctioning games. Players should always end up gaining two dogs per round and thus eight by the end of the game, so there's no difference between players in that regard.

Players then choose up to three dogs to take on the walk. The walk is the part that feels like Tokaido, with players vying for spots along the way yielding different rewards, perhaps taking advantage of bonuses that their dogs might provide or focusing on obtaining the resources they'll need for the following round. There are also opportunities to swap dogs in their kennel with dogs in the field, which seems slightly unthematic but can be crucial strategically.

Since dogs don't have an inherent value of their own, players will have to make the most of the end-game scoring bonuses and points that can be picked up during the game. There is a lot to think about, but if players just focus on walking as many of their dogs as they can by collecting the right resources, they won't do too badly. This makes it fairly accessible, but if people choose this game purely for the cute theme and the beautiful artwork from Kate Avery, Holly Exley and Dann May, they may end up overwhelmed if they weren't expecting much complexity.

There are a good number of random setup elements here, with forecast cards adding a rules tweak each round, bonus locations on the walk changing each round, and the value of breed-type majorities changing completely each game. There is also a huge number of dog cards, so there's excellent replayability.

And as if that wasn't enough, there are various expansions, including the main one - New Tricks - which brings in an extra layer of bonus abilities available to each breed by training your dogs. It introduces multi-breed dogs and also enables a fifth player to join in. The added complications of the expansion can be hard to keep track of, so New Tricks adds significantly to the complexity. That will be great for some players but not for everyone.

The solo and two-player rules use an 'auto-walker' which helps the game work well at any player count. If you like light-to-medium weight strategy games with a little bit of engine building that play in about an hour with lots of replayability, you're very likely to enjoy this game. If you like dogs as well, you'll probably love it!

(Review by Matt Young)

28/01/2025

Folded Space has partnered with Birdwood Games to create a full-color insert compatible with Dog Park, including space for the New Tricks, Dogs of the World, European Dogs, and Famous Dogs expansions!
https://bit.ly/FoldedSpaceDogPark

The insert also works with the Collectors Edition version of the game, however the addition of the kennel boards means there will be 13 mm of lid lift when the box is fully loaded.

Folded Space inserts are made from sheets of Evacore - a memory foam made from 75% recycled plastic to which quality printed card is laminated to add rigidity. The card itself has a matte finish to increase durability and to give a strong bond with the PVA glue needed for assembly.

13/12/2024

Four conventions in 2024: DONE! ✅ We rounded off a year of sell-out exhibiting with an appearance at and what a warm and welcoming con it was. We loved getting to meet folks in Philly and play Dog Park and Forever Home. Thank you to all of our team members who have made exhibiting possible this year. We're super excited to share what we have planned in 2025 - stay tuned to our newsletter next year. We wish you a restful holiday season with plenty of games. 🌟
 

05/11/2024

Announcing FS-DOGPARK! 🐕🐾🌳
We are really excited to partner with Birdwood Games on this insert, which holds the base game, New Tricks expansion, as well as the European Dogs, Dogs of the World, and Famous Dogs expansion packs! The design works with both the standard and Collector's Editions, although the extra kennel boards will mean there is some lid lift with the Collector's Edition. The insert uses a green foam, which perfectly fits the theme of the game! We will have more details on our website in the next few weeks, and it will be available around the end of the month!

30/09/2024

Thanks so much to Gamegenic - https://gamegenic.com - for the accessories and sponsoring this episode!Tonight on GameNight! Nikki, Mike, Dave & Lincoln teach...

26/09/2024

We're hitting the road again and bringing our trusty winner's wheel - this time to Spiel Essen in Germany!

We're very excited to be exhibiting at our first SPIEL Essen,Thursday 3rd - Sunday 6th October. With us you'll find:
🟣Limited Collector's Editions of Dog Park and Dog: Park New Tricks
🟣Space to play Forever Home and Dog Park
🟣Our winner's wheel! Everyone who spins wins a guaranteed prize.
🟣Free chocolate!

Come find us on in Hall 4 on stand 4F430. Can't wait to see you there!

22/09/2024

🎉 GIVEAWAY ALERT! 🎉

It’s hard to believe, but Forever Home is already celebrating its FIRST birthday! 🎂 To show our appreciation for your amazing support, we’ve partnered with our friends Board Games with Joe and The Bangers Project to bring you a special giveaway!

We’re giving away 3 copies of Forever Home, and it’s open WORLDWIDE!

To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is go to our Instagram page (link below) and follow the instructions on the giveaway post.

Thank you for an incredible year—good luck to everyone!

https://loom.ly/Kk0MmFY

18/09/2024

Thank you for the amazing review! It's an honour to have our games become some of your family favourites. 🙂

14/09/2024

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate Dog Park's 3rd birthday, we're giving away a standard edition of Dog Park and the expansion Dog Park: New Tricks to one lucky winner.

This competition is open WORLDWIDE! To enter, all you have to do is:
Like this page
And Tag a friend who you'd play with

The comp is open until 19th September at 17:00GMT. Good luck!

12/09/2024

We are happy for Rosie the Lab to review our games any day of the week! 😍

Thanks so much for sharing this gorgeous photo with us!

We love nothing more than seeing pics of you and your best mates enjoying our games. Dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, whatever your pet - make sure to tag us in your photos for a chance to be featured!

10/09/2024

Happy National Hug Your Hound Day! Yes, there’s a special day dedicated to hugging your doggos...not that we need an excuse, but we'll be treating Rupert to a few extra cuddles today! 💕 Who are you dishing hugs out to today?