Board game about saving endangered Asian birds as they migrate, produced by Singapore creative agency, is fun and promotes conservation efforts, players say

Fly-A-Way is the world’s first board game to feature migratory Asian birds; players take up conservationist roles and work together to save them

To win they must safely shepherd species to their destination on a route from Russia to Australia, determined by the hazard and conservation cards they pick up

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Fly-A-Way is the first and only board game in the world centered around Asian birds and their migration. Photo: Playlogue Creations

Published: 3:15pm, 28 Oct 2021Updated: 3:22pm, 2 Nov 2021

The fairy pitta is in trouble – she has flown into a window. The board game players can only hope to draw a card that takes her to a forested patch to set her on her way again. Meanwhile, the imperial eagle is soaring ahead: a card representing reforestation has helped him along the way.

In Fly-A-Way, the world’s first board game to feature Asian birds, the players act as conservationists who work together to save the bird species that migrate annually along the cross-continental East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF).

There are nine flyways in the world and this one, running from Russia in the north, across Asia, and on to Australia in the south, is said to be the most used – a route for nearly 400 land bird species. Hong Kong’s Mai Po marshes and Inner Deep Bay is an important site along the flyway, with over 80,000 birds wintering in its marshes and wetlands.

Fly-A-Way, created from an idea born during the coronavirus pandemic by the bird-obsessed team at Playlogue Creations based in Singapore, was launched in August 2021.

The Fly-A-Way board game. Photo: Playlogue Creations

“The first step was to find the right mechanics to fit all the information we wanted to include, like the events – good or bad – the birds face during their journeys, the map to depict the flyway, and the bird species,” says Lynette Lee, Playlogue’s co-head of projects.