It's one of my favorite board games, probably for the same reason you hate it. What's the reason to play a board game? To give a bunch of people sitting around a table something to do while having a drink and a chat. Bird game is great for that; it's got stuff to talk about and to think about, but it doesn't swallow up the whole conversation like Pandemic would.

The compelling reason to rack up points, if you're playing seriously, is to see if your engine works --- just like Race For The Galaxy, or games like that.

> What's the reason to play a board game? To give a bunch of people sitting around a table something to do while having a drink and a chat.

No, that's one of the reasons.

I agree with on the basegame. It was fun the first few games, becomes kinda boring when you don't play with a large group as the bird cards don't change often. The expansion change the game completely for me, it's more strategic and you're interacting with other player more (i.e. in-between round activation, end of round powers, more steal resource from other players, etc). I personally love that the game play is very fast, as you have limited number of moves every round.

The Oceania expansion with the nectar tokens and new board really let you do more in the game. I would give it another try with the expansions, it's truly a different game.

That sounds great, thanks for the recommendation!