Google "Engine building" and you might get some nice tutorials showing greasy car parts and garages. But I learned a new definition of "engine-building" this year.
The game Wingspan took over our family vacation. Picture this: family members watching YouTube tutorials on how to level-up their strategy; questions over breakfast on when the next game will be.
Wingspan is defined on Wikipedia as "a card-driven, medium-weight, engine-building board game in which players compete to attract birds to their wildlife reserves." It may sound simple, but it's anything but. Wingspan takes Catan to another level. (For the record, I'm inexperienced at both and not big into board games.)
So what's the point?
Engineers create systems to solve problems. The methodology and resources might look different — using a computer, building a bridge, or designing a car to name a few — but the study of engineering is how to apply analytical approaches to problems.
Pluck an engineer from the bunch and there is a high likelihood that person will love solving problems and creating systems. (And that he will be male. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics only 14% of engineers are women.)
Similarly, the game forces players to develop an engine. Tim, from BoardGameGeeks.com wrote of Wingspan: "The engine building [in Wingspan] is that your actions get significantly more powerful over the course of the game." (Thanks, Tim). How you play each turn and where you place your cards have impacts for the rest of the game.
The Game of Life
It struck me how similar this is to life. We create systems to solve the problems we're dealt. We all engineer our lives to the extent that we can, always having to work within constraints.
And depending on how you play your cards, your actions can get significantly more powerful over the course of your life. Actions in the beginning of Wingspan might provide a meager reward. By the end of the game the same exact action could earn enough points to claim a victory. But only if you're engine is well-built and consistent.
Each move, just like each bird card in the game, has special powers and abilities.
It all depends on how you establish your engine. And we're all engine-builders in the game of life.