| 👨👩👧👦 | Players: 2-4 |
| ⏳ | Time: 25 minutes |
| 🎂 | Ages: 10+ |
| ⚙️ | Mechanisms: Cooperative, communication limits |
I love small portable games, and I’m a huge fan of co-ops, so you can imagine how excited I was when I discovered Wave from Kosmos ticked both those boxes.
Will you be able to ride the perfect wave?
In this surfing-themed game, you work together to try to play all the cards from the deck to “ride the perfect wave”… However, each time you play a card, the value must always increase! Let me explain.
The deck has cards in 6 colours, and numerical values 0-5. Colours have different values. A card shows players the order of the colour values (eg. yellow is higher than white). Cards can only be played if the numerical value or colour value is higher than the previous card.
That seems okay. Right? Well, there’s more! In the centre of the table is a ‘direction of play’ card. Some cards cause this card to be flipped and the direction of play reverses immediately… Just when you thought you had everything planned out!
Don’t get comfy yet, this is where it really gets tricky! Players are initially dealt 3 cards facing them, and 2 cards facing away.
Game set-up is simple, but playing can be trickier than it looks!
“But Rhi, how do I play a card if I can’t see what’s on it?” Well, it’s a co-op game! Players can share information about other player’s cards. However, they can’t discuss numerical or colour values. Players can only suggest “good” card(s) to play and may point to specific cards. Finally, when drawing a new card, you hold it opposite to the card you just placed (e.g. you placed a card that was facing you, so you draw a new one facing away).
And that’s how to play! But what is it really like?
It’s an anxiety-inducing brain burner that’s so satisfying. It lulls you into a false sense of security until you suddenly realise you can’t play any more cards. I’m looking forward to adding the variant cards to increase the difficulty once I master the standard game.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the theme come through, but that didn’t decrease my enjoyment. It felt similar to Hanabi and The Game, with a unique twist. Overall, it’s fast to teach and set up, and it’s fun, making Wave perfect to pop in my bag for impromptu gaming opportunities.
You can see this post on Instagram here. For further information about Wave, check out the publisher’s website.
The copy of Wave used for this review was provided to Board All The Time by VR Distribution.
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