Wave – cooperative card game – review, test and critique

Riding the perfect wave

Wave by Thomas Weber (Kosmos) is a game that is useful after a long strategic game to neutralize or even improve the relationship strained in the previous game round. But be careful, the emphasis here is on working together and the inner quest to win alone should definitely be abandoned. This may mean that the Wave must be run multiple times for it to work together. Some are searching for the meaning of the game while others are already working on a strategy. But one thing is for sure – it’s not a fun game for everyone.

And that’s all there is to it…

Includes six colored cards with values ​​from 0 to 5 (excluding white 0 and dark blue 5), for a total of 34 cards. There’s also a direction card, an overview card, two special cards for swapping colors, two special cards for swapping numbers, and a quick guide.

Wave is a card game in which all players have to work together to get rid of all available cards – similar to a card game United nations -Just together, one by one. In addition, some cards in your hand are only visible to others, not to you. This somewhat unusual way of holding cards and thinking about how to place the drawn card in your hand is a challenge at first.

Help from other players on how to place the cards they’ve picked up is the first interaction in this game. Joint choice of which card to place next.

If everyone can play their hand cards, you win the game. If you follow the rules of the game, it’s a real challenge.

Briefly about the rules of the game

Wave rules are kept to the basics and are understandable to everyone. So it’s no surprise to anyone that it only prints on one page with images. The rules are simple – you can either place a higher number or a higher colour.

Some cards change direction, giving the game a certain headwind. But here too you have to be careful which card is placed. The participant playing alone knows which card in his hand has been revealed to the others. Can he assert himself meaningfully among other players? Can he rely on other players who only know the up cards of the player he is playing? The degree of mutual trust or individual will must be carefully weighed.

By communicating and trusting other players, all cards must be placed in the specified direction. If this succeeds, the wave is won. The game can be changed using special cards.

Conclusion: Is wave fun?

Some are searching for the meaning of the game, while others are already working on a strategy. Why did you choose the name Wave? Maybe because you rode a shared wave to your destination…

The game is simple and can also be successful with a different presentation. Blackjack with luck factor. Interaction is definitely very important in this game and makes the game fun. Best played with four players! You definitely should have played the game yourself once so you could form your own opinion or strategy.