By Sean Winningham

on November 6, 2023

DISCLAIMER: The Op Games sent me a free copy of “The Perfect Wave”. However, they did not pay me for this review.

Earlier at GenCon this year, I had a chance to talk to The Op Games about the games they debuted. Their area had a lot of excitement and buzz regarding their games, including the ocean-themed hand management game, The Perfect Wave.

Check out my interview with The Op Games here

Here is the official description of The Perfect Wave by The Op Games:

Catch The Perfect Wave in this gratifying light strategy card game. Collect Wave cards to construct a sequence, earning points for runs and sets of numbers. Play Trick cards to show off and score bonuses. Paddle out, plan the best combo of moves, and create the ultimate surfing memory!

GAME INFORMATION

Players: 2-4
Play Time: 30 – 60 minutes
Ages: 8+
Mechanism: Hand Management
Genre: Beach, Ocean, Vacation, Relaxed
Designer(s): Jason Mowery, Chase Williams
Artist(s): Patrick Spaziante
Publisher: The Op Games
Year Of Release: 2023

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

Check out the unboxing video I made for The Perfect Wave, where I show off the contents inside when you get “The Perfect Wave” game.

REVIEW

How It’s Played

The Perfect Wave is a card/hand management game where you are trying to score the most Victory Points (VP) by the end of the game. The way you can score victory points are

the size of your wave
Getting a set (i.e. multiple cards with the same number wave) and/or run (i.e. a straight) in your wave
Scoring tricks
Meeting public and private goals

As you build up your hand with a series of wave cards and maneuver cards, you play them on your player board and use turns to advance your surfer to try to get out to the ocean as far out as possible (strategically – once you pass a spot, you can’t play a card behind the surfer). You also work with the wave cards that you have, so as you are planning a strategy for trying to get a large wave with a set or run, you may need to adapt your strategy after seeing that cards get replaced and may no longer be an option for you to get your wave built. There are multiple ways to score but you will need to dedicate where your focus and energy will be in how you are going to score those points.

Once the maneuver deck has depleted, the game ends and everyone reveals their wave and trick cards on their board. The player with the most victory points wins.

The Playing Experience

I played this game with my wife, and overall we had fun playing this. It is different than the usual games we’ve played. My wife loves going to the beach so she was already a fan of the theme.

It was a bit of a struggle starting this game, and for something that felt like should have been straightforward and simple, it ended up being a lot more complex than I was expecting. It took me a few times to read through the rules to understand how the game is played. Once we started to play, there were a few circumstances that made us re-think if we read the rules correctly and if we were playing it the right way. At one point, I had to tap into online forums and Discord servers to try to get clarification on how the end of the game gets triggered because of the way the instructions were worded.

We both came up with a strategy on how we were going to achieve the wave we wanted, but as we went through the wave and maneuver deck, we had to adapt to what was available to us pretty quickly. Although the game running time said 30-60 minutes, the game went a lot quicker than that for us. With the given rules, you burn through the wave and maneuver deck pretty quickly so by the time you had a strategy figured out with what you have, the game was almost over. My wife also pointed out that it was hard to come up with a strategy at first because the rules didn’t mention how high the wave numbers go in the wave deck (it’s 12, by the way).

The scoring feature of the game is a lot of fun but also confusing at times. I enjoyed how there are a number of ways that someone can score victory points in the game so it gives you some choices on how you want to play your cards to get those points. But some of the scoring contingencies got confusing really quickly because there were a lot of conditionals you had to work with, especially with the goal cards. I finally realized that if a goal card was superlative in nature (e.g. “most”, “least”, “highest”, etc.), then that would affect all players, whereas the others would just be a single player. But again, it was a lot of work for something that felt like should have been straightforward.

That being said, I think this game is a lot of fun after you play through it a few times to understand the rules and the nature of the game. I can see this game having house rules to adjust for the player experience. If you are playing the game for the first time, just make sure you’re playing it with someone who knows how to play.

Artwork

The artwork for the game is really spot on. The coloring of the cards really gave that ambiance of the beach/ocean theme, and I love how the boards also reflected this relaxed feeling of being at the beach. Even the materials of the rulebook gave off that beachy/earthy feeling when you flipped through the pages. The imagery of the ocean and the horizon was absolutely gorgeous, and the font used gave off a real surfer vibe to it as well. The art was definitely the highlight of the game for me – I could just look at it for a long time and really enjoy it!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, The Perfect Wave is a really fun game once you’ve played through it a few times and get a better feel for the rules and gameplay. It’s not an easy one to start, so make sure you’re learning with someone who has played the game or at your local gaming store. But once you get the hang of the game, it’s one that you and your family will more than likely play again, especially if you are near a beach (or just want to mentally be there).