Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Grab your board, paddle out, and try to put together the most impressive sequence of tricks on some of the most iconic waves in the world. Show your skills better than your rivals, and you’ll ride the perfect wave to victory!
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Drafting
Choose actions from a shared supply before opponents can claim them.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Hidden Victory Points
Some scores remain concealed until a reveal or the end of the game.
End Game Bonuses
Earn additional points for meeting conditions evaluated when the game ends.
Read the full game description
Grab your board, paddle out, and try to put together the most impressive sequence of tricks on some of the most iconic waves in the world. Show your skills better than your rivals, and you’ll ride the perfect wave to victory! The Perfect Wave presents a very fun and unique challenge. You’ll need to successfully create a wave by drafting Wave cards to construct a sequence, earning points for runs and sets of numbers. Play Trick cards to show off and score bonuses. But you’ll also need to simultaneously focus on paddling far enough out in the water to actually catch, surf, and score the very wave you're creating! And here’s the twist...the more time spent creating your wave, the less you’ll be able to paddle out...and the more you paddle out, the trickier it becomes to create your wave! You’ll need careful planning and expert timing to balance these goals and win the game! The Perfect Wave was the winner of the 2021 Cardboard Edison Award.