You are a whale rider. For generations, your people have known and lived with the ice whales and together you’ve bought and traded at the busy ports along the fabled Ice Coast. You are honored to be the latest in your family to sail with the whales — but the ice is thickening and the glaciers are moving. A deep winter is coming, the fiercest for centuries. You decide to ride your mount one final time before the snows come to buy and sell as much as you can…and maybe even collect some precious pearls along the way.
Whale Riders is a new design with a classic feel from game designer Reiner Knizia. In 45 minutes of play, 2-6 players race to the end of the Ice Coast and back, buying and selling as many resources as possible to make the money needed to acquire the richest prizes. Will you skip opportunities to gain the greatest treasure, or will you make your money slowly along the way?
Each player has two actions per turn, but a lot they want to accomplish. Sail? Buy? Sell? Draw more order cards? All the while, your opponents might be sailing past and beating you to what’s on offer down the coast! Once all the precious pearls have been purchased, the game ends and the player with the most pearls wins!
Whale Riders has simple and short rules, but offers a lot of interaction and interesting decisions for players.
Add wind farms to the board to collect energy that can be used to power other actions, such as placing power lines. Move power lines to the main board from your grid board, opening your grid board up and allowing you to collect different contract types and achieve higher income.
Collect contracts from the board in areas where you’ve added power lines. Move these contracts to the grid board on your tableau, and put the transformer from that space on the grid board onto the main board to show ownership of that contract.
Now Available!
Click here to buy Whale Riders on Amazon! You can also get the Whale Riders Card Game. As an Amazon Associate APE Games earns from qualifying purchases.
Board Game
- 2–6 Players
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45 Min Playing Time
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Age: 8+
Card Game
- 2-5 Players
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20 Min Playing Time
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Age: 8+
The Card Game
In Whale Riders: The Card Game, a reimplementation of Reiner Knizia’s classic card game Trendy, you ride alongside others to buy goods along the Ice Coast, sometimes working together with others only to become competitors again when a better proposition comes along.
Designer Bio
Reiner Knizia is one of the world’s most successful and prolific game designers. More than 800 of his games and books have been published worldwide in over 50 languages with sales reaching many millions of copies. His creations have won numerous international awards – including five German Game Prizes, two German Game of the Year Awards, the German Education Game Award, four Austrian Game Awards, two Swiss Game Awards, three French Grand Prix du Jouet, two Spanish Game of the Year Awards, the Italian Game of the Year Award, two Hungarian Game of the Year Awards, three Dutch Game of the Year Awards, three Danish Game of the Year Awards, two Swedish Game of the Year Awards, seven Finnish Game of the Year Awards, the Australian Game of the Year Award, and three Japan Board Game Prizes.
Reiner Knizia is a master of simple game rules that create much fun and enjoyment for people of all ages.
Reiner Knizia has a Master of Science degree from Syracuse University (USA) and a PHD in Mathematics from Ulm University (Germany). After many years abroad, Reiner Knizia now lives in Munich, Germany.
I have been creating artwork in the “traditional” way for more than 25 years. Hand-drawn and painted using pencils, brushes and paint on paper. Proudly upholding the history and heritage of documented, lifelike conventional art. While at the same time developing modern sensitivities and approaches to pictorial storytelling.
I have illustrated children’s books and role-playing games, and my focus these days is on boardgames. I work with numerous game designers and publishers around the world, across multiple genres, including science fiction, adventure, mystery and supernatural, noir fiction and heroic fantasy. Over the years, I’ve added some new strings to my bow, allowing me to create the digital graphic design for many projects on which I have worked.
My knowledge of the publishing world and related technical and functional skills helped me to manage and master each step in the graphic chain. Also, I have discussed and contributed to many projects from an early stage, offering artistic direction and advice, as well as helping to develop game worlds and themes.
Transmitting and sharing are my watchwords.
Will Whale Riders be available at retailers such as Miniature Market and Game Nerdz? If so, do you have an idea of when it will become available?
Yes, Whale Riders will be available through retailers in the US, CA and UK starting in July.
Hello!
What about within the EU…?
Thank you!
No sorry, we’re not licensed to sell Whale Riders outside the US, CA or UK.
Is this available in retail stores now? OR will it available for pre-order from your website?
It’s beginning to be sold into stores right now. I’ll also have it on the website, Amazon, etc. in the next couple weeks.