October 24, 2020 – As part of a 2021 lineup showcase by publisher Grail Games, one point of interest was the Whale Riders board game announcement. They spoke quickly about further details and thanked the backers as this one is fully kicked and has an estimated ship date of April 2021.
The Kickstarter launched in September of this year and was backed by 1,776 backers to raise a total of $89k Australian Dollars (about $63k US). They launched on the platform that this is a game from the designer of Medici and people were digging it.
This is a race, market and hand management game at a medium to high intensity level. David Harding, who made the announcement, had this to say:
“So much to do but so little time. It is a game like Blue Lagoon, Tigris, Yellow & Yangtze, Through The Desert, where there are a few things to do on your turn but only two each turn. What am I going to do, am I going to sail the ice coast, buy something at port, trade… The game ends when players want it to end, when everyone returns back home.”
See The Other Titles Mentioned During This Announcement
- Hibachi / Hibachi: Hot & Spicy (by Marco Teubner)
- Yellow & Yangtze: The Royal Palace / Card Game (Reiner Knizia)
- Medici: Reformation (Reiner Knizia)
- Silicon Valley (Scott Almes)
- Botanic Gardens (Matthew Dunstan & Brett J Gilbert)
- Fjords (Franz-Benno Delonge)
- ChuHan (Tom Lehmann)
- Elevenses: The Guilty Party (David Harding)
Official Game Description:
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.
Title discussed in announcement video [02:57 – 03:44]:
