Last updated on January 3rd, 2026 at 06:24 pm
Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze – Board Game Review
Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze is a Board/Strategy game from Dire Wolf Digital LLC, first launched in 12th December 2019.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 46+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze Stand Out
Lead your dynasty to victory in the new digital adaptation of the acclaimed board game!
Found an Empire
Lead your dynasty to victory in the Warring States period of ancient China in the new digital adaptation of the acclaimed board game from Tigris & Euphrates designer Reiner Knizia.
Build & Conquer
Conflict is inevitable as your influence expands. Wage war upon neighboring states to slow their growth, and build spectacular pagodas to increase your own prestige. How will your reign be remembered?
Balance in All Things
Expand your civilization by placing tiles that represent the five facets of a thriving kingdom:
Governors – Keep the peace and quell revolts with a strong civic leadership!
Soldiers – Defend your growing empire — or wage war upon your neighbors!
Farmers – Cultivate the banks of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers!
Traders – Acquire the resources your people need to prosper!
Artisans – Shape the culture of your dynasty and inspire your citizens!
Your legacy will be judged by your weakest category, so a wise leader must maintain harmony to achieve victory!
Praise for the physical board game:
"It's all very strategic as you build kingdoms and decide the best moment to attack. The game is very intense. It's delicious stress." – The Dice Tower
"Yellow & Yangtze is just awesome. Because you're trying to get a balance of all different colors, it's not just a tug-of-war back-and-forth. There's sort of this circular cyle of motion of different colors that people are going for, and it really makes the game super enjoyable. Overall, this game is amazing." – Board Game Geek
"An exceptional thematic work. Yellow & Yangtze condenses many many years of historical upheaval into a gripping hour of satisfying hobby." – PlayerElimination
© 2019 Dire Wolf Digital, under license from Dr. Reiner Knizia.
Yellow & Yangtze © Dr. Reiner Knizia, 2018. All rights reserved.
https://www.knizia.de
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 23rd September 2025
Recent improvements include:
General bug fixes and compatibility updates.
Download & Availability
Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Reiner Knizia Yellow & Yangtze on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Devs, this game is amazing. The best, but its unplayable online. Sometimes, when we go to place a tile, the tile will get stuck in mid air, and basically freezes the whole game until a bot takes us over for taking to long on our turn. And then, so Im forced to quit the game and when we come back, theres no option to join back in. This needs fixing as we havent been able able to complete a single game online.
Theres a lot of great boardgames that have miserable ports to digital. This one is great. Easy to use. Great visuals and music which enhance the game and dont slow it down. If you dont like it, chances are its because you really dont understand how to play. Theres a video walkthrough of this app. Give it a try.
They made this a joy to play. Love the graphics, etc. Can knock out an AI game of three players in fifteen minutes. AI was tough, but now we consistently win about 2/3 of games on hard. Only bug Ive noticed after 30+ games is that when we have two blue tiles and two green tiles and Im wanting to move a monument, it only allows us to destroy a tile (peasant revolt) instead. Havent found a way around it.
We love this straightforward implementation of one of our favorite board games. App is attractive and works well EXCEPT that the tiles are key at the bottom of our screen, which means that half the time we try to slide a tile onto the board, our iPhone thinks Im trying to switch apps. Could the tiles please be placed on the side or something?? Maybe in a corner? Very frustrating.
Played Solo mode thus far. Ive played T&E before (IRL and on the app), but only read up about this game. Knowing about half of how this game works, we were able to jump into a game with little issue. Rules can be referenced in-game, and theyre separated out by category (e.g. Actions, Tiles, Revolt) which is convenient. Also convenient is you can suspend and resume games. AI trounces us even on easy AI difficulty level. Im neutral about this because even though its nice to win, a challenging AI has its own perks. Would like it if we had the ability to pick our own faction, rather than being stuck with the Dragon (and no, its not just b/c the Arrow/Archer faction seems to always win Revolts and Wars. That was our preference in T&E as well). Also, add the option to make score public/open info. Last but not least, why cant we undo the point before we need to select a Pagoda on the board toto steal.
Bugs are making the game borderline unplayable. Constantly freezing during tile or leader placement or not registering that you completed your actions. Having to constantly close and reopen the app to redo the same move over again.
Nothing about this experience is smooth or works well.
They used to be the best company in the digital board game adaptation business. But now they charge you $125 for Dune: Imperium, and dont give you all the components after over 13 months. And support will not respond.
Amazingly polished implementation of a fantastic game. Developers are responsive to bug reports too! Get this game, it is incredible.
We learned how to play through the app and instructions were clear enough that we could hop in but as we play the strategy becomes more and more apparent, good stuff.
Great digital version of the game. So much fun. The Training and Campaign are great ways for new players to learn quickly and efficiently. Glad that it has full casual asynchronous play (3 day limit) as most digital board games do not.
Game is great but when playing multiplayer right now the app isnt alerting us or our buddies that its our turn. Its making the game unplayable asynchronously. Will adjust scores when its working correctly.
Undo feature sometimes fails when first move is placing a governorneed to force quit to make turn work.
Patch took care of the worst bugs. THANKS! Found one bug though. During multiplayer game, all Leaders on board have our seal, HOWEVER, two are opponents. Thankfully the swirl around our leaders are still there, so we know which are which. Hope to see the fix as quick as last time.
Yellow and Yangtze is a great board game, but this app suffers from over production. We found the 3D effects interfered with our ability to assess the board and plan our moves. The animations were annoying. Please consider adding a vanilla option with 2D board and no sounds/animation. This game is too busy; keep it simple.
We want to like this game, but as a new player we find the AI just, relentless. Playing three-person against the computer, the Arrow player always has a copious supply of governors, making it easy for it to overtake everyone else. Like, every single time we play. Am we missing some strategic element, or is the game just that difficult? We mean, we find the game unplayable currently. Arrow cleans us out in like, three moves. Every time, in every mode AI mode.
This game is a Blast! So much fun. We love the combination of abstract game, with subtle strategy needed to win(& which fits the China theme so well). The basic concepts are simple, but winning takes some thinking. The graphics and sound are fantastic. Dire Wolf does it again and we have to say, for us this is even better than Raiders of the North (which is also fantastic!) The Only thing we can say Id like fixed is to have the ability to hide the banner with scenario goal at top right which takes up valuable real estate.
Tip top. Great app. Keep up the good work.
We loathe Knizia's decision to keep scoring hidden. Many feel similarly, which is why the T&E app has it as an option. The game just isn't as fun without that info so we're docking the review quite a bit. 5 stars if they add that option and a log.
After the logo fades away, the app stays on the black screen and wont load to the main menu.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.18.7
- Size: 162.58 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE, IT, ES
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: Dire Wolf Digital LLC
Last updated: 23rd September 2025 | Genre: Board, Strategy | Developer: Dire Wolf Digital LLC