Summary
👥 A game for 2 to 4 players
⏳ Play time is 45 – 90 minutes
🏢 Publisher is Synapses Games
Introduction
Until 1859, Yokohama was just a fishing village, but after the harbor opened at the beginning of the Meiji era, it became a gateway to foreign countries and one of the leading trade cities of Japan. As a result, many Japanese products such as copper, tea, and raw silk were collected in Yokohama for export to other countries. At the same time, the city started to incorporate foreign technology and culture, with even the streets becoming more modernized. In the shadow of this development was the presence of many Yokohama merchants.
Become a merchant in the Meiji period, trying to gain fame from a successful business. To do so, players need to build a store, broaden their sales channels, learn a variety of techniques, and, of course, respond to trade orders from abroad.
So come to Yokohama, start your business, and try to roam the streets!
Let’s get in on the table
Depending on the player count, sort the area board.
Shuffle them and play these as one of the indicated setup samples related to the player count.
Shuffle the 5 Power tokens and place them on each area face up, on the five spots.
Then create the common supply of the following components:
– Money
– Trade Goods tokens
– Import Goods tokens
– Foreign Agent tokens
– Station tokens
All players choose a color and receive the components related to that color.
The first player will start with ¥3, and all other players will start with ¥4.
The player who visited a port recently will be the starting player. (Tough job when you all work at the port of Rotterdam 😜)
Divide the Achievement tiles into stacks A, B, and C. Shuffle each deck and pick one of each, placing them near the play area.
Shuffle the technology cards and fill the Laboratory Management board.
Sort the Order cards, remove a quantity of cards related to the player count, and shuffle the deck. Then, fill the spaces on the Port Management board. After that, each player takes two orders and keeps one.
Easy, right? Now we’re ready to start a game of Yokohama
Let’s play
Players will play several rounds in turns with the following phases:
Phase A: Additional action phase. Now players can start their turn by using a Foreign Agent, completing Achievement tiles, and/or completing Order cards.
Phase B: Main action phase, which includes the following steps:
1. Place assistants: two in one area or three in three different areas.
2. Move your President. The President can move to adjacent areas that contain at least one of your assistants, or you can pick up your President and take it into your hand. This means you can place it in your next turn directly into an area that contains at least one of your assistants.
A nice touch is that when your President crosses an area where another player’s President is standing, you will need to pay them ¥1. It may not seem like much, but when you play a four-player game, it can mean your turn will end sooner than expected. If you can’t pay, you can’t move further, and you may end up taking an action in an area that was not part of your plan. 😉
3. Area Action Step: Perform the action in the area where you end with your President. Related to the total value of your power, that dedicated action will take place. More on this later in the review.
4. 5-Power Bonus Step: This will only be relevant when a player has an action with a five-power action. When there is still a 5-Power token on that spot in that area, the player will achieve this tile and the bonus on it. When this power token is no longer in the area, then players can build.
5. Shop and Trading House Construction Step: This action is optional when a player uses a four or five-power action. They can now build a Shop or Trading House in this area. These buildings do need to be in a player’s “hand.” Each area can have one Shop from one player, which means that there could be one Shop placed by several players.
However, each area has only one spot for a Trading House, which can be from the same player that already has a Shop.
6. Recovery Step, during this phase, all assistants need to return to the player’s hand from the area where the action has taken place.
C. Additional Action Phase: Again, players can end their turn by using a Foreign Agent, completing Achievement tiles, and/or completing Order cards.
So getting back to the areas, each area will have its own specialty. Areas like Copper Mine, Fishing, Silk Mill, and Tea are places where players can gather the goods that can be used to trade during the game.
The laboratory is the area where players can achieve technology cards. These grant immediate benefits during the rest of the game. At the church, power can be traded for faith, which leads to a spot at the church. This will provide some immediate benefits as well as victory points (VPs). This area and the customs area, where you can also trade your way into the customs management board, are ways to end the game, as discussed earlier. When the player count is three or more, the canal and Chinatown will be part of the main board, which gives an extra kick to keep the game running.
Also important for getting some extra VP’s are the achievement tiles, which are available to all players. When a player is the first one to claim an achievement, they will receive the most VP; subsequent players will receive fewer VP’s when they achieve it. The final way of getting VP and other benefits is to complete an order. Orders can be found in the port area. When a player has the correct amount of goods, the order can be completed. All cards, whether technology or orders, have a country symbol on them. At the end of the game, if a player has a diversity of countries, this will grant extra VP during endgame scoring.
And when the endgame conditions are met, final scoring will take place.
The Game Ends
The game ends when any of the following conditions are met:
• Any player has built all four of their Trading Houses.
• Any player has built all eight of their Shops.
• When replenishing Order cards, there are not enough cards to fill all empty spaces on a Port Management board.
• Related to the player count, there is a certain number of Assistants on the Church Management board.
• Related to the player count, there is a certain number of Assistants on the Customs Management board.
Finish playing out the round, ending with the player last in turn order. Then, play one final round. After this, the game ends with the final score calculation.
Conclusie & eindscore
Difficulty: 3.29/ 5
Re-playability: 7
Our score: 8 out of 10 dice
My first thought of Yokohama was, “Great artwork,” which already gives a good vibe. But after reading the rulebook, which is quite small for the looks of the game, I already got a butterfly feeling. Sometimes when that happens, on the nights the game is set to be played, I need to avoid the overkill. So, that’s what we did: self-preservation 😉.
After a few games of Yokohama, it lived up to not only my expectations but also all players’ expectations. It’s nicely balanced in terms of time versus actions, and for all players, there’s no haste in really keeping track of time. Also, fun is the small amount you need to pay each other during the game, enough to pay attention to each other or get in the way for a small fee.
What we both like is when the publisher also cares a bit more about the players and the meaning of the insert that is in the game. Very nicely done, and it all fits very well in the box. Also, the quality of the cardboard used is okay, although the punching did require some extra attention. The ways to gather points toward your victory are also varied, which adds a fun twist to applying your strategy. I like the country icons in the game and what they can do during end scoring, or to get an foreign agent which can be achieved with a country icon combo. These small, nice game twists keep the game engaging.
As for player count, yes, with three players, you’ll get the best experience that Yokohama can offer. However, even with two players, it provides a lot of fun with the small adjustments that need to be made. And yes, it’s full throttle in a four-player game.
If you aren’t familiar with Yokohama, it’s a must-have in your game collection. It’s easy to set up, fast to learn for this type of game, and fun the whole evening. So, grab your luggage and travel to Japan to become the best merchant of Yokohama! 😁
Thanks to Synapses Games for this review copy and the opportunity to write about this game.
