Yokohama

[IMG]https://cf.geekdo-static.com/mbs/mb_17587_1.png[/IMG] Yokohama Deluxe Edition

PROMO Yokohama: Achievements & Free Agents Promo (2017) Promos 1&2

Yokohama is a very solid game. It has plenty of options and like all good games of this nature, you never have enough actions or resources to do everything you want to. The choices can feel a little overwhelming at first but once you understand how everything works then it presents an interesting challenge - and the modular board and variable set up means that you probably need to take a slightly different approach each time you play. Very enjoyable

A perfectly acceptable, yet not super memorable euro. Game play is exceedingly smooth. I find it to be similar to Istanbul. I'm not sure which one I like better.

I think this would make a pretty good second entry game for less experienced players. It is straight forward and easy to understand. Though while gameplay is so smooth, it makes me feel a lack of conviction or prolonged interest in the game.

On the border for me if I will keep or not. Leaning off the edge.

Kickstarted - Available [-]March[/-] [-]April[/-] May 2017

Delivered in April!

First 3P game left an excellent first impression on all of us. First off, the rulebook is excellent and the teach was very straightforward. Components are of good quality and even though the board looks like a hot mess at first, once the teach is over and the game gets underway the board state is actually easy to parse.

The core mechanics of seeding assistants, moving the president and getting/building stuff are really satisfying. It's difficult to know where to direct your attention at first as there are so many paths to pursue. It's also very unclear how much time you have left until one of the endgame triggers is looming large. But you always feel like you're making progress. So in essence, a sandboxy game but with the right amount of tension and interaction to make it feel like you're playing against each other and your decisions are important each turn.

It's a bit of a themeless point salad, but there are worse offenders (e.g. Castles of Burgundy). And tbh, themeless point salads are some of my favourite games (e.g. Castles of Burgundy).

In summary, a satisfyingly elegant blend of mechanics with many paths to explore, and a ton of setup variability. I think this will prove to be a favourite.

NIS Kickstarter

Deluxe Kickstarter

Fun but overwhelming at first glance. Istanbul movement.

An interesting game about being a businessman in the early days of the developing city of Yokohama.

The game is a race of sorts, and is kind of like a much more involved game of Istanbul (sort of). You control your main meeple (president/businessman) who travels from title to tile but he can only do this if there is a continuous path of your assistants, which you get to add each turn before moving. Where you end your turn, you do the action at the “power level” or influence that you have on that tile (president, assistants, and your buildings all give one influence); obviously the more influence the better the action, but at the end of your turn you take off all assistants from that activated space, so you influence really ebbs and flows. There is definitely some route planning and also some interactivity with other players as their president blocks you from the space they’re on and you have to pay them to move through them, and money can be tight/important.

Many of the actions involve getting resources (tea, silk, fish, iron, money) which are often used for completing contracts. There are space(s) where you can more contacts, tech cards (which give powers), you can move buildings from your warehouse to your supply, you can ship crates/exports for big points, and you can donate to the church fir points and influence. You want to keep your eye on the three goal cards in the game for bonus points, and you need to watch other players as the end game can be triggered in a variety of ways and can potentially end quickly.

The game plays 2-4 (and it works well at all counts as it has a variable game board layout scaled for the number of players), it has multiple ways to win/play, and it has good variety due to the different board layouts, goal cards, contracts and especially the technology cards. I almost overlooked this before I knew how great of a designer Hisashi Hiyashi is; glad I went for the deluxified version as well as it has great components.

Own the [boardgame=232352]Achievements & Free Agents[/boardgame] promo.