Hi Monique and Naveen. It's important to to boost this video as Yokohama is being re-released on August 16th 2024. I know it is for sure in France, but I believe also worldwide. Thank you for all of the great work you do. Your playthroughs and discussions are invaluable. 😊
This is one of my favorite games of all time - I absolutely love this one, there's something so tactically engaging about the way the worker placement and resolution works with setting up the paths, but I've only ever played it at 3 players which I've heard is the sweet spot for this one.
from all the reviewers and how to youtubers, yours is the best explained. concise, interesting, just enough of info to get me interested in the game and decide if i want to buy the game or not. well done.
Really enjoy your shelf of opportunity playthroughs. I'm interested in the new hotness as much as anyone else, but playthroughs of slightly older games are great too.
Your play throughs are incredible! I've been watching more frequently, and I'm digging your level of preview rules vs rules + tactics during play. You also do a great job of reasonable editing for rule checks, extra thinky moments, or whatever. Other folks don't take that extra effort and end up with 2-hr videos when you are typically hitting us with 60-75 minutes for prep, full play, and discussion. Thanks!
@@BeforeYouPlay I've played it at 2, 3, and 4. At 3 and 4 there is definitely more goin on with moving through and paying other people, but even at 2 players where you don't get in each others way as much, I like the planning ahead of what locations you build up assistants on for the stronger actions while still maximizing the current action.
This is in my top 10 games and one that I don't see ever leaving my collection. However it's one that I've played only once at 2p and don't think I'd ever take it from teh shelf for 2 again, not because it sucked, but because some other mid-weight Euros just are more interesting at 2p. The level of interaction, both on board movement, and on getting blocked on church and export boards as well as buying from the technology boards is really high in 3/4 player games, and we've found that once people have played it a couple of times, it really flies and doesn't feel like it runs long at all. Cheers as always for the excellent videos!
I'm so glad ya'll played Yokohama! I know we've been promising ourselves at Strategicon to play this for years. My mind was blown the moment you made a mechanics connection between this and Istanbul, I totally didn't notice that. In terms of replayability, I agree, similar to Istanbul, the game can get samey over time. So that's why I generally bust this game out maybe a few times a year.
Thanks guys! I agree with you totally, kinda samey. We also played at 2p and only once, so take that with a grain of salt. Always a pleasure to watch you play! :)
This is definitely one of our "forever" games - and we did get it when it first came out. I describe this game as a race with several finish lines. We love trying to be first to grab that sweet spot on the Church and Customs board, as well as racing to grab those tasty Import bonus tokens. It really does make you adjust your strategy based on what your opponents are doing, and that just keeps it fresh for us. We recommend this game quite often!
I love playing this game, but with it being "Variable Setup: The Game", it takes forever to actually get started playing. I have the Deluxified version and the presentation, once it gets completely set up, is amazing. But so many games get to the table faster and therefore more often.
I have this game mainly because it is the only heavy game worth it which starts with the letter "Y". Yes, I like to have a heavy game starting with all letters of the alphabet, because that is a thing too. :)
I really like Yokohama. Good at 2p, best at 3p, a little long at 4p. It is less intimidating than it looks and plays very smoothly. My biggest complaint is that the order fulfillment part of the game is it’s least interesting mechanism, but it is what new players tend to focus on, leading to the game ending quickly when the order deck gets exhausted. I actively avoid focusing on filling orders and enjoy the puzzle of how to most efficiently make points elsewhere. I find the variable setup really does change how the game plays out.
Having just played Yokohama for the first time, with 4 players and two of us new, I definitely agree! It probably didn't help that we were playing on BGA and it was difficult to remember to keep expanding the boards that were more involved than simple resource collection, which meant that I basically forgot that they existed for much of the game.
Just got a copy for myself! Was worried I wouldn’t get one because TMG has filed for bankruptcy and I don’t know if the rights for this game have transferred to another company yet. Anyway, thanks for the playthrough! It’s super helpful! 😀
I recommend trying it out on boardgamearena, it really works best with 3 or 4 players, but all in all it's a fun game where the endgame sneaks up on you quicker than you think :)
This is also on my shelf of Opportunity! (I got castles of burgundy off it recently so it went from SHAME!!!! to opportunity 😋). But I'm happy to hear it's pretty simple to pick up, also surprised the playthrough was only an hour. I NEED to play this :)
So glad you played Castles, that game is one that we both REALLY REALLY LOVE! The game is fairly open at 2 players, I've heard at 4 players it can run longer than it needs to.
@@BeforeYouPlay Yes, i've heard that too. That's mainly why it's on that shelf. A while back however they did Yokohama Duel which interested me but I think that KS delivered and I didn't hear anything about it.
It's out of context, but I couldn't help but notice that It's A Wonderful World is on your channel icon.. Just curious, is that your favorite board game of all time?
@@BeforeYouPlay Ils sont trop forts et me répondent en français, trop la classe je vous adore.Je pense que c'est Monique qui a répondu huhuhu, anyway keep on doin' such great rules/technical explanation videos, i'm always impressed by Monique's rate of flow, i can't wait to see what it'll be like with Uwe Rosenberg Agricola's ( i play this game with friends every saturday night ^^ ) Cheers salut salut
Hello. Great channel. Any recommendations for those who hate end game point salad scoring? We get out the calculator and score the many different variety of points we received, the kids run off and stop caring about who won. 10 minutes after the game ends we figure out who won and it feels anti climatic. I like games like Istanbul, El Dorado, Pandemic or Viticulture where you know who won as the game is over, even lighter games like Machi Koro has an immediate winner. Anyway, it’s difficult to find games like this since most designers rely on end game scoring to determine a winner. Just wondering if you have a favorite without it.
Well I'm not them, but I am also someone who particularly likes games with an immediate winner. Inis is my personal favorite for this, but it is an acquired taste. Patchwork is great for two, and while it is a point comparison it is a simple calculation at the end. They did a great playthrough of Watergate recently which fits the bill, but it is also for two players. Coup is great, quick and light. Curious to see if you get any other responses!
@@beorik Thanks so much for the reply and recommendations. I have played Patchwork and I don't mind it's simple scoring. I have wanted to play Watergate. I haven't known much about Inis and didn't know the end game conditions. I have seen it on top ten lists though. Looks like it's not for sale on Amazon right now. I also don't mind scoring as the game goes along, such as in Ticket to Ride, or Tigris and Euphrates/Yellow and Yangtze. I think complicated end game scoring kills the fun of games. It's not the math that bothers me, it's just not fun to figure out a winner that way. Whenever I read a rule book online I go right to the end of game section and see if it's a bunch of end game scoring. Anyway, that's my gripe. Thanks again.
