For several decades during the Viking age, parts of England were occupied by the Norsemen. Under their influence, one of the larger cities turned into a flourishing center of trade and craftsmanship. The Vikings called the city and its surrounding kingdom "Jórvík", which is today known as the city of York.
In the game Jórvík, players assume the roles of Viking jarls. They gather prestige points by trading goods, holding big feasts, funding pillages, commissioning craftsmen and hiring soldiers to defend the city against recurring invasions. The player with the most prestige points wins.
The game is a re-design of Die Speicherstadt (2010). In this game, players acquire cards from a card display through a simple yet brilliant worker placement and bidding mechanism to build up their trading empires. Jórvík includes two versions: A base game that is equivalent to Die Speicherstadt, and an advanced game that equates to Die Speicherstadt including its expansion Kaispeicher.
- intriguing queue-based bidding mechanic
- engine + set collection potential
- may not be as highly regarded as Feld's most acclaimed titles
- Market & resource acquisition with queues
- Bidding/queue-based acquisition in a historical-themed setting
- Structured economic competition
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bidding — Players bid to acquire cards/assets
- queueing — Players place meeples behind cards; the queue determines cost reductions
- Resource management — A balance of money and card acquisition
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- hidden movement games are something that I I'm kind of interested in but I've not really found the one for me
- I love bidding games
- the more people in this queues the more money you have to spend
- this is one of my most anticipated games from last year
- this is basically a game within a game
- it's lightning quick too it only takes around 15 minutes to play
- you can get a three-player game of this done in about an hour
- it's a passion project with some good historical context
References (from this video)
- Tight bidding mechanics with meaningful choices
- Scales well from 3 to 5 players
- Requires careful money management and knowledge of car valuations
- Car auction/bid with strategic planning
- Stefan Feld bid-and-collect bidding game
- Tense, negotiation-driven
- Sperium
- Ra
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Queuing/bidding system — Players place meeples to bid on cars; demand drives price, early bids give first pick
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is one of many games i'm talking about here that i did purchase at the uk games expo
- i think i can give it a 7 out of 10
- it's a very neat game
- it's multiplayer solitaire with a race aspect
- one of the all-time classics
- this is a very well-rounded game