Yokohama, originally released in 2016, has become a classic and remains one of our all-time favorites. After the unfortunate closure of TMG, the original publisher, this game’s future, among many others, seemed uncertain. However, Synapses Games announced a new edition last year which has recently become available. Let’s take a look at what’s new in this edition.

New Artwork and Board Design

The standout feature of this edition is its beautiful and vibrant artwork. While the original edition’s artwork felt bland and lifeless, the new version elevates it to a new level. The boards, location tiles, and cards feature gorgeous illustrations and vivid colors, creating a more pleasant table presence.

More importantly, the main board has been redesigned. Each location now has a randomized building tile underneath it, rather than using cards. This new approach takes up more table space but results in better organization. Presidents, assistants, and buildings now have more room on location and building tiles and are no longer crammed into small spaces.

Dual-Layered Boards

Dual-layered boards are one of the best innovations in board games, and this edition of Yokohama fully embraces that. Every board designed to hold components in place, including player boards, building tiles, church and customs tiles, and objective tiles, is either recessed or dual-layered. This helps to keep everything tidy and organized, enhancing the overall experience.

Additionally, there’s no longer a central board for tracking scores. Instead, players now track their scores on two separate tracks on their individual boards. Player aids have also been improved and are now large, detailed cards instead of being printed directly on the boards.

New Meeples and Wooden Tokens

In this new edition, shops and trading houses are now wooden tokens instead of cardboard ones. Also, assistants are represented by meeples instead of cubes, and presidents are upgraded to screen-printed meeples—clear upgrades from the original edition. However, it’s worth mentioning that the assistant meeples are quite small and a bit tricky to handle. Additionally, in our copy, the yellow assistant meeples were noticeably different in size, which could be an isolated issue or a sign of quality control problems.

Resource Trays

The box includes two removable trays with lids to store coins and resource tokens, an excellent addition that simplifies setup and teardown while keeping everything organized on the table. However, it would have been even better if there was an additional compartment for other tokens, like foreign agents and expansion pieces. Some of the resource compartments are larger than necessary, so we ended up fitting all coins into three compartments instead of four, freeing up space for the extra tokens.

Two Mini Expansions

This edition also includes two mini-expansions that were originally released as promos: Achievement Reward Tokens and Free Agent 5-Power Tokens. We have not played these expansions yet.

Rule Changes

According to the publisher, this edition has no rules or gameplay changes. However, there has been some discussion regarding missing two-player rules. Since we don’t have the old edition for comparison and have only played the new edition with three players, we can’t verify this. If this turns out to be an issue, the rulebook from the original edition is available online for reference. You can also find ongoing discussions about this in the BGG forums here and here.

Final Thoughts

The new edition of Yokohama improves upon the original in every way. The changes enhance the player experience and make the game feel more polished. If you already own the previous version and aren’t interested in upgraded components or artwork, or if you have the old deluxe version, there may be no need to buy this edition since the gameplay remains the same. However, if you don’t own Yokohama or want a refreshed look and improved experience, this edition is an excellent choice.

Disclosure: We received a review copy of this game. Also, there may be an affiliate link in the links included at the end of this article.