How to Play

Vikings

2-4 players 60-60 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Vikings is a streamlined economic game where players compete across six rounds to purchase meeple-tile pairs using a unique pricing wheel mechanism. Each round offers twelve randomly available tiles and meeples. Players take turns buying these combinations, then strategically placing them to build their Viking settlements. Victory comes through optimal resource management and placement decisions.

Published 2007

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the board

Put the board on the table; the initial wheel position is unimportant

Assign player colors

Give each player 1 colored cube to display their player color and put the second matching cube on score 10

Distribute player materials

Give each player 1 homeland base and 1 scoring summary card

Distribute start tiles

Give each player 1 start tile (a left island part with viking outline on back) and remove unused start tiles from the game

Prepare tile stacks

Mix the remaining 72 tiles facedown and stack in 6 piles of 12 on the spaces along the top of the board

Prepare viking bag

Mix the vikings in the cloth bag

Distribute starting gold

With 2/3/4 players, give each player 30/25/20 gold in coins; put the remaining coins aside as a bank

Select start player

Choose a start player and give them the start player token (ship)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Draw and place tiles

Draw tiles one at a time from the next stack of 12

Draw and place vikings

Draw 12 vikings and place them clockwise from 0 in the order blue, yellow, green, red, black, and gray

Buy a set

You must buy 1 set of a viking and a tile for the price shown on the wheel

Exchange points for gold

At any time, relinquish victory points for coins at 1-to-1 rate; score may not go negative

Place your first tiles

On your first turn, place both your start tile and the bought tile in either order

Position first three ships

Put your first 3 ships in the first 3 columns; the first may be in any column, others must touch another ship

Position subsequent ships

Put later ships in successive columns (4 and up), each touching a prior ship

Maintain orientation

You may not rotate tiles; each must be placed with its specific orientation

Connect to existing land

Each island tile must share an edge with another island tile or the homeland base

Match terrain types

Edges must only touch each other sea-to-sea or land-to-land

Forfeit invalid placements

If you cannot place a tile per the rules, forfeit the placement and remove the tile from the game

Place on matching tile

Put the viking on the bought tile if you placed that tile in the row for the viking's color

Place at homeland base

Otherwise, put the viking by the boatsman graphic at the top left of your homeland base

Handle gray boatsmen

Gray boatsmen are always placed at the top left of your homeland base

Collect goldsmith income

After each round, gain 3 gold for each unthreatened goldsmith

Ferry vikings

After rounds 2, 4, and 6, you may use boatsmen to ferry all vikings of 1 color or 1 viking of each available color from the base to empty tiles; remove used boatsmen from the game

Mandatory ferrying

After round 6, you must ferry as long as you have boatsmen, vikings to move, and places to move them

Score warrior bonuses

For each black warrior repelling a ship, gain the gold or points shown on the ship

Score noble bonuses

For each unthreatened red noble, gain 2 points

Score scout bonuses

For each unthreatened green scout, gain 1 point plus 1 for each yellow goldsmith or blue fisherman below it

Winning

How to claim victory.

Pay unrepelled ship penalties

For each unrepelled ship, lose the coins or points shown on the ship; if insufficient coins, lose the remainder in points

Convert excess coins

For each 5 coins, gain 1 point and return the coins to the bank; keep remaining 0-4 coins

Award boatsman bonus

Each player with the most remaining boatsmen gains 10 points (ties are friendly)

Award completed islands bonus

Each player with the most completed islands (finished left and right) gains 7 points (ties are friendly)

Award longest island bonus

Each player with the longest completed island gains 5 points (ties are friendly)

Calculate fish scoring

Each unthreatened blue fisherman supplies fish for 5 vikings; gain 2 points for each surplus fish or lose 1 point for each fish short (count all vikings including boatsmen and threatened vikings)

Determine winner

Highest score wins; break ties in favor of most coins; share further ties