Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Bid through a clever queue of merchants, buy ships and contracts in Hamburg’s warehouse district, and protect your fortune from costly fires.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Contracts
Complete specific requirements to earn rewards, income, or victory points.
Income
Receive recurring resources according to your position, assets, or development.
Auction / Bidding
Bid against other players to determine who receives an item, action, or priority.
End Game Bonuses
Earn additional points for meeting conditions evaluated when the game ends.
Events
Triggered events alter the shared state, rules, or available choices.
Read the full game description
The Speicherstadt turns a line of wooden merchants into one of Stefan Feld’s most memorable auctions. Each round reveals a row of cards—ships carrying colored goods, contracts, merchants, bonus opportunities, and dangerous fires—then players place their merchants into the buildings above them. Every merchant already waiting in a building raises that card’s eventual price, so joining an auction can be a sincere bid, a bluff, or an expensive obstacle for someone below. Starting from the front, each player either pays the number of merchants present or withdraws, lowering the cost for the next bidder. Goods fill contracts and collections, while firemen reduce the escalating penalties from four fire cards. Coins are tight, timing is public, and the most valuable decision is often knowing which opportunity to make unaffordable.
