Viking Game

Viking Game is a family-friendly Norse village builder and voyage strategy game. Build a farming village on a fjord, keep your people fed and warm through the long northern winter, then crew longships and trade your way west to the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Vinland. Play the Viking game free online in your browser, with no download or sign-up. Nobody raids anybody: you trade, explore and build.

How to play

• Build on the fjord. Pick a building and tap a meadow tile. Neighbors (up, down, left and right) matter: a farm makes 4 food plus 1 for each neighboring farm, a wood camp makes 2 wood plus 1 for each neighboring forest, a smithy makes 1 iron plus 1 for each neighboring rock and 1 more next to a wood camp, and a dock makes 1 food from fishing plus 1 for each neighboring water tile.
• Mind your workers. Each longhouse homes 6 people. Every other building needs 2 workers. If you build more than your people can staff, the last ones built sit idle.
• Plan for winter. When you end the summer you harvest, then winter eats 1 food per person and each longhouse burns 3 firewood, 1 less for each neighboring longhouse (never below 1). Any shortage costs people. A winter with no shortage adds up to 2 people if you have room.
• Sail longships. Build a dock, then a longship (12 wood and 4 iron; each dock holds 2). A voyage needs 6 crew, who leave their jobs for the summer, plus 2 food per day of sailing. Destinations unlock in order: Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland’s Eastern and Western Settlements, Helluland, Markland and Vinland.
• Read the weather. Each summer the seas are calm, fair or stormy, and the voyage list shows the risk of turning back. One storm halves the silver you bring home. Two storms turn the ship back damaged, with no cargo, and it needs 4 wood to repair. The crew always comes home safe.
• Trade and renown. Voyages bring silver, iron, timber or food plus renown, doubled on your first landfall. Silver buys food, wood or iron at the home market.

Winning: in the 30-year saga, reach Vinland and have at least 20 people when the 30th winter ends. If everyone is lost to hunger and cold, the village is abandoned. Sandbox mode has no time limit, more starting supplies and no game over. Your saga saves automatically in your browser.

Runestones and hnefatafl

Ten milestones, from your first harvest to the completed saga, carve runestones worth 5 renown each.

Inside the longhouse you can play hnefatafl, the Viking board game, on an 11×11 board against the computer. It follows Copenhagen-style rules. The 24 attackers move first and every piece slides like a chess rook. Only the king may stop on the central throne or the corners, and other pieces may pass over the empty throne. You capture by sandwiching an enemy between two of your pieces, or between one piece and a corner or the empty throne, and the king helps capture. The king is taken when attackers surround him on all four sides, or on three sides next to the throne, and he cannot be taken on the edge. The defenders win when the king reaches a corner, or any edge square if you switch on the older edge-escape rule. You can play either side. Your first win each year adds 10 renown to your village. For more rule sets and levels, play our Hnefatafl (Viking Chess) game.

Strategy tips

• Wood first. Every building and winter needs wood. Put an early wood camp beside forest.
• Cluster farms and longhouses. A block of farms out-produces scattered ones, and longhouses that share walls burn less firewood.
• Sail on calm seas. In a stormy summer, take a short run instead.

FAQ

Is this Viking game free?

Yes, with no account and no install.

Are the places real?

Yes. The Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland’s Eastern and Western Settlements, Helluland, Markland and Vinland are names from Norse history and the sagas. L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland is the only confirmed Norse site in North America outside Greenland. Distances, rewards and risks are simplified for play.

Why don’t the Vikings wear horned helmets?

Because they didn’t. Horned Viking helmets are a modern idea from the 1800s, made popular by Wagner’s operas. Texts from the Viking Age mention helmets but never horned ones.

How is this different from the pirate game?

Our Pirate Game is about open-sea trading from port to port. Viking Game is a village builder first: the fjord, the seasons and the winter stores decide how far your longships can go.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Tap to build, sail and move tafl pieces. On a keyboard, arrows move the cursor, 1 to 5 pick a building, Enter builds and E ends the summer.