Everdell Review

Everdell: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Worker Placement, Engine Builder
Player Age: 13+ 

Player Count: 1 - 4 Players 

Time to Play: 40 - 80 Minutes 
Game Designer: James. A. Wilson

Game Artist:  Andrew Bosley

Publisher: Starling Games

Year Published: 2018

BGG Weight: 2.81
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

Welcome to Everdell, where you can develop from nothing a thriving city under the magical everdell tree within the small timespan of one year. The objective is simple, have the most coins (victory points) after the year has passed. There are a number of ways to gain coins. These include critters and construction, lavish events, and locations.

Card Anatomy:

Events:

There are two types of events; basic events and special events. Both of these events are gained by meeting the requirement and then placing your worker on the event.
The basic events require the player to have a certain amount of cards in their town that match a particular type, and they are rewarded with victory points.
The special events, however, are a unique case in which they need a player to gain two cards in their own town and they receive a bonus means of scoring. For example, you must have the "Shepard" and "Cemetery" cards in your town and you gain an extra three points per worker in your cemetery at the end of the game.

Once a player has gained an event, no other player is able to gain that event so you’d better create the best town fast!!

Cards:

Each card, whether it is a construction or a critter, will share the same card features. These include a cost in the left-hand side, a type, whether it is unique or common (when a card is unique there can only be one instance of that card in your area), the point amount, and an ability.

There are five card types:
Tan Traveller - effects occur instantly as the card is played.
Green Production - works the same way as the tan traveller, however they reactivate when two of the seasons change (more on this later).
Blue Governance - occurs when the conditions of the card are met, this normally results in cheaper cards or a resource when certain cards are played.
Purple Prosperity - will score bonus points at the end of the game.
Red Destination - opens another spot for workers to be placed, the catch is that you cannot use other players red destination cards unless there is an ‘open sign’ near the card type. This allows any user to use the action however the owner of the card will gain one victory point when another player uses this location.

Forest cards:

These events allow for an extra variable place where players can play their worker. In a four-player game, each place will have two available spaces. In other player counts there will only be one spot available. They are normally the most beneficial places to be at so you’d better place your workers here before they are taken.

Setup:

- Construct the board and the tree. Then place the tree at the stump on the board.
- Place the resources to the corresponding pile near the tree.
- Shuffle the forest cards and place three in the forest for a two player game and four for other player counts.
- Place the basic events under the tree and deal four special events in the second branch of the tree.
- Shuffle the main deck and deal eight cards in the middle of the board (this is your communal hand) then deal five cards to the first player with each subsequent player being dealt one more card than the last.
- Each player chooses a colour and places four of their workers on the top branch (these guys are unlocked in later seasons) and the other two workers in front of them.

How to Play:

A player can choose to do one of three options per turn in order to build their woodland empire.  These options are to placing a worker, play a card, or prepare for the next season.

Placing a Worker:

There are many places available on the board to place workers, with more places becoming available through red destination cards. These places normally result in the player gaining resources, victory points (coins) or cards (keep in kind the maximum hand size is eight cards). However, there is one vital rule to remember, each spot will only hold either one worker (until recalled at the end of their season) or an unlimited amount of workers. The unlimited spot is displayed by the worker circle not being fully connected.

Playing a card:

This action is as simple as paying the resources required on the side of the card. Although, there are a couple of things to keep in mind, the cards remain in play and there can only be up to 15 cards in your town. Also, don't forget that the cards you have in play may reduce the cost needed for other cards, this is an engine building game after all. Lastly, each construction is accompanied by a critter looking for a home (displayed in the bottom right). These critters can go straight into their matching construction and will not need any resources to play if you get them in your hand. After playing the critter for free, you must place an occupied token on the respective spot on the construction card. Understandably, they don't want a crowded home.

Preparing for the next season:

The next winter is coming and you have a year to develop the best city you can, starting from Winter and ending in Autumn. On your turn, if you can't place a worker and don't want/need to play a card then you can get ready for the next season. In doing this, you take back all of your all your workers, add another worker(s) depending on the season and either reactivate all the green production cards in your city (during autumn, winter, spring) or draw two face up meadow cards instead (during summer). Due to the way people play, each player may be in different seasons at any time. So, one may finish the game while other players are still playing their turns a season or two behind them.

Scoring:

After a player finishes their last season they will score their points. This includes any coin tokens, coins on each card, any events, purple prosperity cards, and workers located on the journey spot (this spot lets you discard cards for points, but keeps your worker there).
The highest score is the winner and therefore has established the most thriving city of Everdell.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Variable setup.
- Multiple paths to victory.
- The winner is only obvious when the score is being tallied.
- Multiple ways to interact with other players.
- Different icon on the cards to help differentiate when their effects occur.
- Players create their own game length by having their own seasons

Cons:
- Takes one or two seasons for the game to begin to amplify.
- The tree can be fiddly and fragile with set up and teardown.

‘Everdell’ is a great game with a welcoming theme that combines engine building and worker placement, creating an easy to learn and fun to play game. This is aided by the numerous types of cards that can range from immediate benefits, triggered benefits, and bonus points at the end. There is a wide depth of strategy for the players to explore and numerous combos to attempt which allows for an abundance of replayability. The game pace can feel a bit confusing for newer players as the first two seasons rapidly fly by while the last season continues for a much larger percentage of the game, however, this is mitigated with more plays and a further understanding of the game’s pace in relation to its players. With variable setup of changed locations and different special events, there is plenty here worthy of the players return. This game will definitely be added to the collection for a slightly above gateway worker placement/engine building game with a fun, not to mention cute, theme.

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