Everdell

2018

Immerse yourself in Everdell, a tableau-building and worker-placement game. Lead a civilization of forest critters, construct buildings, host events, and strategize to establish the most prosperous city before the winter moon rises.

80
minutes

1 - 4
player(s)

10+

Medium

About the game

Welcome to the enchanting world of Everdell, a highly immersive and visually captivating board game that invites players into a fantastic realm of woodland creatures and intricate strategies. In Everdell, you will be tasked with the exciting challenge of constructing the most prosperous city in an idyllic forest valley, populated by adorable critters.

The setting of Everdell is a richly detailed forest landscape, brimming with charming details that will captivate your imagination. The game board unfolds like an illustrated storybook, featuring lush trees, sparkling rivers, and cozy burrows. The game pieces are equally delightful, with beautifully crafted, three-dimensional tree that towers above the landscape, and charming wooden tokens representing the woodland creatures you’ll meet and resources you’ll gather.

Game components Unboxing the fun!

Everdell is a charming board game that comes with a myriad of components. Here’s a detailed list of each component and their role in the game.

1. Game Board: The game board is the main platform where the game is played. It contains spaces for cards, events, and resources. The board is also home to the Evertree, which is a 3D tree that stands as a centrepiece of the game and holds the Event cards and the current season marker.

2. 128 Critter and Construction Cards: These cards represent the various characters (Critters) and buildings (Constructions) in the game. Players can play these cards in their city to gain different benefits and points. Each Critter card has a unique power that activates when played, while Construction cards offer ongoing benefits or end-of-game scoring.

3. 16 Event Mini-Cards: These cards represent special achievements that players can claim throughout the game. They are placed in the Evertree on the game board and offer additional points to players who meet their requirements.

4. 11 Forest Mini-Cards: These cards add an extra layer of strategy to the game. They are shuffled and placed on the Forest spaces on the game board at the beginning of the game. Each Forest card provides a unique bonus to the player who claims it.

5. 30 Berries, 30 Twigs, 25 Resins, and 20 Pebbles: These are the resource tokens of the game. Players collect these resources in order to play their Critter and Construction cards. Each card requires a specific combination of resources to be played.

6. 24 Wooden Occupied Tokens: These tokens are used to mark when a Critter card has been played into a player’s city. They prevent the same Critter from being played twice in the same city.

7. 24 Point Tokens: These tokens are used to keep track of players’ points throughout the game. Players earn points by playing cards, completing events, and through other game actions.

8. 4 Wooden Event Tokens: These tokens are used to mark when a player has completed an event. Once a player completes an event, they place their Event token on it to claim the points.

9. 15 Wooden Workers and 1 Active Player Token: Each player receives a set of wooden workers to perform various actions on the game board. Actions include gathering resources, drawing cards, and claiming events. The Active Player Token is used to keep track of whose turn it is.

10. 4 Player Boards: Each player receives a player board that represents their city. Players place their played cards onto their city, with a maximum of 15 cards allowed.

Game setup Lay it out, line it up, let’s go

Everdell is a delightful strategy board game that requires careful planning and strategy. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting it up.

Step 1: Setup the Game Board

Place the Everdell game board in the center of the play area. The board is divided into different areas that include the Meadow, Forest, and four Event spaces.

Step 2: Player Roles and Preparations

Each player chooses a color and takes all the components of that color: 15 workers (squirrels), 8 personal buildings, and 1 personal event card.

Players should place their workers in their supply and their personal buildings and event card next to the game board, forming their personal area.

Step 3: Create the Forest

Place the four Basic Event tiles on the corresponding spaces on the game board. These are the Journey, Grand Tour, Harvest Festival, and the Everdell Fair.

Then, shuffle the Special Event cards and place four randomly on the designated spaces on the game board.

Step 4: Setup the Meadow

Shuffle all the Construction and Critter cards together to form a draw pile. Draw 8 cards from this pile and place them face up in the Meadow area of the board.

Step 5: Setup the Seasonal Wheel

Place the four season markers (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) on their respective spaces on the Seasonal Wheel.

Step 6: Initial Resources

Each player starts the game with 5 cards from the draw pile and 2 berries. Players should keep their resources in their personal area.

Step 7: Determine the Start Player

Randomly determine the first player. Give that player the Ever Tree standee.

Step 8: Prepare the Supply

Place all the remaining resources (berries, twigs, resin, and pebbles) in a general supply next to the game board.

Step 9: Setup Complete

Once the game board is set up, the Meadow is filled, the Forest is prepared, and each player has their initial resources, the game can begin.

Game flow Round and round we go

Everdell is a dynamic board game that challenges players to build the most prosperous city within a charming woodland realm. The game progresses through a series of rounds called ‘Seasons’, each with its own specific actions and rules. The game ends after the Winter season and the player with the highest score wins.

At each stage of the game, players have the choice to either place a worker, play a card, or prepare for the next season. The structure of each round is as follows:

Place a Worker: Players can place a worker on any available location on the board. The worker will perform an action associated with that location. Actions include gathering resources, drawing cards, or taking special actions that can change the course of the game.
Play a Card: Players can choose to play a card from their hand to their city. To do this, they must pay the cost listed on the card. Cards represent buildings and creatures that add to a player’s city and provide various benefits and abilities.
Prepare for the Next Season: When a player has placed all their workers and does not wish to or cannot play any more cards, they may choose to prepare for the next season. This involves retrieving their workers from the board, revealing new worker placement spots, drawing new cards, and sometimes gaining new workers.

The game continues in this cycle until all players have passed through the Winter season. Points are then tallied based on the buildings and creatures in a player’s city, the events they’ve achieved, and any bonuses from destination cards. The player with the highest total points is declared the winner.

It is important to note that strategy is key in Everdell. The order in which players choose to place workers, play cards or prepare for the next season can greatly affect the outcome of the game. Making the most of each season and carefully planning for future turns is vital to success.

Players'turn One turn to rule them all

Everdell is a dynamic and engaging board game that requires strategic planning and resource management. During each player’s turn in Everdell, they can choose to perform one out of three possible actions: place a worker, play a card, or prepare for the next season.

1. Placing a Worker:

The player can place one of their worker pieces on any available space on the board. This action is typically used to gather resources, draw cards, or take special actions. The available spaces include:

Forest locations: These provide resources such as twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries.
The Haven: Here, the player can discard up to five cards from their hand and receive one resource of their choice for each discarded card.
The Journey: This is only accessible in autumn and allows the player to spend two resin, two twigs, and one pebble to score points at the end of the game.

2. Playing a Card:

Players can play a card from their hand by paying its cost in resources. There are two types of cards: Creature cards and Construction cards. Playing these cards can give players different types of advantages:

Creature cards: These cards represent the population of the player’s city. Each creature has a unique effect that can provide resources, cards, or other benefits.
Construction cards: These cards represent the buildings in the player’s city. Each building can provide a one-time or ongoing benefit, and some can also house creatures, providing additional effects.

3. Preparing for the Next Season:

This action moves the player’s game marker to the next season on the Everdell tree. Each time a player prepares for the next season, they retrieve all of their workers, gain additional workers, and trigger any “season” effects on their cards.

These strategic choices, whether gathering resources, building a city, or advancing to the next season, all contribute to the player’s final score. Balancing these actions and making the most out of each turn is key to victory in Everdell.

End of the game All good games must come to an end

Everdell is a dynamic and engaging board game that merges worker placement, tableau-building, and resource management. The game reaches its conclusion at the end of the Autumn season, when all players have exhausted their supply of workers and can no longer perform any actions.

Game End Conditions:

The game of Everdell concludes once all players have completed their Autumn season. This is signified when players have no more workers left to place, and no more cards to play or resources to spend.
It’s crucial to note that the game doesn’t end simultaneously for all players. Since players perform actions sequentially, one player might exhaust their options before the others. In such cases, the player who has concluded their game must wait for the rest of the players to finish their turns.

Victory Conditions:

The player with the highest total points at the end of the game is declared the winner. Points are accrued through various means:

City Cards: Each card in a player’s city contributes to their final score. The points per card are displayed on the card’s upper left corner.
Events: Points can be gained by achieving Event objectives. The points for each completed Event are listed on the Event tiles.
Journey: Sending workers on a Journey during Autumn can also yield points. Each Journey space offers varying degrees of points, depending on its difficulty.

End of Game Actions:

Before the final scoring is done, there are a few actions players must take:

Resource Discard: All remaining resources (twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries) are returned to the general supply. They do not contribute to the final score.
Card Review: Players should review their cities to ensure they haven’t exceeded the limit of 15 cards. If they have, they must choose and discard excess cards.

After these steps, players calculate their final scores, and the player with the highest score wins the game.

Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?

In the board game ‘Everdell’, players accumulate points throughout the game and at the end of the game based on their constructed city, achieved events, and journeyed destinations. The player with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner.

Points during the game:

Points can be earned during the game in the following ways:

Constructing Buildings: Each building has a point value indicated on the card. Points are earned immediately when the building is constructed.
Recruiting Critters: Similar to buildings, each critter has a point value. Points are earned immediately when the critter is recruited.
Completing Events: Events are special actions that provide immediate points when completed. The points values vary and are specified on each event card.

Points at the end of the game:

At the end of the game, points are calculated as follows:

Constructed Buildings and Recruited Critters: Additional points are awarded for all buildings and critters in a player’s city. The point values are specified on each individual card.
Completed Events: Additional points are awarded for each event completed. The point values are specified on each event card.
Journeyed Destinations: The player earns points for every destination journeyed to, with the point values specified on each destination card.
Prosperity Cards: Some cards provide additional points if certain conditions are met. For example, the ‘Historian’ card awards 3 points for each ‘History’ card in your city.

Tie-breaking rules:

In the event of a tie, the tie-breaking rules are as follows:

The player with the most leftover resources (berries, twigs, resin, and pebbles) is the winner.
If there is still a tie, the player with the most constructed buildings in their city is the winner.
If there is still a tie, the player who reached the final round first is the winner.

If the game is still tied after these tie-breakers, the victory is shared.

Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?

While ‘Everdell’ is a beautifully themed worker placement game with simple rules, there are some special rules, exceptions, and rule clarifications that might be important for players to understand. Here are some of them:

Event Cards:

The Event cards in Everdell are not part of a player’s city. Even though they are placed above your city, they are not counted towards the 15 card limit of your city.

Hand Limit:

There is no limit to the number of cards you can have in your hand in Everdell. You can draw as many cards as you want during the game, but you still need to play them to your city or they won’t count at the end of the game.

Occupied Spaces:

Some spaces within locations are occupied by other players’ workers. You can still place your worker on an occupied space, but only if your worker is of a different type than the worker currently occupying the space.

Frog Ambassador:

The Frog Ambassador, which is obtained from the Frog Ambassador event, does not count as a worker. It should be returned to the general supply at the end of the season it was used.

End of Game:

The game ends when all players have passed in the Autumn season. However, players do not pass simultaneously. Each player continues taking actions until they choose to pass, even if all other players have already passed.

Special Rules for 2-Player Game:

In a 2-player game, during the setup, remove 2 cards from each deck (Spring, Summer, Autumn) before shuffling and placing them on the Ever Tree.

Rule Clarifications:

Unique Critters and Constructions: Each player’s city can only contain one of each unique critter and construction. However, multiple players can have the same unique critter or construction in their cities.
Journey Points: Points earned from Journey cards are not revealed until the end of the game. Each player should keep their Journey cards face down after taking the action to journey.
Replacing Constructions: While critters can be placed for free if their associated construction is in your city, the construction cannot be replaced once the critter is in your city.

Tips and tricks Play smarter, not harder!

In the enchanting game of ‘Everdell’, players build a city of critters and constructions in a magical forest. The game can be quite complex, especially for beginners. However, by understanding some advanced strategies, beginner tips, common mistakes to avoid, and ways to optimize gameplay, you can enhance your gaming experience.

Advanced Strategies

Plan Your Seasons Wisely: You should not rush into the next season too quickly. Make sure to use all your workers before moving on to the next season. This will enable you to maximize your actions and get the most out of each season.
Focus on High-Value Cards: Aim to collect and play cards that provide high points or strong synergies. This will allow you to build a stronger city and earn more points.
Use Event Cards: Event cards can provide significant bonuses. Try to complete them as soon as possible to get their benefits and prevent other players from getting them.

Beginner Tips

Understand Card Synergies: Each card in Everdell has a unique ability. Try to understand how they interact with each other to create powerful combinations.
Explore the Meadow: The Meadow is a shared pool of cards. Don’t forget to check it regularly and take advantage of the available cards.
Don’t Ignore the Forest Locations: Forest locations provide valuable resources. Make sure to use your workers to collect these resources.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Forgetting to Prepare for Winter: Winter is the final round where you cannot place workers. Ensure you have enough resources and cards to play during this round.
Overlooking Occupied Spaces: Remember that you cannot place your worker in an occupied space unless you have the Ranger.
Not Utilizing the Green City Cards: The green city cards, when played in combination, can provide considerable benefits. Don’t overlook their potential.

Ways to Optimize Gameplay

Manage Your Resources: Efficient resource management is crucial in Everdell. Try to balance your resource collection and spending to maintain a steady flow of actions.
Adapt Your Strategy: The available cards and resources can change rapidly in Everdell. Be flexible and ready to adapt your strategy based on the current game state.
Learn from Every Game: Every game of Everdell is a learning experience. Analyze your moves, understand your mistakes, and try to improve in your next game.