Everdell Standard Edition

My wife loves this game and we crack it out occasionally to relax after a stressful day. The game is easy to play, seems very well balanced (our final scores are usually within 10 points of each other), the art is wonderful, and it's quick. Pros: - Great worker placement/engine builder that is easy to teach - Wonderful art and theming - truly delightful, even for a cynic like me. - Quick to play and easy to teach* (more on that in a second) - most of our games take 30-40 minutes. - Card-based nature gives it a bit of (shared) randomness and replayability. - Simple, elegant design, not a lot of bloated rules or unneded complexity. Cons: - I've heard this is true of many Starling Games, but the manual is not well written and poorly laid out. My wife is a rulebook fan, but we both needed to watch a round or two being played online to understand it. There's also some imprecise wording on some of the cards that are open to interpretation. Nothing a good copy edit and wording changes in a second edition wouldn't fix, but it can make the first game or two a little frustrating. - Full sized cards (preferably with sleeves), the big standing tree, and large play area mean you'll need a lot of table space for this. I wish the cards were a smidge smaller to reduce its footprint.

Everdell is a fantastic game that synthesizes the best game mechanics of a number of its peers. It blends the resource gathering / worker placement component of games like Agricola or Lords of Waterdeep, with the card draw / card synergy of Dominion, with the city building / planning of 7 Wonders. Considering I absolutely adore all of those games, Everdell immediately shot into the Top 3 Games in my collection. The card draw / card management aspect is the most unique and fun part of the game. Cards act as "quests" or "contracts," but also can be used as part of resource management, and you'll also need to have a keen eye for planning ahead to give yourself "bonus" actions / rewards. You start with a set of cards in your hand, and you'll send out your workers to gather resources to put those cards into your city, but there's also a community "pool" of face-up cards that can be bought by any player. The icing on the cake for all of this is that the theme, presentation, and artwork are a pure delight. There's just a magical "something" about the way the art captures the small details of the imagined premise of play that draws you in. It's a bit pricy, but when you see the quality of construction and the art, combined with the engrossing gameplay, it's worth every penny and more. If you have any interest at all in Euro-style board gaming, Everdell deserves---no, practically demands---space on your shelf.

As the title says, this is a cornerstone for your gaming library. I have played a good amount of Euro-games and currently own Viticulture, World's Fair, Imperial Settlers and now Everdell. Everdell is a slightly more advanced version of Viticulture. There are slightly more options for your meeples and the cards you get, whether Locations or Critters, always have some kind of ability that will help you now or later in the game. The artwork is simply stunning, some of the best, truly top-notch. It really immerses you and makes you excited to read the small quote or details that come with the critter or location. The pace moves quickly and crazy enough my 8 year old and 11 year old not only wanted to play but were able to strategize and play along in a game I was extremely certain was far above their ability (The publisher recommends 14+). That not only didn't stop my youngest players but it even captivated them for the 3 hours it took to complete the 4 player game. I have only played this once, right out of the box and its an instant hit in our boardgaming families library. We talked about the game well after we finished and my wife and I are attempting to play again this evening in a 2 player game. If you are looking for something slightly more advanced than Viticulture, this is your game. If you have never played a Euro game, this is your game. If you love animals, this is your game. I don't know many people who wouldn't thoroughly enjoy this game. Well done, Startling Games. This is one of your first games I have ever played and if any of the other games that are soon to come out are anything as good as this, then we have ourselves a new head honcho publisher that has entered the market. Which really excites me!

This is a 5-star game for me. It ticks all the boxes of engagement, complexity, theming, AND it plays great at two-player which is a must for me since most of the time I play with my wife. This game has hit the table a ton since purchasing it a year ago, and it's always a hit. It's a deep game with lots of decision making and a few paths to victory, but it's not overly complicated. I can teach it to friends who aren't heavy board game players in about 10-15 minutes and they're usually good to go. I've recently backed the Kickstarter for two of the newest expansions, though I think the base game is more than enough and definitely worth $60 or so. My sole complaint of this game is the Ever Tree. It's kind of a pain to put together, and it's incredibly flismy. I broke it on my second playthrough.

My partner and I bought this after researching two-player board games. (We normally play with friends, but social distancing has kept people from coming over.) Though we have a number of two-player games, Everdell is our favorite! Before the first play, we each took about 30 minutes to read through the rule book. When reading, it seems a bit complicated, and our first game did go quite slowly. However, now that we’ve played it 10-12 times, the turns go faster and a full game only takes about 30-40 minutes. Some key points: with Everdell, it seems important to run through your next few moves in your mind to ensure you’ll have the supplies and turns. Also, the game seems to have an “exponential” feel to it, where not much happens in the beginning, then suddenly you’re able to do many things! (Similar to other resource-based games.) So don’t get discouraged in the beginning if it feels uneventful! Overall, the graphics are beautiful, the board is unique, the game is challenging (but not too hard), and every game feels like it plays out differently. I definitely recommend it!

The game is fun. It's very fun. The art is beautiful and the smaller components are very nice quality. My only issue with the game is the design flaw of the tree. The tree is built in such a way that you can't really play with people all around the table. We have to bunch at one end to use it properly. It's optional, but it's still a beautiful component. It's basically Agricola with more luck involved. Luck is a pretty big component in my experience so far. Bad starting hand? Bad draw? You'll probably lose.

I bought this game based on word of mouth recommendation from a friend and it's just as good, if not better, than what my friend said it would be. The artwork and aesthetic is impossibly cute. The game board and included accessories are well built and sturdy. The quality of the card decks is excellent. The one thing I want to warn folks about is that "how to play" video tutorials in youtube actually make it seem much more complicated than in it actually is. To be clear it's not a trivially simple game to understand, but it's not as complex as those tutorial videos make it seem (I feel they're trying to make the video shorter at the cost of understandability). My advice is grab the excellently illustrated and well written rule book and do a run through on your own and the mechanics and dynamics will become clear. It's family friendly but although it's noted as ages 10+, I'd say only if the child has experience with other multi-layer, multi-mechanic board games and the attention span to last 45m to 1h. If you kids around that age, I'd suggest crafting your own house rules and perhaps eliminating some of the mechanics altogether for the sake of playability.

Played several times since receiving only a month ago. Feels like a combination of Stone Age and 7 Wonders. Enjoyed so much, that I almost immediately purchased the Bellfaire expansion, since it was on sale and really wanted the 5 to 6 player option with player powers and more event cards, Garland awards, etc. for variability. As a standalone, I can see where the game might lose some luster over time, but with just one expansion (I'd recommend Spirecrest or Bellfaire at first) this provides near limitless replays. Components are good and the cardboard is thick. Still, the tree was a bear to put together the first time, since the slots weren't cut big enough. They had to be cut with an X-Acto knife. Most of the meeples are cute, but I wish they were a little smaller to fit easier at some locations, and the thicker size didn't prevent one of the critter's toes from snapping at first drop. This was entirely my fault, but I've also dropped meeples from multiple other games (like Draftosaurus, which has slightly thinner/smaller and cuter meeples in my opinion), and those never broke. These small quibbles aside, I cannot recommend this game enough. The best worker placement for families.