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Everdell is a game of worker placement, resource collection and tableau building in a woodland realm populated by one to four groups of animals. Each player controls one such group, which will be represented in game by gorgeous little wooden animeeples. Everdell is set in a forest beneath the Evertree, which is represented in the game by a large, well made and gloriously detailed model that is included in both the basic and Collector’s Edition versions of the game.
By far the largest and most complex expansion to Everdell, Spirecrest introduces a large new board that adds to the bottom of the base game, and brings with it a load of additional content. For starters, there are new critters, and each of the species that exists both in this expansion and across the base game and other expansions also gets a rabbit explorer. Those rabbits are the brave souls who will adventure into the mountainous region of the titular spirecrest. After playing Pearlbrook, I was a little worried about Spirecrest. This massive expansion introduces beautiful new scenery, another oversized specialized meeple—the Rabbit Traveler, several tokens and cards, and, of course, the OVERsized (and wonderfully adorable) Big Critters. What separated Spirecrest from Pearlbrook and landed it higher on the list is the way the new mechanisms keep attention on the base experience. While I now own the wooden EverTree, and it is beautiful, I would hardly call it necessary. It is more of a conversation piece for the mantle than a practical component. Before we logged a half-dozen plays of the base game, we dispensed with the assembly of the tree. While the world stretches less into the third dimension without it, I cannot defend it as anything more than decoration for those playing on oversized tables.The garland award introduces a majorities aspect to the game. It gives 6 and 3 points at the end of the game to the 1st and 2nd place player, respectively, for certain objectives, such as most production cards, or most critters. There are 7 garland award tiles, and only 1 is in each game. This mechanic adds interactivity, as they are more common objectives for which players are competing. One of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard of Everdell is that it can veer into multiplayer solitaire, but this majorities bonus — and some of the content in the other expansions — fixes that. You may pay as many berries as you would like. Example: You could pay 6 berries to decrease the cost of a Construction by 3 resources. After this climax, the four animals continued to lead their lives… in great joy and contentment, undisturbed by further risings or invasions.” The only component in the entire series that I’ll replace (via Etsy, no doubt) is the set of “Open” signs that came with Pearlbrook. They are a bit oversized and unwieldy, and they don’t fit in the base box. I’m going for “just large enough to notice.” Something the size of the meeples will do. Otherwise, I keep the expansion-specific materials and the less common modules in their boxes for the time that we’re itching to bring them to the table. Squirrels: Any time you use a worker to gain at least 1 twig, gain 1 additional twig. When playing a Construction, you may pay 2 twigs to replace 1 of any resource from the cost.
In the same vein as adding the Garland Awards, Bellfaire ups the ante on the different events that players are vying for. The Flower Festival Event tile acts similarly to the four Basic Event tiles found in the base game where a player can place a worker here once he or she meets the criteria and score four points at the end of the game. To be eligible for the Flower Festival Event, a player must have one of each card type in their city. And there you have it, I’ve reached my conclusion earlier than I should have, but I truly hold very few reservations about Everdell . I love the look of it, from the squishy berries to the gorgeous card art. Even the slightly over the top Evertree looks fantastic. Given that the creatures here are simply adorable, you might think that Everdell could be a bit saccharine for adult players, but it’s not — it’s an attractive, detailed theme that reminds me of warmth and love and childhood, but it never made me feel condescended to. As such, I can look at Everdell all day and I can’t wait to show my own children when they are older.
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Hasty: During Rugwort's Prepare for Season action, he will immediately achieve the leftmost special Event. Moles: Whenever you use a worker to gain resources from a location, you may pay up to 1 of those resources you just gained to gain 1 pebble. You may not use the Rats Player Power in a solo game. If Rugwort claims the Flower Festival event, he scores 4 points for that Event. Rugwort still gets all of his workers, even if you are using Player Powers and you do not a gain a worker in spring. You alone may visit these Forest locations. Note: An opponent may not copy these Forest locations with a Lookout. My first play of Everdell lasted three hours. I was new to so many of the concepts in the base game that we were wide-eyed throughout the experience. Three of us played that first game. With Bellfaire, the invitation was set for up to six players. Six players! On the one hand, that’s so exciting. But on the other hand, every time a new player comes to the table, the length of the game jumps inordinately. Until recently, I’m not sure I had ever had six people around the table at once who knew how to play. Those that did weren’t looking for the extended experience.
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