8 min read

How to play Everdell Rules Explained

Easy reference how to play Everdell rules guide. We cover the objective and gameplay to make it easy and quick for you to find out how to play and get your game started.

Players: 1 to 4 | Game duration from: 40 mins | Game Complexity: MEDIUM How to play Everdell rules in simple steps Everdell rules pdf / rulebook [amazon box=”B0792JY6G4″]

What is the object of the game Everdell?

The game revolves around the valley of Everdell where a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding.
The citizens have prospered undder the shelter of the enduring Ever Tree. However, the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities established. You are the leader of a group of critters who will construct buildings, meet lively characters and host events.

How to setup Everdell game?

Place the board on the table and the Ever Tree on the stump at the top of the board.
Place the following:
- twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries in piles along the river bank
- point tokens and occupied tokens beside the board
Shuffle and place the Forest cards on the forest clearings.
- Use 3 cards for two players, or 4 cards for three or four players.
- Put the remaining cards back in the box.
Place the 4 basic Event tiles along the river, shuffle the special Event cards and place 4 special Events on the Ever Tree’s lower branches. Put the remaining special Events back in the box.
Shuffle the main deck and randomly place 8 cards face up in the Meadow. Place the deck inside the Ever Tree.
Each player chooses a color and starts with 2 workers of that color. The
first player will draw 5 cards from the deck, the second player 6 cards, the third player 7 cards, and the fourth player 8 cards.
Each player places their 4 other workers on the upper branches of the Ever Tree: 1 worker on spring, 1 on summer, and 2 on autumn. Select a player to go first.

Step by Step How to Play Everdell Gameplay

Step by step guide on how to play Everdell. Play proceeds clockwise. Players take turns taking 1 of the 3 actions (only one action is taken per turn and may be taken in any order): Place a Worker or Play a Card or Prepare for Season.
Players place workers at various locations to gain resources and expand their city.

Place a worker

Workers are deployed to expand your city. Deploy them to various Everdell locations to gather resources, draw more cards, host events, or embark on a journey.

Type of Locations
There are two types of locations: exclusive and shared (portrayed with an open encircling ring).

Only 1 worker may visit an exclusive location.
Multiple workers, even of the same color, may visit a shared location.
To visit a location, place one of your workers on any available symbol and take the listed resources or perform the action. That worker is deployed to that location until you bring them back with the Prepare for Season action.

Locations to visit
Basic Locations

Forest Locations
Locations marked by placement icons are only used in a four-player game. You may not place 2 of your own workers on a single Forest location.

Destination Cards
You may place a worker on any Destination card in your city, or on a Destination card in another city that has an OPEN symbol. The Destination’s owner gains 1 point token from the supply.

Events
You may also place 1 of your workers on any remaining basic Event or special Event to achieve it. To achieve the Event: fulfil the listed Event requirements and must pay any resources at the time you place your worker there.
Only one player may achieve a specific Event. You have to be able to achieve the Event to place a worker on the Event. Achieved Events are placed beside your city for the end of game scoring.

Haven
The Haven is a shared location. There is no worker placement limit
By going here, you may discard any number of cards from your hand, and gain 1 of any resource for every 2 cards you discard.

Journey
In autumn only, you may send a worker on a journey.
You must discard cards equal to the chosen Journey location’s listed points.
The 5-point, 4-point, and 3-point locations are exclusive, and the 2-point location is shared.
The deployed worker is worth the listed points at the end of the game.

Play a card

You may play one card by paying the listed requirements into the general supply.
Play cards from either the Meadow cards or from your hand.
Play these cards in front of you to form your city.
There are 2 card types: Critters and Constructions. You may have multiple copies of Common cards in your city, but you may only have one copy of any specific Unique card.

Constructions

Critters
Pay the required berries cost to play the Critter card, or if the Construction listed in the top left of the Critter card is in your city, you may play the card without paying berries cost. If you do this, place the occupied token on the Construction. This can only be done once per construction.

City
Your city has a maximum of 15 spaces to play cards into. Each card takes up one space. The recommended layout is 3 rows with 5 cards in each. Event cards do not count against this 15 card limit.

Type of Everdell Cards

Green Production
Activates once immediately when played, and once during the Prepare for Season actions in spring and autumn

Red Destination
Activates when a worker is placed on it. Cards with the OPEN symbol may be visited by opponents

Blue Governance
Grants you bonuses after playing certain card types, and offers different ways to play cards for a discount.

Purple Prosperity
Worth the base points and the listed bonus points at the end of the game.

Drawing Cards
Always draw from the deck, unless specifically told to draw from the Meadow cards.
There is a strict hand limit of 8 cards. You can’t hold more than 8.
If you are required to give cards to an opponent and all opponents’ hands are full, discard the cards instead.
If a Meadow card is played, immediately replace it with a new card from the draw pile. If an ability allows players to draw cards from the Meadow cards, draw all cards first then replenish.
If the deck ever runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Prepare for season

Prepare a season is performed when you have deployed all your workers and cannot play a card or do not wish to. Prepare for Season action may only be performed after you have placed all of your current worker population.
When you perform the Prepare for Season action, you alone bring back all of your deployed workers.
Once you complete this action, you will move to the next season. For example: You begin the game in Winter. You prepare for Spring and complete its actions.
The next time you take the Prepare for Season action, you will prepare for Summer and so forth until you end your game in the next Winter season.
Note: based on their actions during the turn, each player may prepare and move to different seasons at different stages of the game.

The game begins in the Winter Season and you move to different seasons until the next winter where the game ends.

Spring
You gain 1 new worker and activate all green Production cards in your city.

Summer
You gain 1 new worker. There is no Production in summer, but green cards still activate immediately if played during summer. Also, you may draw up to 2 Meadow cards when you prepare for summer

Autumn
Gain 2 workers and activate all green Production cards in your city.

End of game and Winning

When you cannot or do not wish to perform any more actions (passed the Autumn season), you have finished the game and must pass.
If a player has passed, they are not given any cards or resources. Cards that need to be given to the player are discarded.
Any unfinished players continue playing until all players have passed.
Then add up all points to determine the winner.

Everdell Solo Rules

In the solo game, you compete against an old rodent known as Rugwort, and his pack rat ruffians.

He will be returning to Everdell for three years in a row, each time bearing a new
title of nastiness. You must find a way to overcome his tricks and rid Everdell of his filth

Year One: “Rugwort the Rascal”

Select the black player color for Rugwort and setup the game using the two-player setup
You have a starting hand of 5 cards, and
Rugwort does not have a hand of cards.
Take one of Rugwort’s workers and place it on the top-left Forest card, blocking it.
Place his other worker on the 3 twig action space, blocking it.

Play the game as normal with these new rules:

Any time after you play a card, Rugwort gets to play a card. If you played a
Meadow card, first replenish the card.
To play Rugwort’s card, roll the 8-sided die; the number rolled will determine which of the 8 Meadow cards Rugwort gets to play into his city.
The cards are numbered 1-8, with the top-left being 1 and the bottom-right being 8.
For Rugwort’s city, place his cards in stacks according to colored types so you can clearly see how many he has of each color.
The card’s ability and point value do not matter.
Replenish the Meadow card after he has played his card.

After you perform the Prepare for Season action, Rugwort immediately performs his Prepare for Season action, which consists of these steps:

Check to see if he has enough ocolored cards in his city to achieve any of the four basic Events. If so, place that Event(s) in his city.
Take his new worker and place it on the #1 Meadow card (#2 for summer, and #3 & #4 for autumn), so by the end of the game he will have a worker on the top 4 Meadow cards. You cannot play these cards anymore, but Rugwort still can.
Moving counter-clockwise, move his worker to the next Forest card.

During the spring Prepare for Season action, move his worker from the 3 twigs location to the 2 resin location.

During summer, move his worker to the 1 pebble location.

During autumn, move his worker to the 1 berry and 1 card location. In autumn, remove his worker from the 3rd Forest tile and place it instead on the 3-point Journey space.

Scoring

Rugwort scores

2 points per card in his city (3 points for each purple Prosperity card),
3 points for each basic Event he achieved,
3 points for each special Event that you did not achieve,
3 points for his worker on Journey, and
any point tokens that you gave him.

Year Two: “Rugwort the Rotten”

Same rules as Year One with these additional rules:

Place his worker on the 4-point Journey space instead of the 3.
Rugwort gains 6 points for every special Event that you did not achieve, instead of 3.

Year Three: “Rugwort the Rapscallion”

Same rules as Year Two with these additional rules:

Place his worker on the 5-point Journey space instead of the 4.
During Rugwort’s autumn Prepare for Season action, he kidnaps one of your workers!
Do not move his worker to the 1 berry and 1 card space—instead remove his worker and one of your workers from the game.
Now you will only have 5 workers to use for the last season of the game.
Beat him in year three and win!