Everdell

Everdell is a board game for 1 to 4 players designed by James Wilson and published by Starling Games in 2018. In the game, players take the role of forest animals building a city over four seasons by collecting resources, recruiting workers, and constructing buildings. The game has been well regarded by reviewers, with its art and components receiving strong praise.

Over four seasons, players place their forest animal meeples to get resources to buy cards into a personal tableau, which give points towards winning the game or special abilities to help them build further.[1] The game starts simply, with the complexity increasing as a player's cards gain synergies from newly acquired cards.[2] In addition to the points they get from acquiring cards, players score by triggering events, from collecting certain combinations of card types, and from end game bonuses given by cards for acquiring certain other cards in their city.[3]

Keith Law of Paste Magazine and Vulture dubbed Everdell one of the best new board games of 2018,[3] praising its gameplay, forest animal theme, and "gorgeous" art and components.[4] Smithsonian also called it one of the best games of 2018, lavishing praise on the tactile components, such as the hefty coins, squishy berries, and three dimensional tree which holds the cards available for purchase.[5]

Everdell was nominated for a Golden Geek award for Best Artwork and Presentation.[6]

In September 2018, Starling Games funded an expansion for the game, Pearlbrook, via Kickstarter. The expansion gives players frog ambassadors who can collect pearls and trade with undersea creatures.[7]

Other expansions include Spirecrest (2019) and Bellfaire (2019).