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Welcome to Everdell

Welcome to Everdell Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

  • Setup
    • Setup with Younger Children
  • How to Play
    • Symbol Key
    • 1. Roll Dice
    • 2. Gather Goodies
    • 3. Take Turns
    • 4. Return Home
    • 5. Move Sun and Moon Tokens
  • Placing Friends
  • Playing Cards
    • Card Colors
  • Parades
  • End of the Game
    • Trade Resources
    • Purple Bonus Points
    • Total Your Points
  • Components
  • Credits

Setup

  1. Place the board in the center of the table. Place the Moon token above the first round spot.

  2. Sort the Resin, Twigs, and Berries and place them on the board.

  3. Put the Point Tokens near the board.

  4. Put 1 Resource Die per player onto the dice spots on the board. Return any unused dice to the box.

  5. Shuffle the Main Deck Cards and place the deck near the board. Then deal 8 cards face-up below the board.

  6. Sort the Parade Tokens by type. Stack each type in order with the smallest point value (3) on the bottom, and the largest point value (6) on the top. Place the stacks along the path on the board.

  7. Give each player a Home Board and a set of 3 matching Friends. Resources and Friends can be stored on the Home Board until they are used.

  8. Give the Sun Token to the shortest player. That player will go first.

Setup with Younger Children

My Lil' Everdell has 2 options for giving younger children an advantage to help balance the game against more experienced players. You may choose to add one or both of these advantages in each game.

Starting Bonus: Begin the game with 1 Resin, 1 Twig, and 1 Berry.

Captain & Fort: Begin the game with 1 Captain and/or 1 Fort card. These cards count toward achieving Parades. They do not activate when you set up the game with them, but they will activate during the Gather Goodies step each round as normal (including the first round). Return extra Captain and Fort cards to the box.

How to Play

Every turn, you will place one Friend, and then play one card (if you can and want to). The game will last a set number of turns, and then the player with the most points wins! Keep reading to see how it works.

The game takes place over 4 rounds. During each round:

  1. Roll Dice
  2. Gather Goodies
  3. Take Turns (Place Friends, Play cards)
  4. Return Home
  5. Move the Sun and Moon Tokens

Symbol Key

  • Berry — a purple berry resource
  • Twig — a brown twig resource
  • Resin — an orange resin resource
  • Any Resource — Berry, Twig, or Resin
  • Point — a Point Token
  • Critter — a Critter card
  • Place — a Place card

1. Roll Dice

At the beginning of each round, the player with the Sun Token will roll the Resource Dice and place them back on the board, one die per location.

2. Gather Goodies

Each player activates all of the Green cards they have already played beside their Home boards, in any order they choose. (You will not have any Green cards yet in the first round unless you're playing with the Captain and Fort cards.)

Reminder: Green cards will activate when you play them during the game, and again during the Gather Goodies step of each round after that.

3. Take Turns

During each round, starting with the player who has the Sun Token, players will take turns in clockwise order to place 1 of their Friends onto a location on the board to perform that action.

After placing a friend, the player may play 1 card from below the board by paying its cost. Then the player takes the top Parade Token for any new Parades that they qualify for (and do not already have).

Then, the next player on the left takes their turn. Continue until each player has taken 3 turns.

4. Return Home

After each player has taken 3 turns, the round is over. Return all 3 Friends to each player's Home Board.

5. Move Sun and Moon Tokens

Pass the Sun Token to the right, so the player who went last during the previous round will go first in the next round.

Move the Moon Token to the next spot to indicate the start of the next round.

Go back to step 1. and repeat until you've played 4 rounds, then check your score to see who won (see End of the Game).

Placing Friends

Anyone may place a Friend on the top 3 spaces on the board, even if another player or another of their own Friends are already there. Placing a Friend on one of these spaces lets you take one of the resources shown above that space.

Example: Placing a Friend on the left space would let you take 1 Resin.

Only 1 Friend is allowed on the special Resource Dice spaces. Take the resources and/or points shown on the die at that space when you place a Friend there. You can always find more resources at the Resource Dice than at the other board spaces, but it may not be exactly what you would like best!

Example: Placing a Friend on this space lets you take 1 Point Token and 1 single Resource of any type (Resin, Twig, or Berry). Now that your Friend is on this space, nobody else may visit this space until all the Friends return home at the end of the round.

You may place a Friend on a Red card that you own to gain the resources or perform the action shown. You cannot place a Friend on another player's Red card.

Example: Placing a Friend on the Lookout allows you to copy one of the Resource Dice on the board to gain those resources, even if another player's Friend is on that space.

Placing a friend on the Grass Clipper lets you activate two different Green cards you already own.

Playing Cards

Each turn after you place a Friend, you may play one of the face-up cards below the board. To play a card, you must pay the cost in resources shown on the top. Paid resources go back to the piles on the board. After paying the cost, place the card face-up beside your Home. Replace the card that was played with a new one from the deck.

A card shows: the Critter or Place symbol, the Cost to Play, the End Game Point Value, the Color Symbol, the card Name, and the Card Ability/Reward.

You may find it easiest to place Critters on one side and Places on the other side of your Home Board to keep track of when you qualify for Parades.

Card Colors

The different card colors work in different ways. When a card is activated, it gives you the listed reward.

  • Green cards activate once as soon as you play them, and they activate again at the beginning of each new round.
  • Blue cards activate after playing a certain card type or earning a Parade, or let you play a certain card for cheaper.
  • Tan cards activate only one time as soon as you play them. They do not activate again.
  • Red cards activate when you place a Friend on them. Each player may only use their own Red cards that they have played.
  • Purple cards only activate after the game has ended. They give you point tokens for other cards or Parades you may have at the end of the game.

Parades

There are 4 Parades that every player is trying to achieve. As soon as you meet the listed requirements on any of the Parades, take the highest value Parade Token remaining on the board for that type of Parade, and place it in your area. You may only achieve each Parade once.

  • 5 Places
  • 5 Critters
  • At least 1 of each colored symbol
  • 3 cards of the same color (except Green)

The first player to reach 5 Critter cards will get the token worth 6 points. The next player to reach 5 Critter cards will get 5 points, and so on. You are allowed to achieve more than one type of Parade at the same time.

End of the Game

After the last player has taken their final turn in round 4, the game is over.

Trade Resources

Trade in any leftover resources you have to the game board for point tokens. Every 2 resources gets you 1 Point Token, regardless of type.

Example: You have 5 resources left at the end of the game (3 twigs, 1 resin, and 1 berry). You can trade 2 twigs for a point token then trade 1 berry and resin for a point token. The leftover 1 twig will get no bonus points.

Purple Bonus Points

For each Purple card you have at the end of the game, take bonus Point Tokens as described on the card. (The King and the Ever Tree do not give you any bonus points, they are just worth more points on their own.)

Example: At the end of the game, the Castle lets you take 1 Point Token for each Green card in your area. But the King does not get any bonus Point Tokens.

Total Your Points

Count all of the points shown on your cards, your Parade Tokens, and your Point Tokens. The player with the most points wins! If you need a tiebreaker, the player with the most points on their cards wins.

Components

  • Game Board
  • 4 Home Boards
  • 50 Main Deck Cards
  • 1 Moon Token (Round Tracker)
  • 1 Sun Token (First Player)
  • 4 Captain Cards and 4 Fort Cards (Do not shuffle these into the Main Deck.)
  • 16 Parade Tokens
  • 4 Resource Dice
  • 1 Victory Card
  • Berries
  • Twigs
  • Resin
  • Point Tokens
  • 3 Fort Builders
  • 3 Doctors
  • 3 Farmers
  • 3 Heroes
  • This Rulebook

Credits

Design: James & Clarissa A. Wilson

Illustration: Andrew Bosley

Additional Illustration: Jacqui Davis

Rules Editor: Tim Schuetz

Editing and Proofing: Ian McCormack, Tim Schuetz, Sara Yarrington

Graphic Design: Jared Gannuscio, Tristan Collins

Production: Tim Schuetz, Dawson Ellis

Executive Producer & Publisher: Dan Yarrington

Thank you to our amazing playtesters: Alayna B., Aniya B., Julianne Cameron, Ryan Cameron, Joelle Cathala, Christina Colantuoni, Gabrielle Dolloff, Tim Dolloff, Sean Johnson, Ian McCormack, Chris Mitchell, Andrew Osborne, Desiree Osborne, Jordana Osborne, Anna Papavasiliou, Peter Papavasiliou, Peter John Papavasiliou, Jacob Parker, Alex Peske, Amy Peske, Chrissy Peske, Tom Peske, Becca Peterson, Lane Peterson, Bec Pouliot, Marissa Schuetz, Raelyn Schuetz, Tim Schuetz, Zoe Schuetz, Andrea Thomas, Caleb Wilson, Jeremiah Wilson, Josiah Wilson, Julianna Wilson, Noah Wilson, Olivia Wilson, Wesley Wilson, Dan Yarrington, Logan Yarrington, Malcolm Yarrington, Owen Yarrington, Sara Yarrington

© 2022-2024 Tabletop Tycoon, Inc.

Starling Games is an imprint of Tabletop Tycoon, Inc.