How to play Everdell

How to play

Setup: Stand the Ever Tree at the top of the board and pile the twigs, resin, pebbles and berries by the river. Deal Forest cards onto the clearings (3 with two players, 4 with more), lay the 4 basic Event tiles along the river and put 4 random special Event cards on the tree's lower branches. Deal 8 cards face up to the Meadow and put the deck inside the tree. Each player keeps 2 workers and puts 4 on the upper branches: 1 on spring, 1 on summer, 2 on autumn. You start with no resources; players draw 5, 6, 7 and 8 cards in turn order.

Your turn: Going clockwise, take one action: place a worker, play a card, or prepare for season. Each player moves through the seasons on their own.

Place a worker: Put a worker on an open space and take its reward. Most spaces hold one worker; those drawn with an open ring hold any number. Basic locations and Forest cards give resources and cards. Red Destination cards act when visited: your own, or a rival's marked open, which earns its owner a point. The Haven gives 1 resource of your choice for every 2 cards you discard. In autumn only, a worker sent on a Journey scores 2 to 5 points for discarding that many cards.

Events: If your city meets an event's requirement, place a worker on it to claim it, paying any resources shown. Basic events want 3 or 4 cards of one colour and score 3 points; special events name particular cards. Each event goes to one player only.

Play a card: Pay a card's cost to play it from your hand or the Meadow, refilling the Meadow at once. Constructions cost twigs, resin and pebbles. Critters cost berries, or nothing if your city has the construction named on the critter: put an occupied token on it, as each construction does this once. Your city holds 15 cards, not counting events, and only one copy of each unique card. You can hold at most 8 cards.

Card colours: Tan Travelers act once, when played. Green Production cards act when played and again when you prepare for spring and autumn. Red Destinations act when a worker visits. Blue Governance cards give bonuses or discounts as you play other cards. Purple Prosperity cards score bonus points at the end.

Prepare for season: Once all your workers are out, take them all back, add the next worker(s) from the tree and take the bonus. Spring: 1 worker, and your green cards produce. Summer: 1 worker, and take up to 2 Meadow cards. Autumn: 2 workers, and green cards produce again. Autumn is the last season you prepare for.

Game end and scoring: After autumn, when you can't or won't act, you pass while the others play on. Score each card's points, your point tokens, Prosperity bonuses, Journeys and events. Ties go to the most events, then the most leftover resources.

Playing solo: You face Rugwort the rat, whose workers block spaces. Each time you play a card, roll the 8-sided die to choose the Meadow card he plays. The rulebook gives three years of rising difficulty.

Strategy

Everdell rewards turning a slow, empty-handed start into a city that pays you back every season. Get production down early: Green Production cards pay out when you play them and again when you prepare for spring and for autumn. One played before your spring preparation can pay three times; one played in autumn pays once. Cheap producers, such as the Farm with its berry, make a strong opening, and every one you add makes each later preparation bigger. Let constructions pay for critters: Each critter names a construction, and while you have that construction without an occupied token you can play the critter for no berries. Before paying full price for a critter, look for its construction in the Meadow or your hand; before building, ask which free critter it brings. The Ever Tree construction can bring in any critter. Treat cards as a resource: You begin with cards and nothing else, and cards convert. The Haven turns 2 cards into 1 resource of your choice, an autumn Journey turns discards into points, and the Meadow is a shared hand you can play from directly. Keep room under the 8-card limit before preparing for summer, when you may take 2 Meadow cards. Plan your 15 spaces: The city fills faster than you expect. Early on, cheap cards that make resources or discounts earn their slot; later you want cards that score, especially purple Prosperity cards whose bonuses grow with the rest of your city, like the Castle, Palace and King. A Harvester and a Gatherer share one space, and Ruins can swap out a construction you no longer need and refund its cost. Chase events deliberately: Basic events are a 3-point race, so claim one as soon as you qualify. Read the four special events at setup: each needs particular cards, and if two of the cards you are already building towards match one, it is worth steering for. The King scores extra for every event you hold. Time your seasons: You can only prepare once every worker is out, but you may keep playing cards first. Playing green cards before spring gets them producing sooner, while preparing quickly returns your workers first to the spaces everyone wants. Because each player moves at their own pace, watch who is about to reclaim workers and which exclusive spaces they will need.

Tips

- You start with no resources, 2 workers and a hand of cards, so your first turns are usually worker placements. - Before paying berries for a critter, check whether you own its construction without an occupied token; then the critter is free. - You may play a card straight from the Meadow, and the gap is refilled at once. - The Haven takes any number of workers and trades every 2 cards you discard for 1 resource of your choice. - Leave space under the 8-card hand limit before you prepare for summer so you can take both Meadow cards. - Only one player can claim each event, so take a basic event the turn you qualify if a rival is close. - Save spare cards for autumn: a Journey worker scores 2 to 5 points for discarding that many cards, and the 2-point space is shared. - Visiting a rival's open Destination card is allowed, but it gives them a point.

Player count & time

1–4 players aged 10 and up, in 40–80 minutes. Two players use 3 Forest cards and three or four use 4; in a four-player game some Forest locations open a second space, though never for two of your own workers. The solo game pits you against Rugwort, a rat who blocks spaces and builds a city from the Meadow, over three 'years' that get harder each time you beat him.

Expansions

Pearlbrook adds a river with frog ambassadors and pearls. Spirecrest adds a mountain board to explore, Discovery cards, Weather cards and Big Critters. Bellfaire adds player powers, a market and support for 5–6 players. Newleaf adds a station whose train cars extend the Meadow, reservation tokens, visitors and 59 new cards. Mistwood is a new mode for one or two players. The Complete Collection bundles the base game with expansions. There are also standalone games in the same world: Everdell Duo for 1–2 players, and the Edge of the Map series of Farshore (2023), Silverfrost (2025) and Emerland (2026).

Production value

Everdell's table presence is a big part of its appeal: richly illustrated cards, wooden critter workers, colourful resource pieces and the three-dimensional Ever Tree standing over the board. The 3rd edition's tree is language-neutral, and a Collector's Edition is also sold.

Common beginner mistake

Filling the city too soon. Fifteen spaces go quickly, and a city packed with cheap one-shot Travelers by summer has no room left for the Prosperity cards and events that score well in autumn. Before each card, ask whether it will still deserve its space at the end; if a construction has outlived its use, Ruins can take its place and refund its cost.