Starling Games | Everdell: Bellfaire | 1-6 Players | Ages 14+ | 40-120 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

EVERDELL New Expansions And Complete Collection Includes Spiders With Top Hats!". GeekTyrant . Retrieved 2022-11-21.

The term gateway game is now used so frequently that I’m not sure it has any value. What is a gateway game anyway? Often it simply seems to suggest that a game has to be as straightforward as something like Monopoly, yet I find that a lot of games carrying the label fail to prepare their charges for what modern board games are really capable of. Everdell might be the perfect gateway game based on my new definition. Why, you ask? Simply put, it does almost everything right — it’s beautiful and well made, it’s very simple and easy to teach, yet despite all that, it’s complex enough to develop some very competitive play. If I have one complaint about Everdell , it’s only that the final scoring can be a bit messy with the frequent need to recount when the score is close. This may include locations on Destination cards like an Inn or Queen, but not a Cemetery since it is a permanent location. I include the laundry list of changes because, in many ways, Pearlbrook created a new game altogether. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy this game. But when I’m looking for an expansion, I’m usually looking for one that is less jarring to my sensibilities. The River doesn’t qualify in that regard. Rather than a diverse world and city-building exercise, Pearlbrook feels like a race to build the Wonders. Less a bonus setting, the River eclipses the Meadow a bit too much to rank at the top of my list.

At the end of the game, the player who has the most cards in their city of the type listed on the Garland will gain an additional 6 points. Second place will gain an additional 3 points. After this climax, the four animals continued to lead their lives… in great joy and contentment, undisturbed by further risings or invasions.” 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.

During setup, shuffle the Garland Awards and draw 1, placing it either faceup beside the main board or in the designated area on the Bellfaire board. You may keep this drawn card, or you may give it to an opponent. If you give it away, draw 2 cards. Once everyone has completed their actions for the final season (fall) the game ends. The winner is determined based on the sum total of points on all of the cards that players have in their personal tableau (up to a maximum of fifteen.) There are eight bonus objectives to score as well (four of which are randomised during setup) and some cards provide bonuses when combined, or bonuses for collecting certain resources or similar. Among the additional modules is one of my favourites – that of specific player powers. Each of the different animal species now benefits from a specific power or ability, and it’s nice to see that Bellfaire includes cards for all (as far as I know) of the animals that feature in the base game and all of the expansions featured in this review and released at the time of writing. Also included in Bellfaire is my least favourite expansion – the player boards. These simply allow players to store resources and workers whilst giving them a “start” to place their tableau into – sadly, these stay in the box for me.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. Players can get pearls for being the first to visit the underwater locations/citizens and flipping those cards over (which then become additional expansion spaces.) Sometimes these spaces allow pearls to be spend, as do some of the seasonal event cards that Pearlbrook introduces, but the main way in which you’ll spend pearls is by investing in the monuments, which are worth increasingly more points (right up to 25) should you be able to afford them.