Everdell

Everdell has a welcome way of moving me away from the usual tiles and cubes without asking me to leave the thinking behind. It is cute without becoming saccharine, and on the table it feels like a small, orderly celebration after a Tuesday at work. Its reputation may be cooler than it deserves, because I struggle to see the problem: this is consistently pleasant gaming with just the right amount of weight.

At its centre, the game joins worker placement to engine building. You place workers to gather what you need, then spend those gains on cards, gradually building a little city and the connections that make it run more efficiently.

This is not simply solitary development. There is a race for available spaces, and there are cuts that make you watch what other players can reach before you do; the opening hand can matter rather a lot, so drafting it would be a sensible option for groups wanting to reduce that influence. Even so, the brain-burn stays proportionate and the game does not pull the evening about by the hair.

With expansions or without them, Everdell remains a very good engine builder of sensible length. It is the sort of game I would play any time, alongside Architects of The West: not because it clamours for attention, but because it knows precisely how much of your evening to take. Quietly excellent.

Updated session

Later plays, once on the table and several times online, confirmed rather than changed that first impression. It remained just as happy an experience, and its brisk, tidy running time makes it ideal for a TTS or Tabletopia evening when you want a complete game without staying up late.