Matthew BaileyGame 9 of the “Bailey Family Summer 2023 Board Game Bonanza” is “My Lil’ Everdell,” played by myself, Jack (8.), and Toby (5).
Thanks to Nicola Asker who, following her play the other day, convinced me to give it a go.
“My Lil’ Everdell” is a simplified and “younger” version of “Everdell,” a much-loved and highly-rated worker placement game where players try to build communities under the Evertree in the Valley of Everdell.
In this version, you play as the kids of the main game characters, who are building an imaginary city, and you need to help by gathering resources.
SUPER SHORT REVIEW VERSION FOR FANS OF EVERDELL – This is essentially the same game, but with slightly fewer mechanics and card interactions that are easier to understand. There are still different spaces, the same 5 card types, and 3 resources instead of 4. If you like “Everdell” and want to play it with younger kids, then this is a great starting point. However, I must say it is not that simplified, and as far as “my first” games go, this one is still fairly complex. In fact, the engine-building aspect in this is probably more complex than in games such as “Splendor” or “Century.” Nonetheless, it is a solid game that I would recommend, and the artwork is beautiful (although I miss the big 3D tree).
LONGER REVIEW FOR EVERYONE ELSE – “My Lil’ Everdell” is an engine-building and worker placement game where you build an imaginary town, playing as child-like Critters.
For those unfamiliar, an engine-building game is where you gather cards with abilities that often chain onto other cards in your possession. This allows you to perform actions that trigger a chain reaction, earning you points, resources, and other benefits.
To set up the game, you place 8 random cards under the board, and each player takes a set of meeples for their particular starting character. Then, you set up the parade cards, each with various conditions that must be met, such as:
- Getting 5 critters
- Getting 5 buildings
- Getting one of each colour
- Getting 3 of a specific colour (not green)
As you complete these objectives, you take the top card from the parade pile, which gives decreasing points the later you take them. Additionally, there are dice positions and positions to gather resources.
There are special rules for playing with younger children, where characters can start with a starting bonus of one resource each, as well as a captain and fort card to help their engine get going. Toby has both of these bonuses to start and Jack had 1.
On your turn, you roll the dice for the number of players and place them into the dice spaces. These dice have resources available for collection. You also activate any green cards you have, many of which involve gaining more resources.
Next, you take turns placing one of your critter meeples on a space where the dice are, where the resources are, or on a red location card if you happen to have one in your tableau. Only one critter can go to the dice spaces, but multiple critters can occupy resource spaces.
After placing a worker, you can choose to buy a card from the marketplace that adds a critter or a building to your tableau. These cards provide various benefits and improve your engine in different ways. There are five types of cards:
- Green: Activate when you play them and at the beginning of each round (4 rounds in total).
- Blue: Activate every time you perform another action or allow you to buy cards for cheaper.
- Tan: Activates once when you buy it.
- Red: Becomes a new location that you can move one of your critters to each round to activate.
- Purple: Activates when the game ends.
All the cards you purchase also have an end-game point value, so even if a card isn’t the most useful, it can still earn you points in the end.
To play these cards, you must pay for them with the resources you have gathered or earned.
The game lasts for four rounds, meaning you have only 12 turns in total to gather and produce as many points as you can. Most points wins.
The general rules are explained on the cards themselves, and there is minimal reading, as most cards have icons. However, if you are playing with a young child who cannot read, you may need to point out what a few of the cards do.
There are also a few combinations that at least on first play seem quite overpowered. I managed to obtain the “Fort Builder” and “Shopkeeper” cards (seen in pics) which when used together basically let me run away with the game in the last few turns.
As you can see, this is still a relatively complicated game. However, one thing I particularly like is that once a child is confident with “My Lil’ Everdell,” they can comfortably transition to the main game, “Everdell,” with ease.
The quality of the components is generally extremely high. The artwork, produced by Andrew Bosley, is absolutely beautiful, and the whole package exudes personality. The meeples are well-made, and the resources are of high quality, although it is a shame that they felt the need to provide extra resource tokens in the form of cardboard discs, highlighting a minor issue. The fact that they were a little bit stingy with the number of berries, twigs, and resins is worth noting. These are the same components used in the main game of “Everdell,” so you could use those tokens if you needed a few more.
There are a few things, however, that could be improved and slightly dampen the game from a quality control point of view. The game gives you four crates made out of cardboard that you are meant to keep the resources in, along with the point tokens. Firstly, at least in my copy, the quality of the lamination of the cardboard was suspect, and almost all of the cardboard was starting to split as I made the crates. Equally, while the crates are fine for the resources, the crate is not large enough to hold all of the point tokens, so we ended up using a separate bowl anyway, which defeats the purpose of having it.
It also irritated me that half of the components are on the board and half are in a grid “off” the board. Had the board been twice the size and folded in half everything would have fit on the board… I might be being unreasonable that I let this bother me but it did.
While this game is half the price of “Everdell,” I do miss some of the grandeur that came with the 3D tree found in the main game, and I would have liked to see something recreated here, possibly leaning more into the imaginary built town theme. Finally, and I know it won’t bother everyone, there is absolutely no insert in this game, meaning everything has to go into bags and then knock around in the box. It’s also worth noting that the box itself is slightly larger than you would expect and, at least in my case, didn’t fit on the shelf I intended to put it on. However, it is unusually thin, which means it could be a good contender to squeeze into a gap on your shelf.
Jack absolutely loved this game, partly due to the gameplay, but also the theme and artwork. Toby, on the other hand, found it a little bit too complex, even as a family-friendly game. He understood the rules and what he was doing, but following all of the different card interactions and rules proved to be challenging for him. The box claims it’s suitable for ages 6 and above, but unless your children are already quite competent with board game mechanics, it might be a bit optimistic and I would say 8+ is more doable.
The best way I can sum this up is this is a simpler Everdell, not a “kiddie” Everdell.
There is a solo version but I admit I have not played this so cannot comment on that in this review.
You can generally find this game online for around £40, and there’s genuinely a lot to love about it. It’s beautiful, plays well, and is indeed a simplified version of “Everdell.” However, I must emphasize that it’s not a “my first” board game by any means. I would only recommend it to young children if they and probably you are fairly competent at playing more modern hobbyist board games.
Having said that, Jack is now desperate to play the full “Everdell,” which we might have to give a go at some point.
