How to Play Everdell Duo

Game Objective

In the charming valley of Everdell, there's a fierce competition to build and maintain the most prosperous cities. Creatures come from far and wide to inhabit the Emerald Valley, and mayors will do anything to ensure their city is the most brilliant. You will take on the role of one of these mayors, facing your opponent. But time and resources are scarce, and if all Events are celebrated before the end of the year, you will have to plan carefully and play strategically to claim victory.

Alternatively, you can combine your skills and work together to govern a single city, facing cooperative challenges.

The game lasts 4 seasons. After that, players tally their scores to determine the winner. If playing cooperatively, check the requirements of the chapter you are playing to see if you have won.

Preparation (Setup)

1. When playing competitively, place the game board on the table with the side showing "Journey" in the top right corner. For cooperative or solo play, use the side of the board showing numbers in some of the spaces.
2. Place the Sun and Moon tokens on the central path, in the first space to the left. Place the resources (Twigs, Resin, Pebbles, Berries), point tokens, and Occupied tokens near the board to form a general supply.
3. Shuffle the Creature and Construction cards together and form a face-down deck near the left of the board. Place 1 card face-up in each board space in the Meadow. Always fill the Meadow from left to right, starting with the top row. The discard pile will be face-down and rotated 90 degrees, although no cards are there to start.
4. Shuffle the River tiles and form a face-down pile. Place the top 2 tiles face-up in the River spaces on the board.
5. Place the 4 Season tiles on the right side of the board face-up in order: winter, spring, summer, autumn. (The opossum icon will appear at the top if playing solo or cooperatively; no opossum icon for competitive).
6. Shuffle each set of lettered Event tiles individually, then randomly choose 1 from each set. Combine these 5 tiles with the "Faire" tile, then shuffle these 6 tiles and randomly place 1 in each Event space at the top of the board, face-up. Place the Journey Event tile in its space on the far right.
7. Give the 3 Hare workers to the player who most recently took a nap. Give the 3 Turtle workers to the other player. Each player draws 2 cards from the deck. Then, resolve the steps shown on the Winter season tile.

Game Flow

The game progresses through 4 seasons. On your turn, you can perform only 1 of 3 possible actions. After each action, you must move the Sun or Moon token to the right by 1 space, depending on the action you performed.

A season ends when both the Sun and Moon tokens reach the end of the path. No further actions can be taken until the next season. To prepare for the next season, perform these steps:

• Players retrieve all their placed workers.
• Remove the current Season tile from the game.
• Move the Sun and Moon tokens back to the start of the track.
• Perform the actions listed on the next Season tile.

Season Actions

• Winter: The player with the Hare workers draws one card from the deck. Then, the player with the Turtle workers draws one card from the deck, then one from the Meadow. Replenish the Meadow. The player with the Hare workers is the starting player for this season. These Winter actions are performed at the beginning of the game as part of the setup.
• Spring: Discard the 2 River tiles, then replenish. The player with the Turtle workers activates all green cards in their city. Then, the player with the Hare workers activates all green cards in their city and draws 1 card from the deck. The player with the Turtle workers is the starting player for this season.
• Summer: Discard the 2 River tiles, then replenish. The player with the Hare workers draws 1 card from the Meadow. Then, the player with the Turtle workers draws 1 card from the Meadow, then gains 1 of any resource. Replenish the Meadow. The player with the Hare workers is the starting player for this season.
• Autumn: Discard the 2 River tiles, then replenish. The player with the Turtle workers activates all green cards in their city. Then, the player with the Hare workers activates all green cards in their city and gains 1 of any resource. The player with the Turtle workers is the starting player for this season.

Actions and How to Play

On your turn, you can perform only 1 of 3 possible actions. After each action, you must move the Sun or Moon token to the right by 1 space, depending on the action you performed.

At any time on your turn, you can also discard any number of cards from your hand to gain 1 of any resource for every 2 cards you discard.

Main Actions

• Place a Worker: Place 1 of your unplaced workers in any space that is not yet occupied, and then you can immediately perform the action of that space. Only one worker can be in each location. Move the Sun token after fully resolving the action.
• Farm Locations: You can visit the 4 Farm locations in the bottom right corner of the board. Placing a worker here would give you 3 twigs from the general supply.
• River Locations: You can visit the 2 River locations in the bottom left corner of the board. Placing a worker here allows you to trade 1 of any resource to gain 3 resources of any type.
• Red Destination Cards: You can visit any unoccupied red Destination card in your city or the other player's city. If you visit one in the other player's city, that player immediately gains 1 point token from the supply. Placing a worker here allows you to immediately activate any of the River Locations, even if already occupied, and gain 1 point token.
• Events: You can place a worker on any Event for which you meet the listed requirements. You only need to meet the requirements at the moment you reach the Event. Immediately gain the reward shown on the board below the Event and place the Event tile near your city. These are worth the listed points at the end of the game. Only one player can achieve each Event.
• Play a Card: Play 1 card face-up in front of you by paying its cost. These cards represent your city. Move the Moon token after fully resolving the action.
• You can play cards from three different locations: your hand, Meadow cards near the Sun token, or Meadow cards near the Moon token.
• Whenever you play a card from the Meadow, fully resolve the card's effect, then replenish the Meadow card.
• Occupied Tokens: Creature cards can be played by paying the cost in berries, or if you have an Occupied token, you can instead place the token on any Construction in your city of the same color as the Creature to then play the Creature for 0 berries. You can only have 1 Occupied token of each color.
• Some cards have a star icon () that offers a discount when playing other cards. You can only use 1 of these star abilities at a time and cannot combine their abilities.
• The cost of some cards is to discard a card from your hand, instead of spending resources, shown with a specific icon.
• Card Types:
  • Production (Green): Activate once as soon as you play them, and also at the beginning of spring and autumn.
  • Governance (Blue): Activate at different times as written on the cards, often giving a discount for other cards, or various rewards after playing certain cards.
  • Traveler (Brown): Activate only once as soon as you play them. They do not activate again.
  • Destination (Red): Activate only when you place a worker on them. If your opponent places a worker on a Destination card in your city, you immediately gain 1 point token from the supply.
  • Prosperity (Purple): Activate only after the game has ended, granting bonus points based on the listed aspects in your city.
• Take a Card: You can draw 1 card from the deck, or take any card from the Meadow, even if the Sun or Moon are not near it. Replenish the Meadow card after drawing it. Then, move your choice of Sun or Moon token. If one of them cannot move, you must move the other.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends immediately when both the Sun and Moon tokens reach the end of the track in autumn. Award the Journey Event if there is no tie, then tally the points to determine the winner.

Scoring Criteria

• Points on Cards: The points printed on the cards.
• Purple Bonus Points: Points granted by Prosperity (Purple) cards.
• Point Tokens: Any point tokens accumulated during the game.
• Events: Points from achieved Events.

The player with the most points is the winner. If there is a tie, use these tie-breaking criteria in order:

1. More Events achieved.
2. More resources remaining.
3. More cards in the city.
4. More cards in hand.

Tips for Winning

• Planning and timing for which cards you play are critical, as only cards touching the Sun or Moon tokens can be played from the Meadow, and players move these tokens each turn.
• Discarding cards from hand to gain resources can be very powerful and help achieve something that would not otherwise be possible.
• Carefully plan the timing of your actions, as if the Sun token reaches the end of the path and you still have unplaced workers, you will no longer be able to place them in that season.