In my attempt at trying to ween my kids off mindless mass-market games (a la Trouble or Candyland), I’m always on the lookout for games in the “My First” or “My Lil'” lines. My tykes have cut their teeth on a number of HABA games throughout the years, and lately have really been into Catan Junior, so I was hoping My Lil’ Everdell would be a good next step for them.
If you are not familiar with it, Everdell is a worker placement and engine-building game published by Starling Games. It’s a really good game, but a bit too complex for my almost 6-year olds. Is My Lil’ Everdell a better fit? Let’s find out.
Gameplay Overview:
My Lil’ Everdell is played over 4 rounds, and in each round players take 3 turns. On a player’s turn they first place one of their friends to a worker placement spot. The spots come in three types: large ones that grant 1 resource, which can hold any number of friends; dice spots, which grant what’s showing on the dice, but can only hold 1 friend (first come, first serve); and spots on red cards that players can build into their tableau, usable only by them.
After placing a friend, players can optionally buy a card to add to their tableau. Much like the original Everdell, cards come in 5 types: production, one-time bonus, new worker-placement spot, ones that trigger off other cards, or end-game bonuses. Cards will cost anywhere from 1-3 resources of varying types (berries, sticks, or amber).
Finally, if a player has acquired enough cards to put on a parade, they can claim the associated victory point token. These require you to have X number of houses or critter cards, or different sets of colors.
Then the next player takes their turn.
After each player has taken 3 turns, the round ends and the first player marker passes, dice are rerolled, and players’ production cards produce resources for them. After the 4th round, the game ends and victory points are tallied from cards, tokens, and purple cards’ abilities. The player with the most points is the winner.
Game Experience:
I was a little worried with how well My Lil’ Everdell would go over, as it’s a bit heavier than my kids are used to. But to my surprise, it was a big hit. I’ve played the original Everdell and this definitely isn’t just a dummed-down version. I’d compare it more to the city versions of Ticket to Ride (Ticket to Ride: New York for example), which streamline the gameplay but still keeps its core intact. Would I play it with my gaming group? Maybe, if we were looking for an easy filler. But I could definitely see playing this with my parents or non-gamer friends. It’s really accessible and makes a great introduction to the worker placement genre.
At (almost) age 6, my kids feel like the bottom end of the age range for the game. They are still learning to read, so I have to help them here and there, but overall the cards are pretty easy to figure out with minimal reading required. Many times they’ll ask me what a card does, and I ask them first what they think it does. Most of they time they have it figured out. My son even realized the card that lets you build for 1 less resource is very poweful and made sure to grab that ASAP in our second game.
Interestingly, my kids also figured out how to “hate draft” pretty quickly. My son needed only one more card for a parade, and it was out in the market. Once he announced this (on my daughter’s turn), she promptly bought it, even though she didn’t really need it for anything. There was definitely some complaining from my son, until he realized he could do the same thing back to her on his turn. So parents be warned, there is the possibility of melt downs if your kids get into hate drafting.
Designers James and Clarissa Wilson wisely added some extra cards to give younger players more of a chance to compete with older players. Each kid gets to start with two bonus cards that produce an extra victory point during production and one resource of their choice. In a game with only 12 turns total, this actually makes a decent difference. On a level playing field, my kids probably wouldn’t stand a chance at winning against an adult, but with these cards, they’ve actually secured a few victories. So as a balancing mechanic, it works excellently.
Final Thoughts:
Honestly, I don’t have a lot to complain about with My Lil’ Everdell. While it’s not going to be taking the world by storm, it does exactly what it sets out to do, bringing the core game of Everdell to a new market. It works great for both kids and non-gamers alike. And it actually could be great for fans of Everdell as a quicker-playing version for when they don’t have a lot of time.
While we don’t do review scores for kids games, because your kids age and experience will greatly change the experience of the game, I can say that mine have already asked to play it a few times since their first game, which is one of the benchmarks I use for how good a game is for them. I even asked them if they liked it, to which my son said “its one of his favorites”, and my daughter said she didn’t like it. When I asked why, she said because “she lost”. So I’m not too sure on her future as a reviewer.
