Everdell Duo Review: Triumphant or Skunked?

[@gqsnowman]

Just played this with my wife yesterday. It is a fantastic coffee shop afternoon game. There is definitely a puzzle here but it isn’t so brain burning that you feel mentally exhausted when you leave. Doesn’t outstay its welcome and has enough strategies and random setup that it has decent replayability right out of the box. My score is right around Zee’s, maybe even hitting that 9 that he teased.

[@furballwithpurpose]

Agree with Zee that I think this is an excellent game, streamlining the original at 1-2 players. The campaign actually adds A LOT and I highly recommend that based on the scenarios I have played so far. Great review. Thank you!

[@NotLikeTheOtherBees]

Everdell is one of my favourite games, and I backed this for a small fast 2 player version to complement my ridiculously sized big box that I play in large groups, and I'm excited by the co-op campaign as well. Can't wait for international orders to ship in the next couple of months.

[@jameskirk4692]

Thank you both for this review! I am considering getting this physically, since I played digital version of original on my phone.

[@terhuneb]

8:24 "Turdus" 😏

[@silverfang6668]

It’s a time traveling turtle that is bigger on the inside.

[@felixfryxell7529]

Happy to see more interactive euros for two.

[@TimYoung1984]

Which expansion for the original game gets rid of the specificity of the events that Zee mentions at 15:13 ? Thanks!

[@jayray1714]

I'm guessing he's referring to Bellfaire.

[@arifjumali]

Everdell: Bellfaire

[@mjaew1]

Bellfaire, and also some in Newleaf

[@ttocsisme]

Nice, we're mostly playing 2 player stuff these days. Enjoyed then original but not enough to buy it and play at 2.

[@GaryFromLiberty]

Curious how people feel about it re-using art from the original game. That was a bit of a disappointment to me but on the other hand the game was a lot less expensive than I thought it would be and that could very well one of the reasons why

[@SamiPaju]

Depends a lot on who they aimed it for. I’ve only played Everdell once. Didn’t find it that interesting. This sounds better to me, so coming at it with fresh eyes, all the art is new to me.

[@BeefyChud]

Disappointed to see the same old art copy and pasted. Everdell has been extremely successful. There’s no convincing reason why this shouldn’t have its own unique art.

[@elqord.1118]

There is one reason called price. This game will be dirt cheap in retail and re-using art is a big reason. I am new to Everdell and couldn’t care less. Just happy to have a game that suits my current needs

[@BeefyChud]

@ sure there’s plenty of reasons it’s good for the publisher. The game was very well crowd funded. Art is a one time cost. As I said. There are reasons. They are not convincing.

[@elqord.1118]

@ it is for me. I am able to get into this franchise thanks to this game because a) it is focused on 2p and b) it is cheap.

[@esolo114]

Yeah there's no excuse. It's just lazy, they got their funding and now there just being greedy.

[@dvdivn01]

@@esolo114the funding campaign was more like a preorder than anything else

[@draheim90]

Wasn’t a huge fan of base Everdell and the price point kept me away from getting either it or Farshore to teach to my wife even though I thought she’d enjoy it. This was the perfect product for my situation and also allows us to play co-op if we wish, so I’m with Zee on this one in terms of score. And I do enjoy this one much more than base Everdell but unfortunately after one play I think my wife is just lukewarm on it, maybe that could change with more plays or trying co-op.

[@arifjumali]

The original already play great with two. Even for someone new that may want to try Everdell, should just get the original.

[@TomVG1987]

I also love Everdell at two (needs some expansions though to be really great) but this seems like a faster, more travel friendly version that we can bring on vacation trips so might get this as well.

[@soporific9212]

I wouldn't recommend OG Everdell at 2 unless you have Mistwood expansion. Duo is better than the original without it but the Original with Mistwood is one of the best 2 player experiences out there imo.

[@randalladkins7452]

@Tomvg87-yt or pick up My Little Everdell (think they renamed it) and it travels well too. Honestly, though, original travels fine and still plays better/funner/more strategy than any of these unnecessary spinoffs. 😊

[@marks6928]

@@soporific9212the original plays fine at 2 players without any expansions. I’ve played it around 50 times that way and enjoyed it every time. Expansions are fine, but not needed.

[@isaacspeed6406]

Frankly, I have Everdell and Bellfaire and think it's fine as is, and will definitely pass on this. The whole missing out on a worker feels more shackling than interesting, and if you have more workers/resources than your opponent, usually you do have less options for worker placement, and cards you wanted may have passed by you already. Seems smooth enough at two players already. I understand I'm an edge case as I already have it and an expansion, so if you just don't have it, I can see the case. Also I've never set up the tree and missed nothing.

[@bangazboom9925]

I’ve played Everdell a couple of times due to all the hype and for me, at two-player, it went way too long! We played it twice and that was enough for me. Seeing that there’s a two-player version that is 30 minutes is a way better offering.

[@CresentSoul]

The original had the cool thing with buildings having specific residents. That was the whole unique thing to start with. Weird they let that go with these recent games 😢

[@TomVG1987]

I get that but that feature could also cause frustration - especially with newer players - when the right construction or critter doesn't show up. While I personally prefer the original gameplay I can understand why they choose to streamline that feature.

[@david.miskick]

It looks really interesting and appealing to me, but those small letters on small cards will hurt my eyes. And I am not an old person.

[@marks6928]

Maybe you are but you don’t want to admit it 🙃

[@ConeDefense]

Thank god this doesn’t have some monstrosity that has to sit on the table.

[@thegameknightuk8156]

Not even bothered to do new card art. Is Everdell now the biggest money-grab board game in the modern era?

[@klawless]

I dont conflate art with effort. Would you prefer just a reskin of seven wonders duel similar to what they did Splendor. Or maybe Century: Golem? I can see they put some effort into design.

[@nicksims2827]

That will always be Terraforming Mars. At least this uses proper art, though you’re right - even the same artist but the critters in new poses would be cool. I love the replacement farms that do that.

[@patekrolex]

The cards are too small for my taste

[@Dalmatinac3]

I sold everdell and never looked back.

[@marks6928]

Thanks for sharing.

[@christaggart5687]

Everdell is one of those games where I think “why is this game so popular?” The components carry this game

[@thecuriousboardgamer]

For you.

[@kq76]

I'm curious if there's a game with similar mechanisms that you like a lot more than Everdell. Many might say Viticulture, but I really don't like that game while I do kind of like Everdell. But I do think that the art and components do a lot of work carrying Everdell. And I think it's okay for a game to be liked more for its art and components and gameplay, I'd just like to think the gameplay is great too. I wonder if I would appreciate the changes in Farshore or Duo. I think my main grumble with Everdell is it ramps up too fast and just once you feel like your engine is going the game is over. I wish it ramped up just a bit slower. I'm not so much bothered by the issues Zee was talking about, about cards you need maybe not coming up, but I do acknowledge that is another downside. Whenever I play it doesn't really seem like the win was earned, it more just seems like we went through a fun little exercise and someone won.

[@marks6928]

“The components carry the game”. That is your opinion. It is not a fact.

[@drittz7840]

Probably going to be overpriced like their other games.

[@crawf168]

Kickstarter was $19