What EVERDELL taught me about Board Game Design | Hall of Fame

[@dimpleza]

Brilliant, what a very well thought out and deep analysis of the game. Thank you so very much for this and for putting so much work and effort into your videos!

[@AdaminWales]

Thanks! :)

[@GiancarloSpinelli]

Wonderful analysis Adam! I couldn't agree more: regardless its flaws, Everdell has been one of my favourite games for years now. The scarce resources and the importance of every single worker set a challenge that is always nice to revisit, but I was always aware that theme and artwork play a huge role in attracting me back to it: it's just lovely. Greetings from italy!

[@Rik77]

Really interesting and in depth. I agree about the difficulty for new players. I love this game,but it took me a while to get there. I struggled with my first few games, the combination of the very tight but open first season, along with the tiny text and imo very similar looking cards made the game hard work and a bit of head scratching. But the beautiful art kept me coming back, once i got through that first barrier the game suddenly made more sense as i got used to the cards and common combos. Also the wonderful app helped a lot, you can easily zoom in on the text, everything is clear.

[@AnimeLoftus]

Thank you for this FANTASTIC review! The explanation of how the expansions change things and your view from a designer perspective are fantastic. Thank you!

[@bruceknight3720]

Always good to hear you enthusing about a product! Still not a game for me though. Just like with Wingspan and Ark Nova, I find it a bit of a chore getting to know the massive deck of cards...

[@AdaminWales]

It certainly felt like “work” to me for the first few games. Glad I persevered though! :)

[@Guillotine-th9uf]

Thank you for this fantastic presentation and explanation of the whys and wherefores of Everdell! I listen to a lot of game reviews in French (sorry I'm :-)), German and English and I have to say that yours are not only very understandable for me but also the most detailed and argued I've ever heard, really a big bravo you're top! Keep up this perfect work... thanks Adam!

[@AdaminWales]

Thanks so much for this kind feedback :)

[@flavflav7792]

Interesting! tried 3 times and the negative you're mentioning did totally put me off (end game with one player going on for an additional 15mn, tiny text with things to read the other side of the table... and the useless tree just there for table presence)

[@mlmattin]

Another excellent video! Thank you! All I have is the base game, but I sure do want that art and lore book. It looks incredible! I had no idea that it existed. Looking forward to more of your Hall of Fame.

[@AdaminWales]

Yes, it’s a very beautiful book - with some lovely stories in there.

[@koroviev8897]

Hi Adam! Great video! I recently discovered your channel and now you have a new suscriptor. Please keep the coming!! I don’t know if you play videogames, but I had similar feelings about great execution of already test and tried mechanics when I playing through Ghost of Tsushima. Also, Arnak designers have a couple of blogs on BGG where they describe how they first made the world and then kind of fit the game inside it. They too, it seems, realized how important theme still is for board games development Anyway, I love Everdell and this video made me very happy :) 🎉

[@AdaminWales]

Thanks! I don’t play a lot of video games - just the occasional Mario title :) but I really need to try Arnak. That one has passed me by. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@natew.7951]

Excellent video

[@grog3514]

Where does Monopoly fall on your matrix?

[@evra91]

Outside haha

[@AdaminWales]

Interesting question! The matrix only really applies in relation to the time of release. Monopoly WAS a great idea when it was invented. And it was executed very effectively by Parker Brothers (though there wasn’t much competition). It is interesting to consider how well Hasbro is handling the Monopoly brand right now: most Monopoly products these days are actually making fun of Monopoly (Cheaters Edition; Longest Game Ever; A Monopoly game you’ll actually finish; Sore Loser’s edition). Is this keeping the game relevant? Or cheapening the brand? With Asmodee growing exponentially with a wealth of great accessible games hitting mass market stores, I wonder whether Monopoly sales have been hit. Nonetheless, it would sit at the top right of the matrix on the basis of the Idea and Execution upon release. It would fare poorly on the engagement ladder though!

[@dimpleza]

Makes for excellent tinder hehe

[@GramMcM]

Why hate on medieval settings?

[@zachcarmichael699]

Not a fan of Everdell. Lots of setup but little reward. Felt like the game flew by and I didn't really have enough time to look through the market of cards and plan a proper strategy.

[@greytoeimp]

Woah you’re going to be critical we don’t like that!! 😅

[@AdaminWales]

Don’t know why I felt the need to qualify that in this video - I always try to give plenty of balanced criticism 🙂 Mainly I think it was because it feels weird that I love this game but still have LOADS of criticisms of it 😅

[@mundelltaylor-kw5si]

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂