Everdell Solo Rules

When you play Everdell solo, you’ll go up against a grumpy old mouse named Rugwort and his pack of rowdy, mischievous rat gang. He’ll come back to Everdell three years in a row, each time with a new mischievous title.

You have to figure out how to outsmart his wicked schemes and clean up Everdell once and for all.

Year One: “Rugwort the Rascal”

If you want to play a game against Rugwort, here’s what you need to do:

First, choose a color for yourself. Rugwort prefers black, so you can choose any other color. Once you’ve done that, set up the game for two players.

You start with a hand of five cards, but Rugwort doesn’t have any cards in his hand.

Now, let’s get Rugwort’s workers on the board. Take one worker and place it on the top-left Forest card, blocking it. Then, take his other worker and put it on the 3 twig action space, blocking it.

Now that everything is set up, you can start playing the game with these new rules:

Every time you play a card, Rugwort also gets to play a card. If you play a Meadow card, you need to replenish it first. To play Rugwort’s card, roll the 8-sided die. The number you roll will determine which of the 8 Meadow cards Rugwort gets to play into his city.

So let’s talk about the cards! There are eight of them, numbered from 1 to 8. The top-left card is number 1, and the bottom-right card is number 8. It’s important to keep this order in mind.

Now, when it comes to Rugwort’s city, it’s a good idea to organize his cards by color. This way, you can easily see how many cards he has of each color. Don’t worry about the ability or point value of the cards – just focus on the colors.

Remember, after Rugwort plays his card, you need to replenish the Meadow card.

Alright, once you’ve completed the Prepare for Season action, it’s time for Rugwort to do the same. His Prepare for Season action has two steps:

1. First, Rugwort checks if he has enough colored cards in his city to achieve any of the four basic Events. If he does, he places those Events in his city.
2. Next, Rugwort takes his new worker and places it on the 1 Meadow card (or the 2 Meadow card for summer, and the 3 and 4 Meadow cards for autumn). This is important because by the end of the game, Rugwort wants a worker on each of the top 4 Meadow cards. You can’t play these cards anymore, but Rugwort still can.

Moving counterclockwise, I’ll have my worker take a step forward to the next Forest card. It’s spring, so during the Prepare for Season action, my worker will go from the 3 twigs location to the 2 resin location. In the summer, my worker will head over to the 1 pebble location. The autumn brings my worker to the 1 berry and 1 card location.

Once autumn arrives, I’ll remove my worker from the third Forest tile and place it on the 3-point Journey space.

Let’s talk scoring. For Rugwort, I’ll score two points for each card in my city (three points for those purple Prosperity cards). I’ll also get three points for each basic Event I achieve, as well as for each special Event I fail to achieve. Three points also go to my worker sitting on the Journey space, and I’ll collect any point tokens you give me.

Now, let’s move on to Year Two: “Rugwort the Rotten.”

In the second year of the game, things get a little more challenging. It’s important to remember that Rugwort gains 6 points for every special Event that you didn’t achieve, instead of the usual 3. Additionally, you will need to place Rugwort’s worker on the 4-point Journey space instead of the standard 3.

Year Three: “Rugwort the Rapscallion”

The third year of the game brings even more difficulty. Rugwort’s worker will now be placed on the 5-point Journey space. But that’s not all! During Rugwort’s autumn Prepare for Season action, he will kidnap one of your workers. Instead of moving his worker to the 1 berry and 1 card space, Rugwort will remove his worker and one of yours from the game. This means you will only have 5 workers left to use for the final season of the game.

• Wow, in year three, I totally defeated him! The bards of Everdell won’t stop singing about my big win! And to make it even better, the historian is writing about my victory, so it will be remembered forever! Take that, old rat Rugwort! He had no choice but to slink away and let Everdell enjoy some peace. Well, at least for now.