INTRODUCTION

Ever since my written review of Everdell I find myself returning to this wonderful fairy tale world populated by woodland critters and mystical locales. Maybe my affection for this warm-hearted and endearing place originates from the fact that darkness, snow-clad mountains and plummeting outside temperatures reign supreme where I reside. Regardless of reason, like so many others I am enamoured with Everdell and its combination of worker placement and tableau building. So much so that I decided to purchase a copy of Pearlbrook, the first expansion designed by James A. Wilson and published by Starling Games. As someone who was practically born and raised on the seven seas, the idea of incorporating an underwater kingdom and amphibious diplomats to the world of Everdell intrigued me. But how does Pearlbrook fare as a solo board game experience?

COMPONENTS

Let me start off by saying that I rarely regret missing out on a Kickstarter funded board game, specifically the exclusive edition associated with the crowdfunding platform in question. More often than not, I find the retail version to be sufficient in terms of both quantity and quality of the included components when compared to the Kickstarter version. However, there is a limit though as to what constitutes as acceptable in my book and Pearlbrook is most certainly walking the razor’s edge. Upon opening the box, I found myself perplexed as to how bare bone this retail edition is compared to the Kickstarter equivalent. The glass pearls in the collector’s edition of the expansion have been replaced with plastic ones, a downgrade that I can understand and accept in order to maintain a sense of exclusivity associated with the Kickstarter version. However, the decision to not include the new Event and Forest cards in addition to fewer Adornment cards in the retail version of Pearlbrook is quite frankly beyond comprehension as far as I am concerned. The prevailing feeling of disappointment is reinforced even more with the absence of three-dimensional wonders and significantly fewer critter meeples. This rather bitter pill becomes even harder to swallow when one takes into consideration the fact that the retail version of Pearlbrook comes with a $50 price tag.

Should one judge any given board game based on its components? No more than one should judge a book by its cover, ergo not a whole lot. And if I am honest, the included cards and components in the retail version of Pearlbrook are of high quality throughout. Andrew Bosley proves yet again that he is a top tier artist within the board game industry, his illustrations of the critters and locations that is the world of Everdell are ever so charming to behold filled with minute details in every single drawing. I still have mixed feelings as to the rather slim content of this retail edition of Pearlbrook, whether Kickstarter exclusives is a good thing or not is a discussion for another day.

OVERVIEW

The critters of Everdell have gathered the courage to venture forth, exploring the surrounding lands of the valley where they have made a home for themselves. After several days of wandering through treacherous terrain, the members of the expedition find themselves staring at the glistening surface of the river known as Pearlbrook. There, they encounter not only the wonderous and elusive aquatic creatures that reside in this underwater kingdom, but also a new precious commodity: pearls. You will send your trustworthy Frog Ambassador to journey below the surface to trade goods and knowledge in exchange for precious pearls. These gems are used to construct Wonders, grand monuments that honour the critters who helped build the thriving city of Everdell.

Pearlbrook introduces a new extension board, the River, which is added to the left side of the main board. This new extension contains two main areas of interest: River Destinations and the Shoal. The River Destinations are cards depicting either a Citizen or Location belonging to the underwater kingdom. During set up, two Citizen and two Location cards are drawn at random and placed face-down on the river board. These locations can only be accessed by your Ambassador, as indicated by the “frog hand” symbol. In addition to being exclusive spots i.e. only a single Ambassador can visit a River Destination, each location has a certain criterion that needs to be fulfilled for your Ambassador to gain entry. For example, your tableau must contain at least three green Production cards in order to gain access to one particular River Destination, the same is true of the other main types of cards that make up your city. The first time any Ambassador visits a River Destination, the card is flipped face up and the player in question is rewarded a pearl for “discovering” this new underwater location. The card, be it a Citizen or Location, is then readily available to be visited by an amphibious diplomat. If a player is able to meet the listed requirements of a river destination card, then they will be rewarded with either point tokens or resources in addition to a pearl. Think of these River Destination cards as a progression of the Special Event cards in the base game. The second location on the River board is called the Shoal. Here, players can send their Frog Ambassador on trading missions. By paying two resources and discarding two cards, players can obtain a single pearl which is used to construct Wonders alternatively play Adornment cards (more on those in just a bit).

Pearlbrook also introduces Wonders: grand monuments that require substantial amounts of resources to be constructed but in return provide an ample quantity of victory points at the end of the game. These Wonders replaces the Basic Event locations in the base game. During set up, two board overlays are placed on either side of the Everdell tree, essentially covering the costs and locations for the Basic Events. By placing one of their workers on the associated location on the main board and paying the required resources, cards and pearls the player can claim the monument in question and add it to their city. 

The final new addition in Pearlbrook are the Adornment cards. At the start of the game, each player is dealt two Adornment cards. As one might expect from the name, these cards depict an embellishment from the underwater kingdom whilst providing both an instantaneous and end of game scoring opportunity. By paying a pearl, the player can play an Adornment card which does not count towards your city limit of 15 cards. These cards provide interesting strategical options, allowing a player to pivot and adapt their city in accordance to the rewards of the card. The top half of the card grants an instant effect, like for example being able to re-activate Production cards or gaining additional resources. The bottom half generate points at the end of the game should the player meet the requirements. Pearlbrook also includes a total of 20 new critter and location cards that are shuffled into the draw pile during setup. As one might expect, these cards share a thematic tie with the established aquatic setting allowing players to incorporate platypus pirate captains and otter ferry men to their city.

THE SOLO MODE

The grumpy rodent Rugwort returns with a vengeance! You may have succeeded in chasing away this cantankerous rodent but only for a short time, as he makes a return to Everdell motivated by nefarious deeds. You as the solo player will compete against Rugwort for those precious pearls and ultimately preventing him from sinking his dirty claws into this tranquil valley of peace and prosperity. When solo playing the Pearlbrook expansion the same rules apply as in the base game with a few additions. During setup, Rugwort’s Ambassador will be randomly positioned on one of the four River Destinations based on a die roll. This will instantly reward him with the associated pearl by flipping the card face-up, he will then earn an additional pearl for simply visiting the allotted river location. During each changing season i.e. next round Rugwort’s Ambassador will automatically move to the next river location in descending order. If the location is yet to be “discovered” meaning it is face-down, then Rugwort will earn two pearls the same way as during set up. If the location in question has been revealed, then he only earns a single pearl. This movement pattern of his means that one River Destination will always be blocked by Rugwort’s Ambassador, forcing the solo player to some tactical considerations regarding where they wish to send their own amphibious envoy.

In addition to blocking your progress on the River board, much like yourself Rugwort is also capable of constructing Wonders. Unlike you though, Rugwort only needs to pay pearls in order to build these Wonders. If he has been successful enough in gathering these precious commodities, then it is likely that he will erect not one but several monuments unless you can race ahead of him before the end of the game. The rest of Rugwort’s actions are carried out the same way as in Everdell, for each passing season more and more of his rat minions will occupy cards in the Meadow essentially denying you the opportunity to acquire said cards.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After playing Pearlbrook in excess of ten times in solitaire, I find myself somewhat conflicted as to my feelings towards the expansion in question. On the one hand, Pearlbrook is a textbook example of how to design a successful board game expansion. It adds just the right amount of new mechanisms and ideas in order to inject life to the tried and true formula, while simultaneously avoiding the pitfalls of adding too much which can lead to bloating the core game design. From a rule’s complexity point of view, Pearlbrook is not a heavy board game experience. If one is familiar with the core rule set from the base game or has experience playing modern board games, then they should have little to no problem getting to grips with the new mechanisms that this expansion introduces. From a thematical standpoint, Pearlbrook fits perfectly into the established lore of Everdell. The new critter and location cards all share a nice thematic hook, I especially love the Pirate Ship which allows you to “plunder” an opponent’s city for resources and victory points based on the number of pearls your adversary is in possession of! It is a clever example of how to combine game mechanisms and theme. I also enjoy the Adornment cards, the way they provide both an instant effect and an end of game reward is a clever way to open up new avenues of strategical choices. 

But from a solitaire point of view, there are certain aspects of Pearlbrook that I find less enjoyable. I am referring to the fact that Rugwort has become substantially more difficult to trounce. At the start of the game he is automatically rewarded not one but two pearls. This may sound trivial but trust me when I say that acquiring two pearls is no small feat. Depending on how effective you are at revealing the River Destination cards before Rugwort’s Ambassador does, he will collect a minimum of five pearls throughout the course of the game. Which subsequently leads to the grumpy ol’ rat constructing one if not two Wonders. When taking into consideration that Rugwort can potentially score a lot of points as a result of you not being able to acquire the Special Event cards in addition to the way he is rewarded pearls, it is not difficult to see where the increase in difficulty originates from. When I sit down to play a solo game of Everdell I know I will be able to focus on my own tableau regardless of what Rugwort is up to. But in the case of Pearlbrook, that sensation of freedom is transformed into feeling “forced” to take certain actions that may be less beneficial for me in order to impede Rugwort’s progress. Personally, I would never say no to including Pearlbrook if it was suggested by others. I am just not sure that it is a must-have expansion, at least from a solitaire point of view.