When playing Everdell solo, you will be competing against a cantankerous old rodent known as Rugwort, and his pack of rowdy, rambunctious, rat ruffians. He will be returning to Everdell for three years in a row, each time bearing a new title of nastiness.

You must find a way to overcome his dastardly tricks and rid Everdell of his filth once and for all.

Year One: "Rugwort the Rascal"

Select a player color for Rugwort (he prefers black) and setup the game according to the two-player setup. You have a starting hand of 5 cards, and Rugwort does not have a hand of cards.

Take one of Rugwort's workers and place it on the top-left Forest card, blocking it. Place his other worker on the 3 twig action space, blocking it.

Play the game as normal with these new rules:

Any time after you play a card, Rugwort gets to play a card. If you played a Meadow card, first replenish the card. To play Rugwort's card, roll the 8-sided die; the number rolled will determine which of the 8 Meadow cards Rugwort gets to play into his city.

The cards are numbered 1-8, with the top-left being 1 and the bottom-right being 8. For Rugwort's city, place his cards in stacks according to colored types so you can clearly see how many he has of each color. The card's ability and point value do not matter. Replenish the Meadow card after he has played his card.

After you have performed the Prepare for Season action, Rugwort immediately performs his Prepare for Season action, which consists of these steps:

1. Check to see if he has enough of the colored cards in his city to achieve any of the four basic Events. If so, place that Event(s) in his city.

2. Take his new worker and place it on the 1 Meadow card (2 for summer, and 3 & 4 for autumn), so by the end of the game he will have a worker on the top 4 Meadow cards. You cannot play these cards anymore, but Rugwort still can.

3. Moving counter-clockwise, move his worker to the next Forest card.

During the spring Prepare for Season action, move his worker from the 3 twigs location to the 2 resin location.

During summer, move his worker to the 1 pebble location. During autumn, move his worker to the 1 berry and 1 card location.

In autumn, remove his worker from the 3rd Forest tile and place it instead on the 3-point Journey space.

Scoring

Rugwort will score: 2 points per card in his city (3 points for each purple Prosperity card), 3 points for each basic Event he achieved, 3 points for each special Event that you did not achieve, 3 points for his worker on Journey, and any point tokens that you gave him.

Year Two: "Rugwort the Rotten"

Same rules as Year One with these additional rules:

• Place his worker on the 4-point Journey space instead of the 3.

• Rugwort gains 6 points for every special Event that you did not achieve, instead of 3.

Year Three: "Rugwort the Rapscallion"

Same rules as Year Two with these additional rules:

• Place his worker on the 5-point Journey space instead of the 4.

• During Rugwort's autumn Prepare for Season action, he kidnaps one of your workers! Do not move his worker to the 1 berry and 1 card space-instead remove his worker and one of your workers from the game. Now you will only have 5 workers to use for the last season of the game.

• Beat him in year three and the bards of Everdell sing of your triumph! The historian records your victory to be preserved and remembered for all time! The old rat Rugwort skulks away, leaving Everdell in peace... for now.

Continue Reading