Evenglow

• Designer:Jason Katzwinkel 
• Publisher: The Op Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30-45 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4iP2i40
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

EvenGlow is an light-strategy puzzle game that’s all about balance. Players are planting magical gardens with a sunlight and moonlight side. Turns are simultaneous with the active player choosing two plants for themselves and two that all other players will receive. Pairs of plants must then be placed in mirror opposite positions of the garden, one in sunlight and the other in moonlight. Evenglow features gorgeous watercolor art from Clèmentine Campardou (Wyrmspan, Origin Story).

To begin, each player gets a Garden Board, which has the Moonlight garden on the left and the Sunlight garden on the right.  The Plant card deck is constructed based on player count and each player gets one card to start.  A start player is chosen and the draft board is placed near that player.

Finally a seed card is drawn, and based on the diagram on the card, each player gets two tiles, and one must be placed on each side of that player’s board on the space designated by the seed card.

The game will be played in a number of rounds until the Plant Card deck is exhausted.  In each round, one player is the active player, and they have the Draft Board in front of them.  They place the Plant card from their hand onto the Draft Board and rotate it as they like.  They will then receive the two plants found on the “Active Player” side of the Draft Board and everyone else will get the two plants found on the other side.

These two plant tiles are then placed on the player board, but always to the same numbered space on each side.  Each player can choose which tile goes on which side.  Once placed, the plant tiles cannot be moved nor rotated without the use of a Potion.  After everyone has placed, the active player draws a new card from the Plant Card deck and passes the Draft board to the next player clockwise.

There are six different types of plants, and they each score differently:

• Green – Vines – 1 point per vine tile in your largest contiguous area of Vines in each Garden
• Blue – Leaves – 2 points per Leaf connected to the largest group of Vines in each Garden
• Purple – Henbane – 2 points per set of exactly 2 Henbane tiles; 2 bonus points is neither is on the outer perimeter
• Orange – Lion’s Mane – 3 points per set of exactly 3 Lion’s Mane tiles
• Yellow – Mandrake – 4 points per set of exactly 4 Mandrake tiles
• Red – Elderberries – 1 point per tile that is on the outer perimeter in each set of exactly 5 Elderberry tiles

As you play the game, you can also earn three different types of potions, each with its own special ability.  When you form a potion, you place a lock token down on the tile arrangement so you don’t try to use them again in another potion nor can you move them for the rest of the game:

• Essence of Undew – gain when you arrange 3 Lion’s Mane tiles in a triangle – this lets you exchange any two unlocked tiles in your garden
• Chaos Elixir – gain when you arrange 4 Mandrake tiles in a straight row – this lets you take one plant from the active player side and one from the everyone else side on a turn
• Tincture of Transformation – gain when you make any 5 Elderberry tiles together – this lets you exchange any unlocked tile on your board with one from the supply

If you use a potion, flip it over to the empty side. At the end of the game, you will score points for each potion card whether you used its ability or not.

The game ends when either the supply of tiles for any plant is exhausted or when the last plant card has been played.  Players score for the six tile types as outlined above as well as for each potion card.  Finally, there is a 3 point bonus for each set of three different potions collected.

The player with the most points wins. Ties broken in favor of the player with the most potions.

The rules also include variants for solo play as well as a more family/beginner oriented game. I have not tried either so I cannot say much more than that they exist.

My thoughts on the game

I do like my tile laying games, and Evenglow gives me two for the price of one!  Here, you get to choose pieces, but you will place them on both of your boards, so you’ll be trying to find the place that works the best when mirrored to the other side.  

When you are the active player, things are swell – you have your choice of which two plants to take, so you generally get the optimal set amongst the options.  For all the other turns, well just keep your fingers crossed.  It’s likely that you’ll get at least one hex that you desire, so the challenge becomes dealing with the other one.

As you can likely surmise, player count will have a decent effect on how your game plays out.  In a 4 player game, you’ll only control things 25% of the time versus 50% in a 2 player game.  Either way, it works out fine, but I think that you’ll have to adjust your expectations based on how often you get to do the choosing.

The potions can be quite powerful, so they are usually worth the effort of trying to get your tokens in the correct arrangement to earn them.  Being able to exchange tiles can be a huge lifesaver when trying to form (or protect) your scoring combinations, and getting to choose what two tiles to take from the offer card saves you from even needing to make swaps as you’ll definitely get the optimum set of tiles.

Games play fairly fast, though there is certainly some thinking to be done, especially as the game winds down.   Scoring is somewhat involved but the included scoresheet helps keep you on track.  

Evenglow gives gamers a nice reflective puzzle to work on, and while it’s on the lighter end of the complexity scale, there is definitely enough going on here to keep me interested and wanting to see more.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale, John P
• Neutral. Steph
• Not for me…

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