Review: Everything Ever

If you are anything like me and have tons of useless knowledge crammed in your brain, you probably love trivia too. As the instructions say "You've prepared your whole life for this". This game focus is recalling all the movies, books, songs, food you've eaten, and person you have heard of. Everything Ever is one of the newest releases from Floodgate Games, publishers of Sagrada, Vivid Memories, and Fog of Love.

Everything Ever game

The game comes with 250 category cards, that is a lot of cards! This amount of cards gives the game a lot of replay value. There are also 20 judge cards to support up to 20 players (that is a lot of people!). This game relies on a players ability to remember items that fit into 2 categories that are in play. Or sometimes one thing can fit the bill for both categories. Each player starts with 3 cards in their hand. These are a way of changing the categories if a player cannot come up with something that fits a category that is in play.

This game relies on a players ability to remember items that fit into 2 categories that are in play

To set the game up deal each player 3 cards and a judge card. Then players create the draw deck by putting three times the amount of players worth of cards in the deck. for example 5 players will create a deck of 15 cards or two players will put 6 down. The rest of the cards go back in the box for next time. The cards players have in their hands and the cards in the draw deck are all category cards with one category on them like "every tree" or "every ghost". To get the game going draw the first two cards off the draw pile and pick a random person to go first.

Hand of Everything Ever

The active player will try to name something that fits each of the two categories. For example if there is "every captain" and "every cereal" a player may say "Hook" and "Frosted Flakes". Then its the next player's turn. Each player must come up with an unique answer. If a player cannot come up with something to fit the category then they take a penalty or a play a card from their hand. If a player chooses to play a card from their hand they place it on top of the category they wish to replace. They will then say something that fits that category. The player does not draw a new card to their hand. If the player wishes to take the penalty rather than play a card then they take the category card and all cards under it as a penalty, they stack them in front of them. The player does not have to name something in the new category. At the end of the game the player with the least amount of penalties wins. The game ends when a player needs to draw from the draw pile and there are no cards to draw.

If a player is cleaver they can name something that fits both categories.

If a player is cleaver they can name something that fits both categories. Back to the example of "every captain" and "every cereal" a player could say "captain crunch". This fits both categories. If a player is able to do this then they can do one of two things. A player may discard one of their penalty cards. Or to make a bigger splash a player may draw a card to their hand then play a third category down. Now players have to name something from all 3 categories on their turns. The game ends when a player cannot draw a card for a penalty.

There is one more kind of card in Everything Ever, the judge card. When someone says something that questionable but technically accurate a player can play a judge card on them on the players first offense the card is played in front of the offender with the "Watch Yourself" side up. On the second offense a player may flip a card in front of the offending player to the "out of Order" side. The offending player then takes a penalty. This allows players to make the game as strict or not depending on the group that is playing.

Everything Ever judge cards

Everything Ever is a great party style game with lots of fun replay value. This is one of the few games that we received that has gotten a lot of mileage literally and figuratively. We have brought it on our family vacation, to the office and my partner brought it to her girls weekend. This game fits the bill for family gatherings, work ice breakers, parties or just an easy game to play with your partner on a weeknight. This game is now a staple in our collection and we hope that you find it as fun as we do.

Players: 2-20

Year Published: 2023

Recommended Ages: 12+

Time to Play: 20 minutes

A copy of Everything Ever was provided to Bert's Tabletop Games for this review by Foodgate Games.