Everything Ever review — Finally, a use for our useless knowledge!

It’s finally here, the game you’ve prepared for your whole life without knowing it. The game where you finally get to put your extensive, albeit absolutely useless, knowledge of inconsequential things to the test! Enter Everything Ever, a fast-paced party game where players compete to show off their years of hard-earned knowledge of everything under the sun – too bad the game is not nearly as fun as its premise suggests.

Everything Ever has an incredibly simple yet enticing premise. Players flip over cards and must take turns spouting off as many items as possible which fall under one, or both, of the card categories. Unfortunately, that’s all there really is to the game. The fun wears off rather quickly and while I can see it being fun at a rowdy party with a large group, in a more intimate setting it becomes lifeless quickly.

Play is simple, each player is given three cards from the category deck and a judge card, which they can use on other players. A draw deck is placed in the center of the table and the top two cards from the draw deck are laid face up and serve as the starting categories. The size of the initial draw deck is determined by the number of players participating. On each turn a player must name an item that falls under the category of each card, or an item that falls under both categories for a bonus. Answers cannot be repeated and if an answer is vague or off topic, then a player can use their judge card to give you a warning and to ultimately disqualify your answer.

If you are unable to answer, then you have two options. You can either use a card from your hand to replace one category or take the category card and lay it beside you as a penalty. You will then draw a new card from the draw deck to replace the card taken. Penalties remain until the end of the game unless you provide an answer that completes both categories, which will then allow you to discard one penalty card.

There are a wide range of categories, covering topics from Olympic events, groups with four members, lakes, words in songs, and nearly anything else you can imagine, and no matter how knowledgeable you may think you are, every player is bound to uncover a topic they will struggle with. If you’re anything like me, once you begin playing, all that useless knowledge you compiled will decide to flee, leaving you struggling on even the easiest of topics after a few back and forths with other players. The category cards feature a colorful and fun art style, which was appreciated.

Play continues until the draw deck is empty, at which point the player with the fewest penalty cards wins.  A single game does not last long, unless a topic is uncovered which all players happen to have extensive knowledge on, and nearly every game will be different thanks to the wide range of topics covered and the limited number of cards used per round.

Unfortunately, that’s all there is to the game. It is a simple back and forth between players to see who can name the most random items, names, locations, etc. with little to no strategy involved. It can be fun for a few moments, but I don’t see Everything Ever being a highly requested game at parties anytime soon. Still, younger children may get a kick out of it, and it works for those who want an easy to pick up and play experience with no stress involved.

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