Arboretum is a strategy-based card game for 2-4 players. The box recommends ages 10+, Maci has been playing since she was 8 and was able at that time to understand the basics of play and scoring. It takes about 25 – 30 minutes to play.
Gameplay Overview
In Arboretum, players begin with a hand of 7 cards. On each turn, a player must do 3 things:
- Draw two cards (you can draw from the deck or any player’s discard pile, including your own)
- Add a tree to the Arboretum (after the first turn, all trees must be placed orthogonally adjacent to another tree in the Arboretum).
- Discard one card (each player has their own separate discard pile)
The game ends after the common draw pile is exhausted. The player who draws the last card finishes his or her turn and then scoring immediately takes place. To draw the game out, players can draw from the discard piles. Likewise, to move the game on more quickly, players should draw from the common draw pile. Usually players do some mix of the two depending on the cards each player needs.
Scoring takes place after the draw pile runs out. Scoring is just slightly more complicated than the turn-taking parts of the game. To score, the dealer starts at the top of the score pad and announces the first type of tree. Players reveal cards from their hands for that tree type. The player with the highest total earns the right to score for the given tree. Players can earn this right even if they do not have that tree placed in their arboretum, thus taking the ability to score from another player.
Points are scored by having trees lined up to make paths. The rules book clearly explains how to complete the scoring and includes examples.
The Dad Review
We bought this game in 2015, and some games just fall by the wayside, especially when the new hot game comes out. I’m glad we started this blog because we have been revisiting a lot of those games, and this is one I really enjoy. Arboretum is a solid card game where you’re basically building pathways showing off your sweet tree collection. I know you’re sarcastically saying to yourself, “Oh cool, I get to build a tree zoo, that sounds like a really riveting action packed game.” Just to let you know, tree zoos rock.
But seriously, the artwork is cool, and it’s another game where I’m learning about something. In this case, I’m learning different trees and what they look like. I will tell you though, with kids you need to play this a few times so they understand the scoring and gameplay or it will be frustrating.
You also have to pay attention to what everyone is doing, because you can prevent people from scoring. This sucks when it’s you not being able to score, and awesome when it’s not. In this case, Maci was super psyched to score some trees but I played some cards that trumped her. She did all she could to hold in all of those angry emotions. Her face looked like I ran over her family of ducks the first time they left the nest, that is if she raised a family of ducks. I will give her credit. She hung in there for the rest of the scoring, but needed to walk away after and grab a granola bar and things were better. I guess losing and hungry never mix. Gaming tip: don’t game hungry.
In closing, this is a great game, especially if you like medium-weight strategy card games. It’s also affordable, and if you want a fancy wooden box and foil cards, you can spring for the upgraded set, which isn’t much more.
As a family game, I rank this an 8/10.
The Mom Review
Arboretum is a game that I really want to like, but I actually do not like at all. I must admit that it is well made. The cards are gorgeous. The concept of laying out cards to score points for sets of trees is super cool.
However, I cannot stand that other players have the ability to keep you from scoring after all your hard work. This has happened to all of us, but it’s super aggravating to me and painful to watch happen to Maci. Also, I am too much of an empath to feel good about purposely keeping cards in my hand for the purpose of preventing another player from scoring. So, I just won’t do it. I don’t play like that. I’m aware I might lose because of it, but I’d rather be able to live with myself than win.
On a more positive note, the rules of Arboretum are simple and the basic gameplay is easy to teach. The rules for scoring are slightly more complicated to understand. If you are teaching the scoring rules to a young player or someone new to gaming, it would be helpful to lay out a sample and show how the scoring would work for that Arboretum.
The setup is very easy since it primarily consists of passing out the correct number of cards to players.
Overall, I give Arboretum a 6/10. The game provides a challenge, but I would like it better if I played with someone who didn’t get their feelings hurt so badly when someone steals their ability to score.
The Kid Review
I think this game is ok. First, I like that the trees are pretty. Next, I like getting trees and placing them for victory points. Sometimes when another player has a lot of the same type of tree and they have 1 through 6 and they have to have a high card to score and I have the 8 of that type, I know that person has the 7 and then at the end of the game they won’t get victory points for the type that they have a lot of.
In conclusion, I will give this game 8/10.
