Board Game Review: ARBORETUM

 Happy Friday, everyone!  I'm back with my weekly Board Game Friday post - and for today we are going to review one of my current favorite card games:  Arboretum.

Arboretum is card game for 2-4 players designed by Dan Cassar.  The game only takes about 30 minutes to play though you'll be deep in (agonizing) thought for most of that time!  

Game Summary:

At it's core, I would say Arboretum is a hand management game though there are also elements of set collection and card placement that are important as well.

As mentioned, Arboretum is a card game that comes in a small box.  Inside the box, you'll find the 80 card deck of tree cards, a score pad, and a rulebook.  Nice and simple.  

My version of Arboretum was published by Renegade Games and features gorgeous artwork for the ten different varieties of trees in the game (each variety has 8 cards each numbered 1-8).  

Game Set-Up:

Set-up for Arboretum is as simple as first choosing which varieties of trees to use in the game (6 species of trees in a 2-player game, 8 species in a 3-player game, and all 10 species in a 4-player game).  There is no difference between the species (other than the name/image) so you can simply choose the trees you like best.  When I play a 2-player game, I tend to try and choose trees that have clearly different colors from across the table.  

Once the species are chosen, shuffle the deck and deal each player 7 cards.  The remaining cards form a draw pile.

How to Play:

On a player's turn, that player does three simple actions (all are mandatory).

1. Draw 2 cards.  The two cards can be drawn from the draw pile or any discard pile.
2. Play 1 card to your personal arboretum.  On your first turn, you pick a card from your hand and play it face up to the table to start your arboretum.  On subsequent turns, you'll continue to add to your Arboretum by playing additional cards adjacent (orthogonal only) to one or more cards that are already in your arboretum.
3. Discard 1 card.  Discard one card from your hand face-up into your discard pile.  After discarding, your hand should have exactly 7 cards in it.

That's it, that's the game.  Of course, the secret to the whole thing lies in how scoring works so let's cover that next.

Winning the Game:

The real secret sauce in Arboretum is the way scoring works.  Scoring begins only when there are no more cards in the draw pile, the player who drew the last remaining card finishes their turn as normal and then scoring occurs.  

The dealer reads out each species of tree in the order listed on the scorepad.  

As each species is called, players reveal cards in their hand of that species.  Whoever has the highest sum for that species gains the right to score the single highest scoring path (i.e. not necessarily the longest) of that species in their arboretum.  In case of a tie for highest sum (including possibly a sum of zero), all tied players score for that species.

While scoring is quite straightforward, there is one exception to be aware of.  If you have the "8" of a species but an opponent has the "1" of the same species, then the value of the "8" is considered to be "0" when determining who has the highest sum for that species (the "1" is always considered to be "1" when calculating total sums).  

It is possible to earn the right to score for a species that you don't have in your arboretum.  This can be valuable as it can be a way to prevent your opponents from scoring their trees!

To calculate your score of a particular species, you look for the best path for that species where the first and last card are each of that same species.  Each card in the path must be a greater value than the card before it, but the values do not need to be in consecutive order.  The only cards that must match the species being scored are those at the start and the end of the path; the cards in between can be of any species.

Scoring works as follows:

• Score 1 point for each card in the path.
• Score 1 additional point for each card in the path if the path is at least 4 cards long and all cards in the path are of the same species.
• Score 1 additional point if the path begins with a "1."
• Score 2 additional points if the path ends with an "8."

Repeat the scoring process for each species and then add up each players' total score.  The highest score wins!

My Thoughts:

Arboretum is a super think-y, almost painful game to play (but in a good way).  It won't take you long at all to start having turns where every possible move feels like it potentially helps your opponents more than it helps you.  This game has been described as a game where you simply wish you could "pass" on your turn each time around...but you can't and that's the beauty of it!  Within the extremely simple rule set (and equally simple card components) lies a beautiful, yet devious, game.  

The Bottom Line:

Pros:

• Easy-to-learn, hard to master
• Beautiful cards
• Quick playing
• Great 2-player game

Cons:

• Can be a bit mean if you don't like that type of thing (i.e. holding cards backs an opponent can't score)
• Can be a "head down" type of game with a lot of thinking, not a ton of table talk usually
• I wouldn't play this with more than three people

Overall Score (out of 10):

8.5:  Very good - enjoy playing and would suggest it (especially at the two or three player count)

This game has been a hit with everyone I've played it with so far.  In fact, after I'm done with this review I'm going to go through and sleeve all of the cards in the game (that's how much I like this one)!  

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Note:  I've gone back through all of my game reviews and changed my scoring to mimic Board Game Geek's scoring scale.    

Board Game Geek's Rating Scale:

10:  Outstanding - will always enjoy playing

9:  Excellent - very much enjoy playing

8:  Very good - enjoy playing and would suggest it

7:  Good - usually willing to play

6:  Ok - will play if in the mood

5:  Mediocre - take it or leave it

4:  Not so good - but could play again

3:  Bad - likely won't play this again

2:  Very bad - won't play ever again

1:  Awful - defies game description