Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
The mechanics are simple, and while the scoring can be a bit complex, it’s easy to follow after one game. With ten species to keep my mind in overdrive, and replayability made easy by the (un)luck of the draw, Arboretum is my path to some seriously tree-mendous card battles against Bearded Moon. In the example above, you might hold the 1 back for a few rounds to see if the 8 comes out - any holding to an 8 can reduce your options. Each of those leaves, from each of your opponents, forms a drift that may contain treasures that you want for yourself. If I already have a garbage card in my hand, then I might draw two from the deck just to get rid of it.
Arboretum is a strategic card game, designed by Dan Cassar and illustrated by Beth Sobel, that challenges players to create the most beautiful path through the garden.Play one card into your personal arboretum, orthogonally connected to a previously played card (the first turn, obviously, allows an exception). It’s part of why I like games like Railroad Ink and Avenue so much, as well — it gives you a nice sense of accomplishment at the end of the game.
Arboretum is a game about minimizing your opponent’s score as much as it’s about generating a score for yourself.I should note before I get into the review proper that when I was taking photographs for this I didn’t realise until I actually cleared the last card away that I was playing a two-player example with a three player deck. I've played this over and over with different group sizes, but find it works best at two players, and we tend to exclude the same trees each time. Whoever is nominated to be the scorer of the game – and therefore, the one who will hold the scoresheet – will read off the first tree on the scoring matrix.
It’s essentially 80 cards, which could probably fit in a Coloretto-style box, but it’s in a box that’s closer to 3 – 4x that size. You also get an extra point if you use the “1” card and an extra two points if you use the “8” card. they have almost the exact same hand pressure of holding cards your opponent needs until you are forced to discard them in furtherance of your own goals. In comparison to games like Azul or Jaipur where it's pretty obvious what their goal is from turn to turn, here it is a bit abstract at first.
You can draw from other's discard pile, you don't want others to draw from your discard pile, you can prevent others from scoring, and you don't want others to stop you from scoring. Arboretum is a strategic card game that challenges players to create the most beautiful path through the garden.
You want to do all things, but you can't, and you always have to decide what's the best path (pun intended) to choose.In Arboretum, you seek to plant trees and create pleasing paths for attendees, only to find out that someone else had the same idea as you! Plant one in your garden, by placing it orthogonally adjacent to an existing tree, and then put one onto your discard pile. I appreciate not everybody is affected by that second one, but when you deal with people that have their own fiefdoms and don't like sharing, this mechanic becomes really tedious really quickly.
Great Deal 
New Comment