Looking for a beautiful and portable card game to round out your game night? Check out Arboretum! It’s the perfect game to play as we slide into spring!
Arboretum is a 2-4 player game designed by Dan Cassar and published by Renegade Games. Combining hand management and set collection with a taste of tile laying, a game plays in 25 minutes.
Arboretum: $20.00
Get Yours For Less At Miniature Market
Nowhere is nature’s beauty quite so evident as in the resplendent colors of an arboretum. In Arboretum, you create carefully planned paths for your visitors to walk as they take in the colorful explosion of buds and leaves. The cheerful cherry blossom, the fragrant dogwood, the might oak – all have a place in this peaceful haven.
But the tranquil setting belies the game’s competitive heart. You must choose which cards to plan in your arboretum and which to keep in hand, as only the most expert curator will win the renown of nature enthusiasts everywhere.
Contents:
80 Cards
1 Scorepad
1 Rulesheet
Ages: 8+
Players: 2-4
Game Length: 30 minutes
Arboretum: Create a Scenic Garden Path
Arboretum is an interesting and quick game. Each player has a hand of seven cards and draws two cards each turn. These cards can come from the deck or one of any players’ discard pile. Then the player will play one tree card into their arboretum. This will create a path with each additional card needing to be placed orthogonally adjacent to a previous card. The goal is to make a path of trees in ascending order. Each tree in a path is worth a single point, however, if they are the same tree they are now worth two points each. Bonus points are earned if your path starts with one card and another if it ends with an eight.
Scoring is simple, however, the ability to score is a different unique story. Once the deck runs out each player will check each tree to see who has the highest value remaining in their hand per species. Only that player with the highest hand total may score their path for that particular species. So not only are you trying to make the best path, you need to make sure you can still score it at the end.
One thing I like about Arboretum is how fast it plays. If you want to play something with meaningful decisions, but not heavy on game time then this should fit that spot easily. You can very reasonably play several hands in the span of an evening.
The component quality is very nice. The artwork is so pretty and colorful. There are ten different species of trees and each one is beautifully rendered. Once you have all your cards laid out, it’s very satisfying and gorgeous.
I definitely think this game has a place in anyone’s collection especially if you prefer card based games. The box is very small making it very portable as well as reasonably priced. The only thing I could add would be a nice playmat for each player to use. That would cut down on the ease of transport and portability, however.
Definitely give this one a try if you have the opportunity. It’s a nice filler to round out your game nights. And the theme is so perfect for this time of the year. Hope you enjoy it.
