New
Arboretum Deluxe
Arboretum is a strategic card game that challenges players to create the most beautiful path through the garden.
30m
2 - 4 Players
Ages 8+
Arboretum is a strategic card game that challenges players to create the most beautiful path through the garden.
AFABBI
This game is a nature walk that ends friendships. It plays like a knife fight in an elevator and I enjoy it very much even though I suck at it. You spend the game setting up sequential, orthogonal paths of like and not like colored tree types. You create opportunities for other players through discarding and can block them through what you choose to hold in your hand or take from the assorted discard piles. You can also delay the game or accelerate it through the draw choices you make. Majority of a tree type in your hand matters when determining what you score in your tableu so There is a interesting tension throughout the game between your ability to score and what you score. When the game ends you score points based on what types of trees are in the paths you built and what sets you were able to build in your hand. I recommend this game if a theme about perverted landscapers is your kind of thing.
aldarez
I think this is a perfect example of good design not necessarily equating to a fun game. Arboretum is clever and functional, but the play experience is pretty dry and computational. Maybe I just don't have the head for it, but solving a math/memory puzzle every turn just isn't my idea of a good time.
Aaronw92
Oh how I love Arboretum. I first learned about this game from Shut Up and Sit Down, and then was lucky enough to find an original copy at a local game store. From the very first play, I fell in love with the tension and tough decisions this game presents. Every card play is thought-provoking, and every discard is torture (in a good way, of course). With experience, you will develop mind games with your opponents. Each card play or discard is a signal to be read or misread, and, at least with two players, the game feels like a tense battle of wits. The game gets more chaotic with more players, and strategies have to change to account for that. I prefer the strategy of the two player game, but would love to play it with more as well. I love the art in the original version, and prefer it to the new Renegade version. However, I am also very happy to see this very deserving game get a reprint. More people should play this great game. Update (6/2020): Still greatly enjoy Arboretum, but after branching out into more card games, I'm lowering the rating a bit. Certainly could go back up with more plays.