Board Game Break Time: Arboretum

Board Game Break Time is a new feature we're bringing in, where we play board games and review them. 

Title: Arboretum
Manufacturer: Renegade Game Studio

Release Date: 2015
Designer: Dan Cassar

Game Mechanism: Hand management, set collection, tile placement

# of Players: 2-4  Best: N/A

Ages: 8+

Play Time: 30 Minutes

  

Average Rating: 7.4 


Average Rating: 4.6

Found on Amazon:

The deck has 80 cards in ten different colors, with each color featuring a different species of tree; each color has cards numbered 1 through 8, and the number of colors used depends on the number of players. Players start with a hand of seven cards. On each turn, a player draws two cards (from the deck or one or more of the discard piles), lays a card on the table as part of her arboretum, then discards a card to her personal discard pile.

When the deck is exhausted, players compare the cards that remain in their hands to determine who can score each color. For each color, the player with the highest value of cards in hand of that color scores for a path of trees in her arboretum that begins and ends with that color; a path is a orthogonally adjacent chain of cards with increasing values

For each card in a path that scores, the player earns one point; if the path consists solely of trees of the color being scored, the player scores two points per card. If a player doesn't have the most value for a color, she scores zero points for a path that begins and ends with that color. Whoever has the most points wins.

You must choose which cards to plant in your arboretum and which to keep in hand, as only the most expert curator will win the renown of nature enthusiasts everywhere!

This game is a little confusing at first. It took me a little bit to get into it, and really understand. Especially when it came to the scoring. I let Jenn score. Probably why she won.

Anyway.

Once I did get into this it was actually a lot of fun. It was simple and fast and a good filler game. 

The artwork is stunning, the cards and colors are great. 

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I was first drawn to this game because of the beautiful colors and artwork. The artwork is just amazing on these cards. Bright and colorful and simple. I also really enjoy card games and tile laying games. This is kind of like a card laying game and I found it to be a lot of fun. It is a very quick game and after playing it once, it's common to hear someone say.... "let's play it again" I know I did. This game would make a great filler game in between those long games or the perfect game to start off a game night while you wait for everyone to show up. It's also perfect just to play a quick two player game when you don't have much time... or when you do and you just want to play it over and over again. I really love this simple, light, beautiful, enjoyable game. It puts a smile on my face every time I play it! 

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What Michael Thought: 

This is an interesting set collection game where you have to keep cards in your hand, but also play cards to score more points than your opponents. It takes a lot of thinking because you have to have more points in your hand for that tree to score it in your garden. It's pretty simple to play but challenging enough to play again and everytime is going to be different because you select different trees that you play with and of course your opponent may be going after different cards than you do. I like the game and think even newbies to games can play it with little instruction and play through. But getting the best strategy may take awhile to discover. Especially if your opponent discards certain trees to throw you off what they may be working towards or ones that you might be going for. 

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