How to Play Arboretum

Arboretum, when it comes down to it, is a set collection game, but one that has more going on in it. The mechanics of what you do on a turn are pretty simple, you take two cards from the combination of discard piles and the draw pile. You play one and discard one to your own discard pile.

As you play down cards you put them in rows and columns to create groups of trees in ascending order. The only thing that matters with that, is at the end of the game you can create paths that start and end with the same tree. In the middle it doesn’t matter. But if you can make it all of the same type of tree, you score more points.

The twist comes with how it is determined who scores a tree type. You need a card of that tree type in your hand, but not only that, you need the highest combined value of those tree types. So you can block someone from scoring well, or you might need to keep a lot for yourself. At the end, the player who scores the most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The teaching of this game can be a big tricky. You need to know a few things before you get going. And I think with the first game, it is always going to be a bit of a challenge. The whole concept of ascending isn’t difficult, but the strategy of what cards to keep to score, that is trickier. I think some gamers will get it quickly, but I am not sure that most players would.

And while this isn’t a problem for me, I can see some people not liking that this game can be mean. If you build out a nice row of trees, say five of the same type starting with 1 and ending with 8, you might be in line to score a lot of points (13), but if I keep just enough points in that tree to keep you from scoring it, your hard work of building that run of trees is wasted. So, know it can be mean going into the game.

What Works?

I think that the balance of how many of a tree you play down versus you keep in your hand works well. You want to build that really big row of trees to score those 13 points, like in the last example, but also is it better to score fewer and make sure you score? The game is a very good push and pull of what you want to do. And what cards do you leave in your hand that an opponent might want?

I also like that you don’t need only one type of tree to score. I could go from an oak to a spruce to a maple and end on an oak. You score fewer points doing that, but it is still points. It can make sense to diversify and score in a number of trees versus a lot in a few. And that variety of strategy works well for me.

Then there is a game length and decision space. Not long ago I wrote about quick vs fast in board games. Read that here. The idea is the game turns don’t take too long and the game always keeps you engaged. This is a quick and fast game. Game play doesn’t take too long, and I need to know what you are doing.

Who Is This For?

I think this is a great game for people getting into the world of hobby board games. A lot of board games that you play growing up, chess or Stratego for example, give you an abstract game to figure out and a way to go up against an opponent. Arboretum isn’t as confrontational, but it feels in the same realm, just more of a gamers game.

But with that, it is not a game that is too easy for gamers. The decision space is well made for the game. And it feels like there can be different strategies. Plus, with different players, that will change up how you want to play the game as you go.

Arboretum Final Thoughts

This is a very good game. And one that I think is small enough that for a lot of gamers, it probably should be in their collection. Mainly because you can pull it off the shelf and play it with anyone. And I don’t see this being a game that can be solved. Which I think is important for these games that feel like a bit of a puzzle. There is just enough interaction that happens to keep it fresh.

And for me, the speed that the game plays at really sells it. I like being engaged. I like that I make meaningful decisions. And I like that this is a game I can play with basically anyone. I can see this becoming a staple filler type game for me. And it isn’t a mindless filler which is very important.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B

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Claim Expansion Bundle

Claim is a trick taking game that I need to get to the table. I want to get more trick taking games in general to the table, and Claim does something interesting. In it you take tricks over two rounds, the first round you are taking tricks to get your choice of cards for the next round. It uses a mechanic like The Grimm Masquerade where you might either get the card on top of the deck or one face up, and you might push your luck if you don’t like the one face up. Then you play another round of trick taking as well as set collection for the suits, monster races, to score the most points at the end of the game. This adds in some new mechanics in three smaller expansions, I’m excited to see how it can grow the game, though this is a game that I want to really dive into and explore soon.

MonsDRAWsity + Expansion

This one the theme just sold me on it. We’re all Paranormal Sketch artists who are trying to get as close to the monster that’s been described by the person who is it. This is one of those party/group type games where the points don’t matter and it’s all about the laughs that you get out of it. Compared to something like Stipulations where you need to be able to come up with ideas on the fly, I think this game will be more accessible. I also think that it will be more replayable than something like Cards Against Humanity because the people playing it are creating the jokes, and by that I mean drawings. I’m guessing that this game would even work via Zoom for a game night, depending on how fast it comes.

Shadows in Kyoto

I mentioned EmperorS4 because I picked up a game, it was on sale for $4.99, that Deep Water games is distributing. This has a similar aesthetic to Hanamikoji and is also a two player only game. In this one you are protecting your shogun. But what really interested me was the different ways to win. It almost has a Stratego type feel, but you can win by capturing two opponents agents who have some real intelligence on the enemy shogun. You can get an agent of your own with real intelligence to escape, or you can get your opponent to capture three of your agents with fake intelligence. I like the deduction and bluffing nature of this. It seems, like Hanamikoji, to require you to read your opponent which is something that I find interesting. It is going to feel abstract, but should work nicely, I think, in my collection.

Those are the three different bundles or games that I picked up. I’m excited for all of them obviously, and they’ll join Floor Plan, Welcome To…, Welcome To New Las Vegas, Claim 1 & 2, and Hanamikoji in my collection. If you haven’t checked out Deep Water games, they are definitely a company that puts out smaller games, but really interesting ones.

Which of these games would you be most interested in?

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Do Classic Board Games have a Spot on Your Shelf?

I think that there is room for those game to show up still. However, it is a select few classic games that I still have on my shelf. Games that come down to random luck and die rolls, such as Monopoly, aren’t all that exciting for me to play anymore. But that is only one style of classic games; some are luck-based and some are strategy-based. On my shelf, we have more of the strategy-based games. I still own Stratego, Risk, and Scrabble. Why do I own those? Because they are generally higher strategy games. There is a downside to this, though — because they are high-strategy games, it is going to be only some people who you can play these games with.

Is This A Good Spot to Find Family Games?

Yes and no. There are a lot of Euro-style games that are going to be great for families and families with younger kids. A game like Tsuro can take over for a game like Chutes and Ladders, and would be more entertaining for adults as well. However, there are some games like Scrabble that can work as your kids get older, and Yahtzee makes a lot of sense for a fun family-time game. Classic board games also make a lot of sense if you jump into classic card games as well. Uno, Skip-bo, Dutch Blitz, and Phase 10 are great games to jump into with your kids, and ones that kids can pick up quite quickly.

What Games Should I Get?

There are a few good options, and some to avoid. You’re probably pretty familiar with a lot of them, but the best rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of luck-based classic board games you own, and find games that have more strategy. Games like Yahtzee and Scrabble have enough of both luck and strategy to make them enjoyable games to play over time. And games like Uno, Skip-bo, and other card games are pretty fast and have, again, some level of strategy with a little bit of luck.

Phase 10 or 5 Crowns are both similar card games in which you are trying to complete different sets and runs. They last quite a long time, but they are games that are easy to start playing one day and continue later, as the rounds for both of the games go by pretty quickly, even if the whole game lasts longer. 5 Crowns is probably the one that I’d recommend, as it is a bit simpler and goes faster.

Yahtzee is another really good game. The rolling of the dice creates that random luck-based aspect, so even someone who can’t do the math in their head can do really well in the game. But there are statistics and probability that go into Yahtzee, so if you want to run the numbers and come up with the best strategy, you can do that as well.

Finally, Scrabble is a great word game, and getting a basic Scrabble set is nice. You can play your standard game of Scrabble with it, as well as play Bananagrams without having to get a second game. If you only like Bananagrams, you can just get that version, but getting the base Scrabble game means that you have the flexibility to play either way. And if you don’t like Scrabble all that well because you don’t know long or rare words, remember that sometimes making multiple short words on your turn yields better results than a longer word.

What classic board games do you still have around?

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