Arboretum Deluxe Edition

Nowhere is nature's beauty quite so evident as in the resplendent colours of an arboretum. In Arboretum, you create carefully planned paths for your visitors to walk as they take in the colourful explosion of buds and leaves. The cheerful cherry blossom, the fragrant dogwood, the mighty 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 plant in your arboretum and which to keep in hand, as only the most expert curator will win the renown of nature enthusiasts everywhere.

Arboretum is a card drawing and placing game, the concept is quite easy to learn but the scoring MAY be difficult to grasp. You are trying to create a beautiful botanic garden full of lush trees. The deck of cards has 80 different cards; 10 different colours/trees and numbered from 1 through 8 (6 colours for 2 players, 8 colours for 3 players).

Players start the game with seven cards each and the remaining cards used as the community deck. Each turn consists of players drawing two cards (any combination of 2 cards from the top of the deck or the top of any players discard pile), placing a card onto the table as part of your arboretum and then discarding one card from your hand into your own discard pile. This is repeated until the community deck is exhausted. When the last card is drawn, that player completes their turn and then end game scoring is triggered.

Points are scored by calculating paths in terms of tree colours, a path must be orthogonal and in ascending value. One point is scored per card in the path. If the path is of only one colour, each card is worth two points instead. If the path contains a 1 value card, you score one extra point. If the path contains an 8 value card, you score two extra points. You only you score points for a path if you have the highest combined value of that colour in your ending hand compared to the other players. However, if one player has an 8 value card in their hand but another player has a 1 value card of the same colour also in their hand, the player with the 1 value card scores for that colour. Highest score wins!