The Colorful World of Arboretum and Meandering Tree Paths
Create groups of beautiful trees while deciding which ones not to choose against a tricky solo opponent with Arboretum.
Yet another game finally taken off the shelf after years! Arboretum requires an unofficial solo variant, yet that can provide a very challenging experience in a quick play time. With lovely artwork and lots of decisions, I was happy to bring it back to my solo table at long last. Time to place trees… And get a little crafty with what I kept in my hand!
Game Overview
Game Name: Arboretum
Publication Year: 2015
Designer: Dan Cassar
Artist: Beth Sobel
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Solo Mode: Unofficial Solo Variant
The goal is to place trees in ascending order, creating groups of the same types along the way. However, in order to score, cards must be kept until the end to find the majority. It plays quickly, yet the solo opponent’s hidden hand adds to the challenge with unknown information!
First Play
November 10, 2018
Complexity
2
Latest Play
July 12, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
32
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
30
Game Area
26" x 16"
Low Score
5
Choosing the Trees
As in a lower player count game, not all of the cards are used. This leads to a fun setup step about choosing 6 of 10 available tree types… So many pretty options!
I do tend to leave out the darker colors regularly, although I made sure to add in the Blue Spruce this time. Lovely!
The solo opponent is simple to run with its card priority, but there is a lot of strategy beneath the surface.
Placing trees to create adjacent paths is important… But being able to score those trees is vital! It’s not always easy to determine whether to place or keep a card for scoring.
Simple Adjacency
At first, I forgot that adjacent cards don’t have to be exactly 1 higher than each other, and tree types can criss-cross for more victory points. Still, I did relatively well.
It was interesting to have the added challenge of making sure the solo opponent didn’t pick up valuable cards.
The 1 and 8 values were mainly in-demand, yet it sometimes paid off to see those placed… I could then try to move ahead with the majority to be able to score!
Gameplay moved quickly enough, although I faltered a bit and saw my plans ruined by some bad luck with the cards.
Random Assortment
Arguably, the solo opponent’s area was a little more interesting since adjacency meant nothing… Scoring here was entirely different! Very pretty to see, though.
When I discarded a card during my turn, I tried to ensure that it would be the one the solo opponent picked up in a lot of cases. Definitely a sound strategy!
Still, it was hard to not allow the same type of tree to add up, but I was busy working on my scoring opportunities.
After all, I only needed about 3 good scoring options to pull ahead. That wasn’t too much to ask… Or was it?
Almost Perfect
My second play looked like it was going to lead to a pretty amazing score. Look at that trio of paths, including about every Blue Spruce tree ever discovered. Ha ha!
Alas, I don’t know what happened, but I must have failed at my calculations… I lost 2 of 3 tree types by a single value, which was deflating. Only the Blue Spruces scored.
I paid attention to the central discards, yet I guess I just lost track… Distracted by the lovely card artwork!
It was kind of disappointing to see all of my careful planning wiped out to another loss… A bad one. Ha!
Balancing a Challenge with Lower Scoring
One of the aspects that can feel a bit unfair is the need to have a scoring majority in-hand to be able to score any tree paths. It makes for an interesting challenge with plenty of decisions, but sometimes, it’s impossible to overcome based on the solo opponent’s hidden hand of 7 cards. Several times, I worked on a tree type I should have avoided!
I appreciate different challenges like this, of course, yet it can feel a little too punishing when all that work is for naught. My own miscalculations don’t count, though. That’s just me being terrible. Ha ha! Still, it felt like a constant battle to make sure I could actually convert my play area into victory points. The decisions were multi-layered, though.
Session Overview
Play Number: 31 and 32
Solo Mode: Unofficial Solo Variant
Outcome: 18-19 and 9-20 (2 Losses)
As intuitive as the scoring conditions might be, I found myself having to look at the rulebook for each possible path. I love the artwork, yet I’m glad I got this back to my table… No more languishing on my shelf, but off to find a new home! This can be a fun little challenge, though. I simply have so many other games that I don’t know when I would want to bring this one back. The solo opponent can rejoice in its eternal better winning ratio. Ha ha!
%
30 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
7
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
5
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
3
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the trees look beautiful and can help create a very colorful play area with all of their unique artwork.
- Paths can travel through different tree types, allowing for many options to avoid getting completely locked out.
- Decisions are quick and fairly easy based on a shared area of available cards and the solo opponent’s collection.
- The steps to manage the solo opponent are very quick with practically no downtime and consistent card turnover.
- Although paths may expand in any direction, the play area remains relatively compact and doesn’t spread.
- Numbers and icons are easy to see from afar, making it easy to evaluate what cards are the most valuable to take.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Bad luck can erase a lot of hard work with some paths, rendering them unable to score any victory points.
- Decisions can sometimes feel a little too limited when the wrong tree cards are available throughout rounds.
- The path scoring isn’t overly complex, yet it can be helpful to leave the rulebook open a lot to follow the steps.
- Card majorities may work well with strategic multiplayer games, but the solo opponent just has a random hand.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 20 points.
Score at least 30 points.
Continue the Conversation
What are your thoughts about Arboretum? Do you have any other light solo games you’ve been enjoying lately? I’m still working through my quest to save some shelf space and learn to let go of some games I know I won’t play again. It’s a hard process, yet it also gives me a chance to appreciate some solo games one last time! Onward to the next one!
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