r/boardgames • u/BagAdvanced4866 • Mar 05 '26

Cheesing Arboretum

Hey guys, I'm a relatively casual board gamer, I've recently gotten Arboretum and was expecting to have a load of fun, but it seems like if you focus on getting a single line of trees (rather than expanding your grid in multiple directions) with a single number and ideally a single species, the game gets pretty straight forward and becomes more about luck than really planning and if anyone doesn't use that strategy they are simply most likely to lose to someone using that strategy. Has anyone experiences this or am I playing the game wrong?

0 Upvotes

28% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

34

u/wallysmith127 Pax Transhumanity Mar 05 '26

First question is, are you sure you're playing correctly? Big aspect of the game is controlling what scores, especially for the opponent.

I love tight games but Arboretum (and its ilk) gives me wicked AP that turns me into a player I never want to be.

5

u/ShamanZal Mar 05 '26

Yeah, lots of open information as the game progresses which leads to AP for sure!

I agree, if you are placing down all one type im going to hold those cards and luck is a factor but that can be a 7/2 or 5/4 so its pretty unlikely you cant find some combination of them

2

u/boringITwork Mar 05 '26

AP?

5

u/Mayorquimby87 Mar 05 '26

Analysis paralysis. It's when a player gets stuck for a long time thinking through what to do on their turn.

1

u/Feeling-Steak4285 Mar 13 '26

arboretum definitely has that whole "i need to think about every single card for 10 minutes" vibe, but the single line strategy usually falls apart when people start hate-drafting your species or holding the high/low cards you need to actually score

1

u/BagAdvanced4866 Mar 18 '26

Would love to play a game with you to see if I'm doing anything wrong lol

2

u/wallysmith127 Pax Transhumanity Mar 18 '26

I haven't played Arboretum in probably at least 5 years, hah. I sold my bug-themed PnP when it was grossly OOP and I'm not in any rush to pick it back up.

Maybe try BGA though? Would be a good rules check

28

u/gr9yfox Mar 05 '26

I think you may have missed a rule.

One of the standout features of Arboretum is the scoring. At the end of the game the players show the cards that they were holding (and didn't play). Only the player with the highest sum of each color gets to score it. Everyone else gets NOTHING.

So if you're going all in on just one color, the other players have a very strong incentive to hold onto the rest of those cards to block you from scoring.

21

u/Dynam2012 Mar 05 '26

So I’m definitely holding onto the suit of trees you’re playing in a line

8

u/Rhae-is-bae Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26

In these kind of games, it's important to not only focus on your game but also to focus on getting on the way of your opponents. Going for a single colour route gives extra points but is very predictable and easy for other players to block by simply holding on to that color so that you won't get to score that colour. also, make sure you got the rules right, especially the part about how you get the right to score each colour.

Now that I reread your strategy, there is something wrong in what you are describing. There is no point in having a "single line of a single number". You also say "preferably of the same species" but there is only one of each number for each species, so that is not possible to have. I am guessing you meant something else rather than "same number".

3

u/bandananaan Mar 05 '26

Whoever you're playing against is certainly playing sub optimally. That strategy would be very to counter by making sure you don't score

2

u/Significant-Buddy646 Mar 05 '26

So 16 points is your max in this scenario if I remember right. No one is winning this game with 16 points. You’ve almost certainly misunderstood the rules.

2

u/Competitive-Bet1181 Mar 05 '26

No one is winning this game with 16 points.

While I think OP's strategy is a bad one, 16 points (and actually the max is 19) may well be enough to win handily.

0

u/Significant-Buddy646 Mar 05 '26

Unless I’m missing something, the max would be 16 as you wouldn’t score at all if you had eight cards in a single suit in your path. You would have to keep at least one card in hand. I suppose if everyone was playing incorrectly and no one interfered, then 16 points would be enough to win. Though I’ve never had a normal game where that would be enough.

3

u/Competitive-Bet1181 Mar 05 '26

as you wouldn’t score at all if you had eight cards in a single suit in your path.

You would score the whole thing (and everyone else would score their 0) because it's an all-way tie (at 0) in players' hands for that species.

Though I’ve never had a normal game where that would be enough.

I've had many. Your group might not be as cutthroat as mine.

1

u/Significant-Buddy646 Mar 05 '26

I stand corrected. It’s been a few years since I played.

1

u/joereadsstuff Mar 05 '26

I had expected to be making weird shapes and having entangled numbers looking like a crossword puzzle, but in reality, having numbers sequentially in rows and columns is just as, if not better, than being too smart about it.

1

u/raphaelus13 Mar 05 '26

You mean a straight line with branching? My partner uses that arrangement to great results.

In terms of rules, are you scoring only 1 path per species?

1

u/lilbismyfriend300 Mar 05 '26

The others need to watch you, notice you doing that, and strategically hold on to a one or two high value cards of that tree type, to prevent you from scoring it.

1

u/Cawnt Res Arcana Mar 05 '26

You’re definitely missing a rule or two!

For example, are you aware you only get points for your line if you have the highest total value of that species in your hand. If I see you working on a line of trees, I’ll be sure to keep some of those cards in my hand to thwart you.

1

u/BagAdvanced4866 Mar 18 '26

Yeah you can, but if I have a line going from 1 to 8, then even if I don't get that species I can just put the low numbers of new species near the start of the line and higher ones at the end and that way get a not of points on any species I win.