In Arboretum, you take on the role of a master landscaper, aiming to create the most stunning garden paths for your visitors. This strategic card game for 2 to 4 players challenges you to plan and manage your hand intelligently to score big. The deck consists of 80 cards, divided into ten colors, each representing a different tree species, with values from 1 to 8. The number of colors in play varies according to the number of participants, ensuring a dynamic experience in each game.

Each round begins with you drawing two cards, either from the main deck or from one of the open discard piles. Then, you play a card into your playing area, expanding your arboretum, and discard a card to your personal discard pile. The magic happens during scoring: when the deck runs out, players compare the cards they still hold in their hands to determine who has the right to score for each color. For each color where you have the highest total value in hand, you can score for a path of trees in your arboretum that starts and ends with that color. A valid path is a sequence of orthogonally adjacent cards with increasing values.

Each card in a scorable path is worth one point. If the path is made exclusively of trees of the color being scored, the reward doubles to two points per card! But beware: if you don't have the highest sum of values for a color in your hand, your path of that color is worth nothing. The player with the highest total score at the end of the game is crowned the grand landscaper. Arboretum is a game that demands strategic vision and adaptability, where every decision to draw, play, and discard can be crucial for victory.