Arboretum FAQ
41 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Set Up
How to Play
- Can both of your two draws come from the same discard pile?
- Can you draw from the draw pile, look at that card, and then choose where your second card comes from?
- Can you draw from your own discard pile, not just your opponents' piles?
- Can you discard the card you just drew in the same turn?
- Can you look through the cards in other players' discard piles, not just the top card?
- Is there a maximum size or required shape for your arboretum, such as a 3x4 grid?
- Can you rearrange or move cards already placed in your arboretum?
- Can two cards of the same value sit next to each other in an arboretum?
- Must cards in my arboretum be played in ascending order, or can a card sit next to one of the same number?
Ending the game
Gaining the right to score paths
- Can you gain the right to score a color you have no path in, and what do you score?
- If no player holds any cards of a color in hand, can you score a path of that color?
- Do you need the highest hand total of a color to score its path, and do ties count?
- If I hold the 8 of a color and an opponent holds the 1 of that color, is my 8 worth 0 when deciding who has the right to score it?
- If I hold both the 1 and the 8 of a color in my own hand at game end, is that color's total 9 or 1?
- Does a 1 held by a player who has no trees of that color still cancel another player's 8 of it?
- When my 1 cancels an opponent's 8, do I discard the 1 or lose its value?
- Can I choose not to reveal a 1 in my hand at game end to keep an opponent's 8 from being cancelled?
- If you lack the right to score a color, can you still use its cards in other paths?
- Do cards left in your hand at game end score any points?
- Can you score a path of a color that lies in an opponent's arboretum?
- If another player wins the right to score a color, can you still score your own path of it?
- Can you score more than one path of the same color, and if a color has several routes, which one do you score?
Scoring the paths
- How many points does a scoring path give?
- Can you score a full 1-to-8 path of one color, and what is it worth?
- Does the one-point-per-card bonus need every card in the path to be the scored color, with at least four cards?
- Do the bonuses for a 1 or an 8 in a path require the path to be one color?
- Does the same-color bonus double a path's score, and are the 1 and 8 bonuses doubled too?
- What is the shortest scoring path, and can a single card score as a path?
- Do the values in a scoring path have to be consecutive, and can two equal numbers sit next to each other in a path?
- Is there a limit on turns or direction when tracing a scoring path?
- Can a scoring path contain cards of other colors between its first and last cards?
- Must a scored path start and end with cards of the same color?
- Must a scored path start with your lowest card in that color?
- Must you score the longest path of a color, or can you choose a shorter one?
- Can one card count toward more than one scoring path, including a path of one color nested inside a path of another?
- Can a scoring path run diagonally between cards?