- Score sheets
- Family card games
- Arboretum
Arboretum score sheet
An Arboretum scorecard fills in species by species when the deck runs out. For each one, the highest hand of that species wins the right to score it, and each player with the right scores their best path. Add the species; the highest total wins.
- 2 to 4 players
- About 30 minutes
- Ends when the deck runs out
- Highest total wins
Tabletales is free on iPhone and iPad.
This is the real Scorepad, live: Dev’s paths added on the keypad. He and Mara tie on 17, so both get the trophy. Count species at the table to settle it.
Arboretum
- BGG #447
- 30 min
A quiet, cutthroat card game about planting trees in rising paths. You only score a species if the cards left in your hand beat everyone else’s, so every card you hold back is one you cannot plant.
Year, players, time and rank from BoardGameGeek.
How to play Arboretum, in brief
You lay tree cards into a grid, your arboretum, building paths that climb in value. But you score a species only if your cards of it in hand add up highest at the end.
- Deal 7 cards eachUse 6 species with 2 players, 8 with 3 and all 10 with 4.
- Draw 2, play 1, discard 1Draw from the deck or the top of any discard pile. Play a card into your arboretum, edge to edge with one already there, then discard onto your own pile.
- Grow pathsA path is a line of touching cards that rises in value and starts and ends on the same species.
- Score when the deck runs outWhoever draws the last card finishes their turn. Then, species by species, the highest total in hand wins the right to score it.
Win the right, then walk the path.
Nothing scores during play. At the end, go through the species one at a time: first decide who may score it from the cards in hand, then each of those players scores one path of it from their arboretum.
What a path scores
| For the path | Points |
|---|---|
| Each card in the pathCards touching edge to edge (never diagonally), rising in value, gaps allowed. It starts and ends on the species; the middle can be any species | 1 |
| Each card again, if every card is that speciesOnly for a path of at least 4 cards | +1 |
| The path starts with a 1 | +1 |
| The path ends with an 8 | +2 |
| A species you have no right toHowever good your path, it scores nothing | 0 |
- Finish the last turnWhen the draw pile runs out, the player who drew the last card plays and discards as usual. Then scoring begins.
- Win the right to scoreFor each species, everyone shows the cards of it in their hand. The highest total holds the right, and tied players all hold it. An 8 counts as 0 if an opponent holds the 1 of that species.
- Find your best pathEach player with the right scores one path of that species: their best. Holding the right with no path scores nothing, but still keeps the others out.
- Score the path1 per card, 1 more per card if it has 4 or more cards all of that species, 1 for starting on a 1 and 2 for ending on an 8.
- Add the speciesThe highest total wins. A tie goes to the tied player with the most different species in their arboretum.
A tie on 17, settled by species.
Three players, so 8 species. Mara and Dev both hold Willow cards adding to 8, so both may score Willow. You hold the Jacaranda 8, but Dev holds the Jacaranda 1, so your 8 counts 0 and Dev takes the right; he has no Jacaranda path, so nobody scores it. This is the game on the Scorepad above.
| Player | Each species, path by path | Final |
|---|---|---|
| Dev | Oak 2, 4, 5, 7, all Oak (4 + 4); Dogwood 3, 4, 8 (3, and 2 for the 8); Willow 1, 4, 6 (3, and 1 for the 1)4 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 1 | 17 |
| Mara | Maple 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, all Maple (5 + 5, 1 for the 1, 2 for the 8); Willow 2, 4, 5, 7 with two other species in the middle (4)5 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 4 | 17 |
| You | Cassia 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 with other species in the middle (6, 1 for the 1, 2 for the 8)6 + 1 + 2 | 9 |
Settle the paths at the table. Tabletales adds them up.
Tabletales is a scorepad and scrapbook for game night. In Arboretum you compare hands and find the paths together at the table. Then type each player’s total, or their paths: Tabletales adds it up, marks the winner and saves the game with the night.
- Paths on the keypadType each total, or type a player’s paths the way you count them (4 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 1) and Tabletales adds them up.
- Ties share the trophyLeave the game on Highest wins, where every new game starts. Tied players share the trophy. Arboretum breaks a tie on the most species planted.
- Arboretum gets its own pageHow many times you have played, who with, and who holds the high score, all built from the nights you save.
- And the night is keptSave it with who played and a photo of every arboretum. The photos stay with the game they belong to.
- Everyone who was there
- Photos from the table
- Arboretum, with its scores
Common Arboretum scoring mistakes
- Scoring every species you plantedYou score only the species you hold the right to, and that comes from the cards left in your hand.
- Counting your 8 against the 1If an opponent holds the 1 of that species, your 8 is worth 0 in the comparison. The 1 still counts as 1.
- Doubling a mixed pathThe extra point per card needs at least 4 cards, every one of them the species being scored.
- Scoring two paths of one speciesOnly your single best path for each species counts.
Arboretum scoring, answered
- How do you score Arboretum?
- When the deck runs out, score each species in turn. The players with the highest total of that species in hand may score it, each with their best path: 1 per card, double for 4 or more cards all of that species, plus 1 for starting on a 1 and 2 for ending on an 8.
- Who gets to score a species in Arboretum?
- The player with the highest total of that species in hand, and everyone tied with them. An 8 counts as 0 if an opponent holds the 1; if nobody holds the species, everyone may score it.
- What is the tiebreaker in Arboretum?
- The tied player with the most different species in their arboretum wins.
Arboretum score sheet
Print one for the table: a line for each species in play (write the names in, since fewer players use fewer species), for up to four players, with the total and the species count for a tie. Our own design, free to copy.
Score another game
We could not open a publisher rulebook, so these rules come from Board Game Arena and UltraBoardGames, which agree on every number. UltraBoardGames plays 6 species with 2 players, 8 with 3 and all 10 with 4. Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against Board Game Arena, UltraBoardGames and Renegade Game Studios. Arboretum is a trademark of Renegade Game Studios. Tabletales is not affiliated with Renegade Game Studios, and this score sheet is our own design.
Keep score tonight. Keep the night for good.
Tabletales adds up every hand, then saves the whole night: the games, the scores, the photos and who was there.
