Board Game Arena

SquashEngineer wrote: ↑09 March 2026, 15:15

Trevor-UK wrote: ↑09 March 2026, 13:28

yearofglad wrote: ↑01 June 2025, 21:38

Double-clicking on the eyeball lets you look at the contents of the discard pile.

That seems odd - I wouldn't have read the rules to allow looking at discard piles beyond the visible top card. We certainly haven't allowed that in real life. Seems to change the game significantly - the ability to remember and keep track of what's been discarded is surely part of the skillset required to be good at this game?

In reading the published rules, "Discard 1 card from your hand into your personal discard pile, face up. ... Make sure your discard pile remains visible to your opponents."

I also would not have interpreted that to mean that anyone at any time can rifle through the entire discard pile to see all the cards. Rather only that the top last discarded available card that is face up is known, all others below "could" have been remembered, and that the next available one is face up and would become known if the top one is picked up.

Did BGA code it such that the entire discard pile can be seen? (I have played digitally a few times, and did not notice the eyeball)

Trevor-UK wrote: ↑09 March 2026, 23:39 But more significantly on a related rules discussion over on Board Game Geek the designer of the game himself actually confirmed that he allows discard piles to be looked through, and sees nothing wrong with the way some people play with the discard "piles" fanned out so all cards are visible. He expressly states "Arboretum is not intended to be a memory game".