L'Arbre Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Goal of the Game
• 2. Contents of the Game
• 3. Setup
• 4. Turn Structure
  • 4.1. Draw 2 Cards
  • 4.2. Play One or More Cards
    • 4.2.1. Grow an Element Type
    • 4.2.2. Growth Rules
    • 4.2.3. Invoking a Guardian Spirit
    • 4.2.4. Spirit Flute
    • 4.2.5. Guardian Spirit Powers
  • 4.3. Grow the Trunk
• 5. End of the Game
• 6. Tile Shortage

1. Goal of the Game

Be the first player to place on the Tree all the elements of your personal reserve.

Make the best use of the elements brought by the river and cleverly invoke the powers of the Guardian Spirits. You will then be recognised as worthy of becoming one of them!

2. Contents of the Game

• 40 Player Branch tiles (10 per player)
• 55 Common Branch tiles
• 40 Leaf tiles
• 30 Bud tiles
• 12 Player Fruit tiles (3 per player)
• 4 Golden Flower tiles
• 4 Trunk Shoot tokens
• 5 Trunk tiles
• 1 River board
• 2 Guardian Spirit tiles (double-sided)
• 20 Branch cards, 16 Leaf cards, 6 Joker cards
• 12 Bud cards, 8 Fruit/Golden Flower cards
• 6 Spirit Flute cards

3. Setup

1. Place the River board on the edge of the table.
2. Add the Trunk tile that forms the base on top of it.
3. Add 4 branches, each made of 3 Common Branch tiles.
4. Finally add the 4 remaining Trunk tiles, grey side face down, so as to form a complete trunk.
5. Each player receives the following, which they place in front of them on the table, visible to all. This forms their personal reserve:
   • the 10 Branch tiles and 3 Fruit tiles of their colour,
   • 6 Leaf tiles,
   • 5 Bud tiles,
   • 1 Golden Flower tile,
   • 1 Trunk Shoot token.
6. Group the remaining Common Branch, Leaf and Bud tiles at the edge of the board; they form the general reserve called the Undergrowth.
7. Place the 2 Guardian Spirit tiles on their dedicated slots on the River board, determining at random which side is face up.
8. Shuffle the cards and make a face-down draw pile on the Source space of the River board. This pile is called the Source.
9. Draw the first 4 cards of the Source and place them face up on the River part of the board. This face-up area of 4 cards is called the River.
10. Deal 3 cards from the Source to each player. These cards are their hand and must be kept hidden from the other players.

The discard pile is placed next to the Source and is called the Discard.

4. Turn Structure

The first player is the one who last went for a walk in the forest; failing that, the one who last ate a fruit.

Players take turns in clockwise order.

On your turn you must choose one of the following actions:

• Draw 2 cards, or
• Play one or more cards, or
• Grow the trunk.

4.1. Draw 2 Cards

Take 2 cards of your choice from the 4 available in the River, then draw 2 cards from the Source and place them in the River, face up, in place of the cards taken.

Your hand is limited to 6 cards.

You may take this action even if you already have 6 cards, but you must then discard face down the cards in excess of your choice, so that you keep only 6. You may very well discard cards you have just taken.

At any time during the game, if the Source is empty, shuffle the Discard to form the new Source.

4.2. Play One or More Cards

First, reveal from your hand the card or cards you wish to play.

These cards allow you, in the order of your choice, to grow one type of element and/or to invoke a Guardian Spirit.

Then place the cards played face down on the Discard.

4.2.1. Grow an Element Type

Element cards and Joker cards allow you to add elements from your personal reserve to the Tree. This is called the Tree growing.

On each of your turns you may grow only one type of element, chosen from:

• branches, or
• leaves, or
• buds, or
• fruits/golden flowers (fruits and golden flowers are considered as one and the same type of element).

The number of elements you must grow depends on the number of cards of the growing element type (including Joker cards) played from your hand, plus the number of cards of the same type (including Joker cards) present in the River.

You may also play pairs of cards of other types bearing the same Guardian Spirit icon. A pair may be made of cards of different types. Each pair played grows 1 element.

• A card played for its element cannot also be used to form a pair of identical Guardian Spirits.
• A card cannot be used to form several pairs of identical Guardian Spirits.
• A card of an element other than the one being grown may be played only to form a pair of identical Guardian Spirits.
• A pair of identical Guardian Spirits cannot be formed with cards from the River.

Example: Franck plays 2 Leaf cards, 1 Joker card, and 1 pair of cards of a type other than Leaf but bearing an identical Guardian Spirit icon. Among the 4 cards of the River there are 1 Leaf card and 1 Joker card. Franck must therefore add 6 Leaf tiles to the Tree (2 leaves from his hand + 1 joker from his hand + 1 leaf from the River + 1 joker from the River + 1 pair from his hand).

You must then add these elements to the Tree while respecting the growth rules that follow.

4.2.2. Growth Rules

Element tiles are placed on the Tree following some specific rules:

Element tile	Growth rule
Branch	A branch grows only from the end of any branch (common or of any colour). There are 2 possible starting points for branches at the end of each branch.
Leaf	A leaf grows only from the end of any branch that has neither leaf nor branch. No other branch may grow from that end any more.
Bud	A bud grows only on a leaf that has neither bud nor fruit and that is located at the end of any branch.
Fruit	A fruit grows only on a bud that has neither fruit nor golden flower and that is located at the end of a common branch or a branch of the player's own colour.
Golden Flower	A golden flower grows only on a bud that has neither fruit nor golden flower and that is located at the end of a common branch or a branch of any colour.

For better visibility, Leaf and Branch tiles must not overlap. Practical note: if you need room to place a Branch or Leaf tile without tiles overlapping, you may re-form branches by rotating Branch tiles on their axis. Do not detach the tiles during this manipulation.

If there is not enough room on the Tree to accommodate these elements, place as many as possible.

If your personal reserve has too few or no elements of the chosen type, take the missing elements directly from the Undergrowth and add them to the Tree.

Note: there are no fruits or golden flowers in the Undergrowth. You may only grow the fruits/golden flowers from your own personal reserve. So if you grow 5 fruits/golden flowers at once while only 3 remain to you, you place only 3 (unlike other elements).

Example (continued): Franck must place 6 Leaf tiles. He has only 4 Leaf tiles left in his personal reserve, and there is room for only 5 Leaf tiles on the Tree. Franck must therefore place his 4 Leaf tiles and 1 Leaf taken from the Undergrowth.

Then place in the Discard, face down, the cards you have just played. The cards present in the River are not discarded.

4.2.3. Invoking a Guardian Spirit

Before or after the growth of an element type, you may use the power of one single Guardian Spirit, provided its icon is present on one of your played cards and the Guardian Spirit is visible on the River board.

Using a Spirit Flute replaces the invocation of a Guardian Spirit.

Guardian Spirit icons present on River cards are not taken into account.

Example (continued): the cards played by Franck bear the Guardian Spirit icons of the Naiad and the Pegaea. Only the Pegaea Guardian Spirit tile is visible on the board, so Franck may, if he wishes, use its power.

Another example: the 3 Bud cards played by Sabine bear the Guardian Spirit icons of the Faun, the Dryad and the Pegaea. The Faun and Pegaea Guardian Spirit tiles are both visible on the board, so Sabine may, if she wishes, use one of these two powers.

After using a Guardian Spirit's power (see 4.2.5. Guardian Spirit Powers), turn its tile over. You thereby reveal the Guardian Spirit on the back of the tile, and so on.

4.2.4. Spirit Flute

When you play a Spirit Flute card, you may use the 2 powers of the Guardian Spirit tiles visible on the board, without taking into account the Guardian Spirit icons on the other cards played.

You may play only one Spirit Flute card per turn, either alone or in addition to Element and/or Joker cards.

Turn over the Guardian Spirit tiles whose power you have used.

Note: a Spirit Flute card played alone does not trigger the Dryad's power (+1 element placed).

4.2.5. Guardian Spirit Powers

The Faun Add a Common Branch tile from the Undergrowth to the personal reserve of another player.

The Dryad (tree nymph) You may grow one additional element of the type you are growing this turn.

Example: if you must grow 2 leaves, you may grow 3.

Note: if you do not grow any elements this turn, you cannot use the Dryad's power. If there is no space on the Tree for the additional element brought by the Dryad, do not use the Dryad's power.

The Naiad (freshwater nymph) Take a card from the River into your hand, then draw a card from the Source and place it immediately in the vacated River space. The card taken cannot be played this turn.

If you use this power before growing the Tree, determine the number of elements to grow on the Tree after having replaced the drawn card.

Example: Sabine plays 2 Leaf cards, one of which bears the Naiad icon. She takes a card from the River with the Naiad's power; the Source card that replaces it is a leaf. There are then 2 leaves visible in the River. Sabine must therefore grow 4 leaves.

The Pegaea (spring nymph) Draw 3 cards from the Source. Keep 1 in hand and discard the other 2 face down. The card taken cannot be played this turn.

4.3. Grow the Trunk

• Discard your Trunk Shoot token and turn over, colour side up, the Trunk tile closest to a Trunk tile already turned colour side up,
• Grow 2 new branches on it, each made of 3 Common Branch tiles taken from the Undergrowth,
• Complete your hand to 6 cards, taking priority from the River.

Example: during his last turn, Franck played 5 cards. On this turn he decides to grow the trunk. He turns Trunk tile A colour side up and forms 2 new branches, each made of 3 Common Branch tiles from the Undergrowth. He had only 1 card left in hand. He takes the 4 cards of the River and draws the first card of the Source to complete his hand to 6.

• If you already have 6 cards in hand, take none.
• If you must take 3 cards or fewer, you choose which ones from the River.
• If you must take more than 4 cards, draw the remainder directly from the Source.

In the last two cases, then complete the River with cards from the Source.

5. End of the Game

The first player to have placed all the tiles of their personal reserve (including the Trunk Shoot token and any Common Branch tiles) immediately wins the game and is from then on considered a Venerable Guardian Spirit.

6. Tile Shortage

The Undergrowth is virtually unlimited, but we have had to set a limit on the number of tiles. In the great majority of games there will be no shortage.

However, should the case arise, we invite you to replace the missing tiles as you see fit (for example with twigs or blades of grass).