I never owned a treehouse when I was a kid…I was too busy playing games anyway. Sure, I’d go outside once in a while and play football, basketball, or street hockey, though nothing satisfied me more than beating a tough game on the ol’ NES or bringing out “Fireball Island” and burning adventurers alive. “Best Treehouse Ever” makes up for that, sort of. I mean, I’m still playing a game inside the home, but that’s basically the same thing as having a real treehouse, right? Sure, let’s go with that. In this light strategy/drafting game, players will earn points for building a treehouse. The more efficiently they match colored rooms, the more points they’ll earn. So who’s ready to build the best treehouse ever?
Best Treehouse Ever: 2-4 Players, Ages 8+, Average Play Time = 20 Minutes
Components
The game includes 72 room cards, 4 starting tree cards, 3 scoretrack cards, 6 scoring cards, 4 scoring tokens/score track tokens, 4 balance cubes, 4 game changer and rules. There are also 6 bonus cards that can be used in the advanced game, scoring players points if they match the configurations shown on their card.
Setup & Gameplay
Each player receives a starting tree card and a balance cube (which is placed in the center space of the starting tree card). The room cards are shuffled into a draw deck. The six scoring cards are placed near the score track (each player’s score tokens start on the beginning space).
The game is played over three rounds. At the beginning of each round, each player is dealt six cards. Once this is done, players choose one of their cards to place face-down in front of them and the rest are passed clockwise to the next player. Players reveal their chosen face-down card and place it into their treehouse. If more cards are on one side of the tree than the other, then the balance marker is shifted in that direction. A player MUST connect like colors together and they can’t have two cards of the same color not touching on the tree.
Players continue drafting until they have one card left, which is discarded. At the end of the first round, each player will have five cards in their tree. At the end of each round, scoring occurs. Players potentially earn one point for each room in their tree, though players can manipulate the point values of the six scoring / color cards via special cards. After three rounds, whoever has the most points, wins!
Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.
The Review
“Best Treehouse Ever” has to be one of the more fun drafting cards I’ve played. It’s easy to teach and to play, but the light strategy elements that come with it keep me coming back for more. Essentially, you’re building a tree using the cards you’re dealt…which changes as hands are passed around the table. You’re trying to keep like colors together, which is sometimes easier said than done. If you manage to block off a color by building other room colors over top of it, then you’re outta luck as you can’t have two cards of the same color in different parts of your tree. Since there’s six colors and each of their point value can be manipulated, you’ll often find yourself debating on which colors to build and which colors to pass up.
This game is an easy recommend to just about anybody, as the theme is family-friendly and the gameplay engaging. It goes for about $15-20 on Amazon (as of 2/4/16), so my advice is to add this little gem to your collection.
Final Verdict: 9/10
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