Forest Shuffle is a fantastic tableau-building card game, but as your forest grows, the table can quickly become crowded and the final scoring complex.
Fortunately, a few clever Forest Shuffle upgrades can make the experience much smoother. If you’re also looking for a box storage solution, check out my post on the 3D printed Forest Shuffle inserts.
I detail 3D printed tree card trays that keep your forest organized during play, along with two free scoring apps that make final scoring much easier.
What’s Inside
Why Forest Shuffle tables get messy
One of the joys of Forest Shuffle is watching your forest grow tree by tree across the table. But every tree can hold animal or plant cards on all four sides, and those cards can hold even more cards beneath them.
Rearranging your forest risks disturbing everything attached to it. And it’s easy to miss a card hiding under another when scoring.
That’s where tree card trays come in.
My Favorite Forest Shuffle Upgrade – Tree Card Trays
In Forest Shuffle, cards that attach to trees are designed to be partially visible. Each card is split either vertically or horizontally, with one half displayed beside the tree and the other half tucked beneath.
Tree card trays are slim 3D-printed frames that sit beneath your tree cards, lifting them slightly off the table. Attached cards slide underneath the tree from any side to their proper position.
Because everything is lifted off the table, moving a tree is easy. Just grab the frame by one corner and slide it wherever you need it. I like keeping my trees in alphabetical order, so I move my trees quite often.
As far as Forest Shuffle upgrades go, these tree card trays are the first thing I’d recommend printing. They’re small, quick to print, and useful for every game.
Print Details
These Tree Card Trays are designed by Patricktb3D, the same designer behind Insert Option 2 in my Forest Shuffle insert post. The STL files are free on MakerWorld.
There are four tray versions available: two sizes, each with sleeved and unsleeved options.
The 6.6mm version includes supports under the bottom cards, making it easy to pick up and move the entire tree stack in one go. The 5mm version is thinner, so more trays fit in the box, but you give up that easy one-piece movement. I went with the 6.6mm trays.
On my Bambu Lab P2S, a single 6.6mm tray takes about 25 minutes and uses 7 grams of filament. I print six at a time, which runs 2 hours and 42 minutes and uses 40 grams of filament, coming out to a dollar per plate.
If you download the 3MF profile from MakerWorld, everything is already configured, including the needed supports.
I printed mine in Bambu Lab PLA Matte Dark Green and Desert Tan, which complement the game’s woodland color palette.
A Closer Look at Fit
If you plan to sleeve your cards, print the sleeved tray version.
Mayday Premium and Sleeve Kings Standard sleeves in Standard American size fit comfortably in the trays. I also tried Swan Panasia Thins, which is what I ended up using. They are only 40 microns thick, so they leave plenty of breathing room in both the trays and the insert.
This image shows both Swan Panasia Thin and Sleeve King Standards fitting easily in the trays.
Gamegenic Matte sleeves technically fit, but just barely. I could get the cards in, but it felt a little tight. I did not want to fiddle with placing cards into the trays every time. They also barely fit in the matching insert.
Here’s a look at the inside of one tray with the tree card removed, so you can see how the tucked cards sit underneath. The cards slide in very easily and stop right where they should, leaving half the card visible next to the tree.
You can even add more cards underneath as the tree fills out. When I tested the 6.6 mm trays, every card stayed slightly lifted off the table, even with multiple cards tucked under.
That little bit of lift is what makes this Forest Shuffle upgrade work so well. The cards stay neat, visible, and easy to move during the game.
The 5mm Tray Option
I also printed the thinner 5mm tray, this time in Bambu Lab Translucent PETG. Honestly, I kind of love how the translucent look turned out.
The main tradeoff with the 5mm version is that the two side cards rest on the table rather than being elevated. That makes it harder to pick up and move the whole tree as one unit.
With the 6.6mm trays, everything lifts together cleanly.
That said, the thinner trays do let you fit more in the box, which is worth considering if you want more trays.
I’m planning to set the 5mm trays aside for now and use them if I pick up Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor standalone game.
Why I Love This Forest Shuffle Upgrade
Cleaner table layout. Each tree becomes its own little ecosystem. Animals, plants, and birds stay organized around it, and the whole tableau is easier to read even when your forest gets crowded.
Rearranging is effortless. I keep my trees organized alphabetically, so I’m constantly shifting Birches and Beeches to one side and Sycamores and Silver Firs to another. With the trays, I put a finger on the frame and slide the whole tree, cards and all, in one motion.
Cards stay put. Without trays, moving a tree means things shift and separate. With trays, every attachment stays lined up and visible.
Scoring gets easier. Every card is clearly visible around its tree. Much harder to miss something when you’re counting up points.
A neater forest. I’m a bit of a perfectionist. These trays keep everything tidy from the first card to the final score. As Forest Shuffle upgrades go, they’re hard to go back from once you’ve tried them.
How Many Trays Should You Print?
Probably fewer than you think.
Forest Shuffle revolves around trees, but building a massive forest is not always the best strategy. In many games, animals and plants end up scoring more points than simply playing more trees.
Even when you do have a lot of trees, not all of them will have attached cards. Some might have just one or two attached cards, so a tray is not really necessary.
In my experience, 10 to 12 trays per player is plenty for most games. I recommend printing around 30 total, which comfortably covers 1-3 player games. That’s also roughly how many fit in the Patricktb3D insert, depending on whether you sleeve your cards.
If you enjoy running a mushroom-heavy strategy and/or tend to grow a larger forest, printing a few extra wouldn’t hurt.
The key thing to remember is that you don’t need a tray for every tree. Focus on filling out the trees you already have before adding more. Used this way, the trays become one of those small Forest Shuffle upgrades that make the game easier to manage without adding unnecessary clutter.
The Perfect Insert for Your Tree Trays
If you decide to print these trays as a Forest Shuffle upgrade, you’ll want a way to store them with the rest of the game components in the box. Fortunately, the same designer also created a 3D-printed Forest Shuffle insert specifically to accommodate them.
I take a closer look at that insert and compare it with another popular option in my post, “Forest Shuffle Insert: Two 3D Printed Options.”
Two Free Forest Shuffle Scoring Apps
So now the forest is organized, every tree has its creatures and plants neatly tucked in place, and the game has come to a close. That means it’s time for the other challenge: scoring.
Forest Shuffle end-game scoring can get complicated. Between the trees, attached cards, caves, and all the different synergies, there’s a lot to keep track of. With a full forest on the table, it’s very easy to overlook something.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever manually scored a game of Forest Shuffle after my first game. Fortunately, there are two free apps that handle all the math for you, and they actually make the process pretty fun to watch as the points add up.
Just like the trays are one of my favorite Forest Shuffle upgrades for keeping the forest organized during play, these apps are the perfect companion at the end of the game. They take care of the math so you don’t have to.
Forest Shuffle Scoring App #1
The Forest Shuffle Scoring App is free and works as both a web app and a mobile app on iOS and Android.
I open it at the start of every game, not just the end. It tracks your total play time, which is a nice bonus if you like keeping records.
Setup is quick. Add your player names, check off which expansions you’re playing, and you’re good to go.
It starts with the trees, then moves through every card position around the tree. You simply tap how many of each card you have, and the app automatically calculates the points.
At the end of the game, the app walks through the scoring step by step.
Every card in the game is in the database, so nothing gets missed.
If you like tracking your plays, the app also connects with Board Game Stats. That is the app I use to log my plays across my whole collection. My Forest Shuffle scores, play times, and game history sync over automatically.
As far as Forest Shuffle upgrades go, this scoring app is among the easiest to recommend. If you have ever spent ten minutes double-checking a Forest Shuffle end-game score, you will immediately appreciate having the app handle the math.
Forest Shuffle Scoring App #2 – Forest Shuffle Smart Counter
The second scoring tool I tried is Forest Shuffle™ Smart Counter. This one takes a very different approach.
Instead of entering cards manually, you simply take a photo of your forest.
The app scans the trees and attachments, then automatically calculates the score. After the scan, you just enter how many cards you have in your cave and confirm a few details.
That is it. Your Forest Shuffle score appears instantly.
In my testing, the camera detection worked surprisingly well. I lined up my trees, took a photo, and the app picked up most of the cards without any trouble. You can also manually adjust or add cards if anything is missed; it’s easy to do so in the app.
If you want the quickest possible way to handle end-game scoring, this is one of the most interesting Forest Shuffle upgrades I have tried.
It feels a bit like magic the first time you use it. Just point your phone at your forest and let the app do the math.
Between this and the first scoring app, you have two great options depending on how you like to score your games.
Forest Shuffle Upgrades Worth Trying
Forest Shuffle is already a great card game, but a few thoughtful Forest Shuffle upgrades can make the table experience much smoother.
The tree card trays keep your forest organized during play. The scoring apps handle the complicated endgame math.
Together, they remove two of the biggest headaches in the game.
If you plan to print the trays, I also recommend considering this Forest Shuffle insert to store them inside the box. Keeping everything together makes setup much easier the next time your forest hits the table.
They don’t change the game. They just make a crowded forest much easier to handle.
Final Thoughts on These Forest Shuffle Upgrades
Tree card trays, a good insert, and a scoring app on your phone. Three small additions that make Forest Shuffle easier to set up, easier to play, and a lot easier to score.
If you’ve tried any of these Forest Shuffle upgrades or found something I haven’t mentioned, I’d love to hear about it. Are you using a different tray design? How many trays did you print? Or rather, what’s your average tree count in your forest? Have you found a scoring app you prefer?
Drop a comment below and let me know. And if this post about Forest Shuffle upgrades helped you, feel free to share it with your gaming group.
