Ark Nova Board Game Review

Everyone has visited a zoo at least once in their life, and most of us fell in love with them at a young age. Seeing animals like elephants, lions, penguins, and many others with our own eyes was absolutely fascinating as a child. Many people have kept this passion to this day and love returning to the zoo, whether with their own children or on their own. New board game Ark Nova brings this experience right into your living room. You won't be a visitor, though; you'll take on the role of a designer trying to build the best modern zoo.

Ark Nova is designed by Mathias Wigge. According to the box, the game is for 1 to 4 players aged 12 and up, with a playtime of about 90-150 minutes. The rulebook is very clear and easy to understand, allowing even less experienced players to learn it quickly.

After opening the box, besides the rules, you'll find plenty of components, a game board, several player boards, many cards, and to our surprise, a very high-quality and functional insert (an impressive amount of content considering the game's low price).

The game includes 16 player boards in total, with 10 different variants. This gives players great variability, so the game won't get old quickly. All components and cards are high-quality and won't wear out easily with proper care. There are plenty of cards in the game—212 cards featuring animals, sponsors, and conservation projects. All cards are illustrated with real photos of animals or people, which reinforces the theme.

How do you play Ark Nova?

You lay out a very atypical game board on the table. You place a huge draw deck on one side and put your scoring markers on the two ends of the tracks. Each player places a player board in front of them, where the space for your new zoo is defined by small hexagons. Whether everyone takes a different one or everyone uses the same is up to the players.

At the bottom of this player board, there are numbers from one to five, where each player places their action cards. Using these cards, you can place animals in the zoo, gain sponsors, build enclosures, and more. Through the Association action, you fulfill conservation projects, and the last action card allows you to draw cards into your hand.

Animal cards contain basic information about the animal, its requirements for placement in the zoo, and the points the player gains for it. There are also sponsor cards that help your zoo in every way, and conservation project cards that earn you victory points.

On your turn, you play one action card, and it matters a lot where the card is located on the 1 to 5 scale. You'll usually want to play a card from position 5, where it has the best effect. Then you move the card to position 1 and shift the entire row. In Ark Nova, you will fill your player board with enclosures, place animals in them, hire sponsors, and complete conservation projects. You get victory points for every step.

There are two opposing tracks on the game board: the appeal track and the conservation track. At the start of the game, you place your markers on opposite ends of the tracks. The game ends when someone's markers meet on both tracks. The player with the largest difference between the two markers at the end wins.

Our impressions

• Individual turns are very fast, so there are no long delays that would bore a player while waiting for their turn.
• You really have to think carefully about the order in which you play your action cards to make your plans work. However, thanks to drawing cards, these aren't long-term plans. To get the best possible result, you must react to the cards you currently have in your hand.
• The principle of building hexagonal enclosures on your player board and activating them by flipping the enclosure token after placing an animal is a very effective mechanic.
• Realizing conservation projects isn't always easy. However, if you manage to meet the conditions, you get a lot of points for such a project.
• Player interaction isn't huge, yet there are several cards in the game that can complicate your opponent's turn planning with their effects.
• There are countless icons in the game, and it will take a while to learn them all so you don't have to keep looking at the rules during play.
• The included insert is great and saves a lot of time during setup. We just don't understand why they didn't make it a centimeter or two taller, as it won't close with the plastic lid when fully packed.
• A second minor complaint is that while we see a zoo full of beautiful enclosures on the game board during and after the game, there are no individual animal tokens to further deepen the overall experience. Our shop has solved this shortcoming, though, and you can buy plastic tokens from us along with other game upgrades.
• The game also offers a solo mode, which can be a real challenge, which is always a nice plus.

Rating

Ark Nova is an absolutely brilliant take on a zoo-building game. There are so many ways to play that its complexity will satisfy both beginners and advanced players. The rules aren't complicated, but you can really rack your brain while planning.

We are amazed at how everything fits together beautifully in the game. Add to that the gorgeous production and plenty of fun. Ark Nova is the surprise of 2022, and the fact that it climbed to the top of the BGG rankings within a few weeks speaks for itself. Ark is a gem that we can't tear ourselves away from, and it shouldn't be missing from your collection.

author: Daniel Korčák