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Feuerland Spiele

Ark Nova

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$129.00
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Ark Nova is an award-winning, zoo-building strategy game for 1–4 players aged 14 and up, with games lasting around 90–150 minutes. A heavy, card-driven engine builder, it challenges you to design a modern zoo, house animals and fund conservation projects around the world.

Players
1–4 players
Play time
Up to 3 hr
Age
Teens
Complexity
Hard

About the Game

Step into the role of a modern zoo director in Ark Nova. Each turn you'll play one of five action cards – Cards, Build, Animals, Association or Sponsors – whose power depends on the slot it occupies, so timing is everything. Construct enclosures, welcome animals and support conservation projects around the world, chaining clever combos as your zoo's engine grows and your appeal and conservation markers race towards each other on the scoring track. Ark Nova plays 1–4 players in about 90–150 minutes; it's a heavy strategy game suited to ages 14+, built around engine building, card drafting, hand management and tile placement. Designed by Mathias Wigge and first published by Feuerland Spiele in 2021, with the English edition released by Capstone Games in 2022, it won the Deutscher Spiele Preis and the Golden Geek Award for Best Heavy Game. This is the celebrated base game, driven by 255 unique cards.

History

Ark Nova was designed by Mathias Wigge and first published by Feuerland Spiele in 2021, with the English-language edition released by Capstone Games in 2022.

The game earned major acclaim, winning the Deutscher Spiele Preis and the Golden Geek Award for Best Heavy Game of the Year, and was recommended for the Kennerspiel des Jahres. It has since been followed by the Marine Worlds expansion and a digital adaptation.

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Shipping details

Ark Nova

$129.00

Watch: How to play

Rules of Ark Nova

  • Setup: Prepare the shared display, deck and conservation projects; give each player a zoo board, the five action cards in slots 1–5, workers and the seat’s starting cards and money.
  • Turn flow: Choose one action card—Cards, Build, Animals, Association or Sponsors—and resolve it at the strength of its current slot.
  • After acting, move that card to slot 1 and slide the cards that were in lower-numbered slots one position higher, so neglected actions become stronger.
  • Use Cards to gain zoo cards, Build to place enclosures and buildings, Animals to pay for and house animals in suitable enclosures, Association to gain reputation and support conservation, and Sponsors to play sponsor cards and manage income.
  • Objective: Grow appeal while earning conservation points; your two markers move toward each other on the scoring track.
  • Game end: When any player’s appeal and conservation markers meet or cross, finish the current turn and resolve final scoring; the highest final score wins.

Strategy

  • Plan one turn ahead: a strong action drops to slot 1 after use, so line up Build and Animals for turns when they sit in slots 4–5.
  • In the opening, favour card flow, money and a small set of enclosures that match animals you can actually play.
  • Draft animals whose enclosure size, continent and tag requirements fit your board and current cards; avoid filling your hand with long-term dreams.
  • Do not overbuild: empty enclosures tie up money and map space, while animals in hand provide no appeal.
  • Pick conservation projects you can support soon; conservation points move the game toward the end as surely as appeal.
  • Keep a little money in reserve for requirements and opportunistic animals, but convert spare cash into scoring before your engine stalls.
  • Watch opponents’ supported projects and available animals so you can contest key bonuses without wrecking your own plan.