Gamehelparknova

Welcome to Ark Nova! In this game, you'll manage a modern zoo. In addition to putting popular and well-liked animals into it, you'll also aim to research more into zoology and support conservation projects and sponsorships. You'll do this by taking one of five actions each turn, with each them having strength related to how far they've progressed on your track - the longer it's been since the last time you took that action, the more powerful it'll be. Your score is measured by both your Appeal and Conservation points, and when they cross each other on the scoring track, the game has ended. The most points, as measured by how far apart these two trackers are from each other, wins the game!

What To Do On Your Turn

When it's your turn, you'll choose one of the five action cards in front of you to act with. This action has a strength associated with it, based on where it is along the bottom of your board, ranging from 1 to 5. You'll be able to add to this value by spending X-tokens. After performing that action, it returns to the far left position, at strength 1, while all other action cards move one space to the right.

Under certain conditions, you'll be able to upgrade these action cards as well by flipping them to the pink side, where they will remain for the rest of the game. These upgraded actions will usually allow you to use these actions more efficiently or at higher strength, but otherwise follow the same rules as their basic form.

The Build Action

The Build action allows you to build a new enclosure, which can range in size from 1 to 5 tiles and are needed to place animals, or other special building in your zoo. To do this, you'll pay 2 money per space covered by the tile. All tiles must be placed adjacent to another tile, and no tiles can be placed on top of each other, the rock or water spaces already printed on your zoo, or outside the zoo's borders. If you cover a space with a yellow pentagon, gain the bonus pictured on it.

You can also use this to place a Kiosk (these are dark grey). These cover 1 space. During income, for each building other than empty enclosures surrounding it, gain 1 money.

Another special building here is a Pavilion (these are pink). These also cover 1 space. When you place these, gain 1 appeal.

A third special building is a Petting Zoo. These cover 3 spaces, and are required for specific animals. Unlike most other enclosures, multiple animals can coexist on this tile.

If you have upgraded the Build action, you can split this action between different buildings (for example, at strength 5, you could build a size 3 enclosure, size 1 enclosure, and a kiosk all at once), provided you have the money to cover all of this. It also allows you to build on spaces requiring the upgraded Build action.

An upgraded Build action can also be used to build two other special buildings, the Reptile House and Large Bird Aviary, which can be used for specific reptiles or birds, and functions similar to the Petting Zoo, usually requiring less space than a standard enclosure. Once you build this, you may move existing qualifying animals into these enclosures, thus freeing up space elsewhere.

The Cards Action

The Cards action allows you to draw more cards. Depending on the strength of this action, you'll draw a number of cards from the top of the deck, then sometimes discard cards. These discarded cards can be cards you previously had in your hand or cards you just drew. Alternatively, you may Snap a card from the board directly to your hand if executing this at strength 5. You may have as many cards in your hand as you want, but there is a hand limit enforced during breaks.

If you've upgraded the Cards action, then you may also draw face-up cards from the board if they are within your reputation range. The requirement to Snap a card to your hand is reduced to 3. The Cards action must be upgraded to reach higher reputation ranges.

The Animals Action

The Animals action allows you to play animal cards. Each animal requires an amount of money to be paid and an enclosure of a specific size or higher (and occasionally, that this enclosure is next to rocks or water). If animals have any other requirements, they will be listed along the left side of the card.

When you play a new animal card, you gain the bonuses on the bottom of the card. In most cases, this involves gaining Appeal points (the number in the ticket) and some other ability performed immediately on playing the animal. Animals have a category (bird, reptile, etc.) and a continent of origin listed on the top right corner of the card, but these are primarily used if another card or component references them.

When the Animals card is upgraded, you can play more animal cards at once at a lower strength. You can also play animal cards directly from the board if they are in your reputation range. Finally, some animals require an upgraded Animals card just to be playable.

The Sponsors Action

The Sponsors action allows you to use sponsor cards. These cards typically have recurring effects that give bonuses when players perform certain actions. To play a sponsor card, the Sponsors action must be performed at or above the strength of the card. No money is required.

Any immediate effect of a sponsor is given in yellow. Any income-related effects of a sponsor are in purple. Any conditional effects are in blue. Any endgame scoring effects are given in brown.

Alternatively, you can use the Sponsors action to gain money equal to the strength of the card. Doing so will also advance the break token, bringing you closer to an income phase.

When the Sponsors action is upgraded, you can play Sponsors cards directly from the board if they are within reputation range. You may also gain more money when using the Sponsors action for money. Some sponsors require an upgraded action.

The Association Action

The Association action allows you to interact with the association board. You'll send one of your workers there to perform one of a few different actions. You have a limited pool of workers available for this, but can gain more workers as the game progresses. If you have already taken a specific association action already this round, you'll need to place two workers, but other players' workers do not effect your ability to perform these actions.

At strength 2, you can gain 2 reputation. This is not the only way to gain reputation, but is probably one of the most straightforward ways to do so.

At strength 3, you can gain a partner zoo from another continent. From now on, playing animals from that zoo costs 3 money less. If this covers up a space with an icon, gain that as a bonus.

At strength 4, you can gain a partner university. These will allow you to gain reputation, research, and increase your maximum hand size during breaks. As before, if this covers up a space with an icon, gain that as a bonus.

At strength 5, you can support a conservation project. Projects usually require a certain selection of animals or other cards with a certain selection of symbols, and will give you Conservation points (and occasionally other bonuses). If you meet the requirement of a project already on the association board or from your hand, place one of your cubes on it and gain the bonuses indicated. These cubes come from the left side your bonus, also giving you a bonus (purple bonuses are income, yellow bonuses are once only). You can't support the same project more than once. Some of these projects require you to release an animal back to the wild - if this happens, you need to discard a previously played animal. You will no longer have the icons given at the top of the card for prerequisites, but you'll still have the points or other bonuses they would have given earlier.

Once the Association action is upgraded, you can split your Association action between multiple options, provided the total strength of the action covers the combined strength of these moves. You can also have more partner zoos, thus getting discounts for more continents. You can also play conservation projects directly from the board if they are within your reputation range. Finally, another association action is available in which you can donate money directly to gain Conservation points. The exact amount needed here increases the more it's taken, but the final option (12 money to gain 1 point) remains available forever. This option can only be taken once per Association action.

The X-Token action

One extra action you have for your turn is to take one X-Token from the supply. These tokens can be used to increase the strength of an action later. After doing this, move any of your action cards to strength 1 of your board as if you took that action. You only get one token regardless of the strength of the card moved.

Game End

If at the end of your turn or during a break your Conservation counter and Appeal counter are ever in the same scoring area, or if they have passed one another, the end of the game is triggered.

If the end of the game is triggered at the end of your turn, all other players (but not you) will take one more turn. If the end of the game is triggered during a break, all players (including you) will take one more turn.

At the end of the game, you still get conservation points or appeal from your Final Scoring card(s), as well as from all your cards with an end-of-game icon.

Score

To determine your score look at the scoring area where your conservation counter is located. Find the lowest appeal value in that scoring area. This is your Target Number. Compare your Target Number to the value of your appeal counter. Subtract your Target Number from your appeal value and the result is your Victory Points. The player with the highest positive Victory Point total is the winner. In case of a tie, the tied player who supported the most Conservation Projects wins the game.