• Game: Ark Nova
  • Game Type: Strategy / Tableau Building
  • Publisher: Capstone Games
  • Players: 1–4
  • Play Time: 90–150 minutes
  • Release: 2021

In Ark Nova, your goal is to build the most successful, scientifically-managed, and conservation-focused zoo. Think Zoo Tycoon had a baby with a serious Eurogame.

What’s in the box?

What’s in the Box?

Ark Nova’s box holds a lot of components:

  • 212 Zoo Cards
  • 11 Final Scoring Cards
  • 12 Base Conservation Project Cards
  • 20 double-sided Action Cards
  • 1 Game Board
  • 1 Association Board
  • About 200 board tokens
  • 70 money tokens
  • 30+ wooden tokens (meeples and such)

This adds up to about 5 lbs. of goodies inside!

Gorgeous cards!

Art & Components:

Realistic animal photography gives it a National Geographic vibe—love it or hate it. The iconography can be intimidating at first, but everything is top-notch. Player boards are well-designed, and the modular map adds variety.

Ark Nova Player set up

Ark Nova Gameplay:

The core of the game revolves around a clever action selection mechanism. You’ve got five action cards:

  1. Cards: Lets you draw more cards (animals, sponsors, conservation projects). Crucial, ’cause no cards, no zoo!
  2. Build: Allows you to plop down enclosures of various sizes and unique buildings like a reptile house or a large bird aviary onto your personal zoo map. Gotta have somewhere to put those critters!
  3. Animals: Lets you play animal cards into your empty enclosures, paying their cost and hopefully gaining some sweet immediate bonuses or ongoing effects. This is where the cute (and sometimes scary) faces come in.
  4. Association: This is your “worker placement” lite. Send your association workers to do things like partner with other zoos, gain university connections (more animals!), or support conservation projects.
  5. Sponsors: Play sponsor cards for cash, ongoing benefits, or sneaky end-game scoring opportunities. Big business meets wildlife!

The kicker? The power of each action card depends on its slot position (1-5). After you use an action, it slides down to the “1” slot, making it weaker for its next use unless you let it power up by using other actions. This creates a fascinating timing puzzle – do you take a weak action now, or wait for it to become more potent later?

You’re trying to balance two tracks: Appeal (how awesome your zoo is to visitors, bringing in income) and Conservation (your efforts to save endangered species and support global projects). The game ends when a player’s Appeal marker and Conservation marker cross paths. It sounds simple, but the depth comes from the sheer volume of cards (over 200 unique ones!), the spatial puzzle of laying out your zoo, and the strategic decisions of which actions to prioritize.

You’ll be managing resources (money, mostly), trying to meet animal requirements (like needing a spot next to water or rocks), snatching up valuable conservation project cards before your opponents do, and hoping your hand of cards lines up with your grand zoological vision.

My Take: Is This a Roaring Success or Prone to Analysis Paralysis?

Let me tell ya, Ark Nova is a thinker. This isn’t a game you casually whip out with your grandma unless your grandma is a hardcore Eurogamer. When I first cracked this open and saw the mountain of unique cards and the thinky action selection, I knew I was in for a deep dive.

The Good:

    • Deep, rewarding gameplay with satisfying combo chains

    • Hundreds of unique cards = endless replayability

    • That “I built this” zoo engine feel is unmatched

    • Action Selection Puzzle: The “pick an action, it gets weaker” mechanism is brilliant.

The Bad:

  • Long playtime and steep learning curve

  • Analysis Paralysis (AP) City: If you or your group are prone to overthinking, this game can bog down.

  • Icon soup alert—expect a few trips to the rulebook

  • Table Hog: You need a good chunk of table real estate for your zoo board, the main board, and all those cards!  See our Pojo home photo below.
Table Hog? Ark Nova at home.

Final Word:

Ark Nova is what happens when you mix Terraforming Mars with Zoo Tycoon and add a PhD in engine-building. It’s not for the faint of heart—but if you want a complex, card-driven strategy game with real-world flavor, welcome to your new obsession.

Overall Rating: 4.0 / 5 – “A beast of a game—with brains!”

For zoo strategists and combo-hunters alike. Bring beer and snacks. It’s a long but wild ride.

You can find Ark Nova at Amazon.com and your local game store (LCS).  

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