A Visit to Ark Nova with Sloths and a Slow Food Franchise
Choose how to build a thriving zoo focused on conservation with all sorts of animals and sponsors to discover in Ark Nova.
It had been some time since I last played Ark Nova, and I had a major expansion to add in! This is a puzzle around ordering actions, building a zoo, and understanding how to make the most of what’s available with each play. Plus, so many awesome animals! This looked like it was going to be a challenge to score well, and I was excited to get started.
Game Overview
Game Name: Ark Nova
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Mathias Wigge
Artists: S. Bieker, L. Billiau, D. Lohausen, & C. Tisch
Publishers: Capstone Games & Feuerland Spiele
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Enclosures and buildings slowly take shape on a zoo map, and animals are soon to follow! Yet taking the actions in a conveyor belt system requires lots of thinking and planning to turn a zoo into something worth admiring by the end. Tons of cards ensure there is always something new, too!
First Play
November 29, 2024
Complexity
4
Latest Play
August 3, 2026
Expansions
2
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
12
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
13
Game Area
46" x 26"
Low Score
-43
Sloth Inhabitants
I decided to start basing some of my solo game choices on a random assortment of Calico Critters in the most vague sense. So when the sloths came up, I knew what to do!
This little pair was excited to see if there would be a sloth card added to my zoo… It was probably a requirement. Ha!
Although a little research indicated there were no sloth cards to be found. Well, no problem: I brought my own.
It didn’t take long to learn how to play again, and I added in the Ark Nova: Marine Worlds expansion at long last. Very slowly, though, to show how much I cared for sloths. Ha ha!
All the Marine Life
Shuffling so many cards can be a tricky effort, and I still think I did a pretty good job, despite me ending up with a fair number of marine animals! Those cards can be rare.
This first attempt at a zoo was just that: An attempt. For most of my play, the highlight was a few fish swimming in a giant aquarium. They were cool, but I never built up!
I enjoyed the actions, too, and how I probably made plenty of mistakes always waiting to reach the rightmost space.
My final score was pretty terrible and just shy of my worst score ever, yet many lessons were learned and I had fun!
Just a Little Sparse…
One of the things I like about the game is how it’s obvious when it’s not going well. It might not be clear exactly what went wrong, yet I knew I was behind halfway through.
That didn’t make me want to quit, though: I just had a reason to pick up the pace and look for combinations!
Indeed, timing is everything, as is figuring out how to make every action count. Being able to take a double action is incredibly powerful in the solo mode with its fixed ending.
Despite this rather embarrassing first attempt, you can’t tell me I didn’t succeed in making a line of marine animals. Ha!
Enjoying a Full Zoo
There we go! Another attempt resulted in this excellent map. It wasn’t entirely full, yet a quick glance should show that it was in pretty great shape and not all that empty.
More about all of those pavilions and kiosks in a moment… This was less about tons of animals and more about another kind of strategy that worked out really nicely.
Actually, I achieved my personal best score with this play! I was pretty happy with how well I built everything up.
It was a lot of fun to figure out how to use al of the cards and find those that would work together the best. Clever!
The Expected and Actual Complexity of Play
I find this one to be a pretty complex sort of puzzle with all of the action planning and importance of recognizing the big picture with the order of operations and bonuses, yet I think I expected it to be a lot more difficult. This is far from a simple ruleset, but it’s also one that came back to me quickly. Only the outlier cases needed a few rulebook checks during play!
Looking at my shelves, I sometimes hesitate over picking a game I expect to be extra complex. That leads to less plays and the unfortunate consequence of losing a lot of rules knowledge over time. This was a good reminder that it’s often better to get a game to the table than worry about how complex it might be. In almost every case for me, actual complexity is lower.
Plus, another shoutout to the Calico Critter sloths for what I thought would be a perfect thematic choice, even though there are no sloth cards! This was a great opportunity to get back into the game and see how the expansion adds just enough.
A Diverse Tableau
Probably what helped me the most was getting lucky with some of the cards and having a balance between animals and sponsors. University partnerships were crucial here!
The animals were also pretty amazing, and I chose most of them in order to take advantage of their special ability. Definitely a zoo that ended up with a lot going on!
My only failure was with the Breeding Program, as I only supported 3 conservation projects. Not too bad, though.
And now, onto a tangent regarding the best card of all in this zoo: Franchise Business. Brace yourself for what’s to come…
Slow Food Franchise?!
Aww! Since there were no sloth cards in the game, my Calico Critters decided to seize the opportunity to jump into the franchising game. I just wasn’t sure if “Slow Food” was it…
All of the zoo’s kiosks featured these food trucks where the sloths used fresh ingredients to grill veggie burgers. And that wasn’t it: Veggie dogs and fries were on the menu!
Their secret was in the slow cooking but fast delivery, for these food trucks zipped around to hand-deliver orders.
Quite the nice franchise, and the reason why I had so many kiosks in order to gain a conservation point at game end!
A Zoo for a Legend
Another few plays went by without a lot of success, but then I had this excellent zoo in the works. A small raccoon formed the basis for this strategy, and it all looked great!
That is, up until the final turn. I had put together awesome turns many times, triggering multiple actions, and the final addition to this zoo was the Sand Tiger Shark. Cool ability!
Except instead of gaining extra appeal, there were only sponsor cards in the display. Bonus lost. Oh, goodness.
Luckily, I still snuck by with a very minor victory. Another very different zoo, but maybe it needed a franchise. Ha ha!
Fast Food Delivery
After a few market tests, the sloths determined that their business just needed a reminder that their delivery was where the fast food came from. And fast, they were indeed…
Beep beep! The tiny sloths probably didn’t have the proper credentials to operate these food trucks. Just look at that one holding on for dear life at the top speed. Slow down!
I’ll admit that the Calico Critters made this session even more fun. At least my copy of the game now includes sloths!
This was an excellent time working through the puzzle and stepping back to enjoy my final zoos. Awesome game!
Session Overview
Play Number: 9-12
Expansion: Ark Nova: Marine Worlds
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Beginner Difficulty Level
Outcome: -42, 13, -25, 5 (2 Wins & 2 Losses)
There were lots of ups and downs, yet I loved thinking through my turns! Ordering actions, or even chaining them together on some great turns, proved to be excellent. I felt like I had a chance to do a lot of cool things, even when I lost horribly. The gigantic deck of cards may be a little unruly, yet it offers lots of unique combinations to discover!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
9
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- Figuring out the order to use the actions is a challenging puzzle that rewards long-term planning and combinations.
- There is a great deal of variety with the cards so that each play feels different with unique pivotal decision points.
- With the expansion, alternate action cards change the game in a subtle but meaningful way that’s quickly apparent.
- Filling in the zoo map is an interesting part of gameplay that plays into the importance of timing and planning.
- All of the cards feature interesting photography or artwork that help bring the zoo setting to life in fun ways.
- Not every play will be a resounding success, but identifying ways to achieve clever turns is satisfying and interesting.
– Cons (Negatives)
- With such a large deck of cards, sometimes those drawn or in the display simply don’t work well together at any time.
- The enclosure and building tokens look rather bland and don’t do much to add to the ambiance on the zoo map.
- It feels like the central board is enormous for not a lot of reasons, and it truly does take up a huge amount of space.
- Lots of icons are all over the place and although there are good guides for them, it’s easy to forget to apply a bonus.
Victory Conditions
Score 0+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 36%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the beginner difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game with every map (3/10).
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite part of Ark Nova? Do you have a favorite card or zoo map? I’ll admit that I thought this was going to be a lot more complex than it was. I had to stay very focused, but even my terrible zoos offered plenty of fun! Also, this was just too cute with the Calico Critter sloths. Count me as someone who believes they need a card in the game someday. Ha!
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