Ark Nova BGG ↗

My BGG Comment

Finally got to play this. It is very reminiscent to me of Terraforming Mars. Huge deck and cards that have prerequisites and combo of each other. The ground game is played on a personal zoo board. I also really enjoyed the action selection system that was previously seen in Civilization: A new Dawn (I hear, haven't played that). Here though you can upgrade the actions to make them even better. I like how conservation efforts have been integrated into the game as an opposing score and the game ends when one player has his score markers cross each other. Definitely want to play again, my shelves are full so I must rely on visiting our friends and their copy. Having played a lot of Terraforming Mars lately, I don't need to immediately own this, but I also hear there is a very good expansion coming out next year--talked to some play-testers at SPIEL.

• 2026: Top 20 Heavy Games
  I am losing the solo more than I win.
• 2026: Top 20 of My Euro
  Huge deck, combos, zoos… and that elegant action selection mechanism.
• 50 Best Games played 5+ times
• Games that play well at two
  Zoo building game with a huge deck and an interesting action selection mechanism. As this game leads to thinking downtimes playing with more than two can sometimes be a lengthy process. In truth I think I prefer this solo. But if you want to melt your brain about birds, reptiles, and elephants, this is your game.
• My Solo Games
• Yashima's 2023 Top 20 Solo Games
  I got late to Ark Nova because our friends managed to buy it before me and so it took me a year to finally get my own copy for solo-play. I just like big stacks of cards and continuously having to get rid of cards I can't play and pivoting to whatever strategy is available to me in the moment. I like the various strategies you can pursue while building up your zoo. I like the action selection (inherited) and surprisingly I like building a zoo. Nature games have really taken off in recent years especially in my collection... this one is here to stay both for solo and multiplayer. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
• Yashima's 2025 Top 20 Solo Games
  I like the big stack of cards game style. This one also has the excellent action selection. It dropped because in direct comparison with Sanctuary the latter reflects my current play preferences more. I just don't have the bandwidth for the big games these days. I long for a return to them but 2025 was very low on plays compared to other years and especially my big heavy games suffered. Solo Plays 2025: 9 Ranking last year: 7
• Yashima‘s 2024 Top 20 Solo Games
  I like games with big stacks of cards that I can combo into something beautiful. In this case a Zoo. This is only my second favorite game of this type (or third depending on what counts as a „big stack of cards“ game). And the solo is quick and elegantly managed. Due to the great variety of possible strategies this never gets boring. Solo Plays 2024: 2 Ranking last year: 5 (🔻2)

Owned Expansions

• Ark Nova: Zoo Map Pack 1
• Ark Nova: Marine Worlds
• Ark Nova: Zoo Map Pack 2