Game rules

Ark Nova rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 13 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Ark Nova plays 1 to 4 players: everyone builds a modern zoo and moves two counters, appeal and conservation, until they cross. Here are the essential rules, setup and final scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 4 (solo against the clock)
Play time: About 2½ hours
Winner: Highest final score; on a tie, the most projects supported

Ark Nova quick rules

The goal: Everyone builds a modern zoo. On the main board, your Appeal counter moves up mostly thanks to your animals, and your Conservation counter thanks to the conservation projects you support. The two tracks run in opposite directions: when your counters cross, you trigger the end of the game.
Your turn: Below your zoo map, five Action cards sit in slots numbered 1 to 5. Choose a card and perform its action: its strength is its slot number. Then the card moves to slot 1 and the cards to its left shift one slot over. Each X-token you spend adds 1 to the strength; you may also skip the action to take an X-token.
Drawing and building: The Cards action advances the Break token two spaces, then lets you draw Zoo cards; with a strength of 5, you may snap a card from the display instead. The Build action places an enclosure, a kiosk or a pavilion no bigger than the strength; each space costs 2 money. Your first building touches the edge of the map, and each later one touches a building already there.
Animals: The Animals action plays one Animal card with a strength of 2 to 4, two with a strength of 5, none with a strength of 1. Meet the card’s conditions, pay its cost and put the animal in a large enough empty enclosure, which you flip. The animal raises your appeal right away, then its ability takes effect.
The associations: The Association action sends a worker on a task no higher than the strength: reputation (2), partner zoo (3), university (4) or supporting a conservation project (5). To support a project, your zoo must meet one of its free conditions; place a player token from the left edge of your zoo map on it and gain conservation points. Each project can be supported only once.
Sponsors: The Sponsors action plays a Sponsor card whose level doesn’t exceed the strength: ongoing effects, income or end-of-game points. Instead, you may advance the Break token as many spaces as the strength and take that much money.
The break: When the Break token reaches the last space, the player who moved it there gains an X-token and ends their turn. Everyone discards down to 3 cards (5 with the right university) and takes back their workers; the two lowest cards of the display are discarded and it’s refilled. Then everyone collects income.
End of game and final scoring: The end is triggered when, at the end of your turn, your two counters are in the same scoring area or have crossed; every other player takes one more turn. Score your Final Scoring card (you kept one of two) and your end-of-game Sponsors. Your score is the white number on your Conservation space, plus your appeal.
Beginner pitfalls: Chasing appeal alone (without conservation, your counters never cross); supporting your first project too late; forgetting to keep an empty enclosure for your next animal; always playing your strongest card without thinking about how the cards will shift.
With Marine Worlds: The expansion brings sea animals, most of which live in an aquarium built next to a water space. Playing a reef dweller triggers the reef dweller ability of all your reef dwellers. When a card with a wave icon enters the display, the first card is discarded. Everyone also swaps two Action cards for alternative versions.

How to score Ark Nova

Appeal: The space of your Appeal counter, after scoring your Final Scoring card and your cards with an end-of-game effect.
Conservation points: The number of the space of your Conservation counter, not the white number.
Final score: Your appeal plus the white number on your conservation space: 2 per conservation point up to 10, 3 per point beyond, minus 14. On a board without white numbers (first edition), it’s the rulebook score, plus 100.
Conservation projects supported: Tiebreaker only: the number of player tokens removed from the left edge of your zoo map.

Worked example

Emma ends with 72 appeal and 13 conservation points. Her conservation is worth 2 × 10 + 3 × 3 − 14 = 15; her final score is 72 + 15 = 87.

Common mistakes

Adding the conservation space number to your appeal: the white number is what counts.
Forgetting the Final Scoring card and end-of-game Sponsors before reading your appeal.
Mixing up the two score versions: on a board without white numbers, the rulebook score is offset by 100.
Breaking ties on the highest appeal: the number of conservation projects supported decides.

How to set up Ark Nova

Setup has quite a few steps. With several players, follow the first three parts; with Marine Worlds, add the fourth; solo, finish with the last one.

The board

Place the game board in the center of the table.
With several players, place the Break token on the start space of the Break track that shows your player count.With 3 players, for example, the token starts on the space marked 3.
Shuffle the Bonus tiles and place 4 at random, faceup, on the 4 blank yellow spaces of the board.Place nothing on the 2 yellow spaces that already show an icon. Return the remaining 5 tiles to the box.
Shuffle the Zoo cards and place the deck facedown on its space on the board.
Deal the top 6 cards of the deck, facedown, onto the 6 spaces of the display.The display is the row of cards on the board. You’ll reveal it at the end of setup.
Place the 2 organizers next to the board: this is the general supply.One for the enclosures, the other for the tiles and tokens.

The associations

Place the Association board next to the game board.Leave room for one row of cards above it and another below it.
Place 1 partner zoo of each continent and 1 university of each kind on the Association board.
Shuffle the Base Conservation Project cards and place the top 3, faceup, below the Association board (4 with 4 players).The rest of that deck isn’t used again.
With 2 players, block 6 spaces with 6 player tokens of a color nobody is playing.On the base projects: the left level of the left card, the middle level of the middle card, the right level of the right card. On the Association board: the 3 spaces in the left column of the donation area.
Shuffle the Final Scoring cards and place them as a facedown deck near the board.

Each player

Choose the first player at random: turn order sets everyone’s starting appeal.Play then goes clockwise.
Each player takes a zoo map.First game: Map A, with a 3-space enclosure placed empty side up on the indicated spaces. Second game: Map 0. After that, the advanced maps 1 to 8: each player takes 2 at random and keeps 1.
Place your 5 Action cards under your zoo map, side I up: Animals under slot 1, the other 4 at random.The 5 cards are Animals, Cards, Build, Association and Sponsors.
Choose a color and place your counters at the start of the Conservation and Reputation tracks.
Place your Appeal counter according to turn order: the first player on 0, the second on 1, the third on 2, the fourth on 3.With 2 players, only 0 and 1; with 3 players, 0, 1 and 2.
Place 7 player tokens of your color on the 7 spaces along the left edge of your zoo map.Keep your other player tokens close at hand.
Place 1 association worker on the notepad of your zoo map and lay the other 3 on their spaces, on the right.The worker on the notepad is active; you’ll hire the other 3 during the game.
Take 25 money and put it on your notepad.
Draw 2 Final Scoring cards and keep them secret.You’ll keep only one for final scoring.
Draw 8 Zoo cards, keep 4 in your hand and discard the other 4 faceup.Rulebook tip: 1 or 2 Sponsors and 2 or 3 easy-to-play Animals, matching the Base Conservation Projects on display.
Once everyone has chosen their hand, turn the 6 display cards faceup.

With Marine Worlds

Add the expansion’s Bonus tiles to the base game tiles before shuffling; place one more, faceup, next to space 15 of the Reputation track.Then return the remaining Bonus tiles to the box.
Add the expansion’s Zoo cards to the deck, after removing the 18 base game cards they replace.These are cards 001, 003, 005, 008, 009, 010, 011, 101, 102, 131, 207, 208, 225, 226, 227, 250, 261 and 262.
Add the expansion’s aquariums, unique buildings, kiosks and pavilions to the general supply.
Use the expansion’s Association board instead of the base game one.Place the generic university on its space and line up the specialized universities next to the board.
Add the expansion’s Base Conservation Project card and Final Scoring cards to those of the base game.
Each player takes the expansion’s 5 standard Action cards, marked with a 0, instead of the base game ones.
With several players, each player gets 3 alternative Action cards, keeps 1 and passes 2 to the left; then keeps 1 of the 2 received and passes the last one.From your 3 cards, discard 1 and keep 2 of different action types: they replace your standard cards of the same type. Solo, take 3 at random and keep 2 of different types.
With Marine Worlds, ignore wave icons during setup.

Solo game

Leave the Break token in the box: set out the big solo tile with 7 player tokens of an unused color in its left column.At the end of each of your turns, move the topmost token to the right column.
Place your Appeal counter on 20, and the little solo tile, 45 side up, on space 45 of the Appeal track.Harder: start at 10 with the little tile on its 35 side, or at 0 without the little tile.
Don’t place any token on the 3 Base Conservation Projects.During the game, there can be up to 2 Conservation Project cards above the Association board.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards do you start with in Ark Nova?

Draw 8 Zoo cards, keep 4 and discard the other 4. You also get 2 secret Final Scoring cards, and you’ll keep only one.

When does a game of Ark Nova end?

When, at the end of a player’s turn, their Appeal and Conservation counters are in the same scoring area or have crossed. Every other player then takes one more turn.

How do you work out the final score in Ark Nova?

Your appeal plus the white number on your conservation space: 2 per conservation point up to 10, 3 per point beyond, minus 14. With 80 appeal and 16 conservation points: 80 + 20 + 18 − 14 = 104.

Ludingo’s Ark Nova sheet was last reviewed on 13 October 2026, based on: supermeeple.com 1, supermeeple.com 2, feuerland-spiele.de, supermeeple.com 3, BoardGameGeek.