Capstone Games Ark Nova Zoo Management Strategy Board Game for 1-4 Players

Such a fun game. Kind of a big learning curve but once you play a couple games it all clicks. Lot of different strategies, great card graphics and very fun. It is my wife's favorite game.

Amazingly creative, fun and well made game! It’s one of our family favorites. It’s complex and requires a lot of setup but the experience is always fun for us and the game pieces and artwork are really beautiful. It’s also not a game based on destruction, imperialism and colonization so that’s a HUGE plus!

This was a fun strategy game. It took us several hours to play the first time, since we had to learn the rules, but I think it will go much quicker the next time we play. It's a beautiful, high quality game. We had lots of fun!

My husband and I play this almost every night. It’s nice to have an interesting 2 player game. Also works great when our 2 kids play too. I love the fact that you can’t really mess with the other players much.

Has taken up my life, it’s so entertaining. The learning curve is significant, but worth it to me. There are a couple of decent play-throughs on YouTube that have been very helpful. Watched them on longer car trips! The game’s solo capacity is well-thought out. In the game, there are often so many plays, and choices to be made, within each move that, without having another player to check, having a system in place to know when a turn is complete is helpful. I’ve learned to pull down the action card I’m playing and leave it there until all of the moves are complete. Once it’s moved to the first position again, then I move the solo cubes indicating the end of the turn. A great winter’s day game alone or with a friend.

Great game, played often. Not for casual boardgamers. This is a heavy strategy game that can last for 3+ hours.

I bought the game on sale. I LOVE that the box comes with storage trays and bags included! And the components are extremely high-quality, especially the cards. Ark Nova is one of my current favorites on Board Game Arena (BGA), so I'm glad I grabbed the physical copy so I can play with family and friends IRL. My casual-gamer parents found the game "too complicated", which I partially agree with, but I enjoy the challenge of learning these types of games, and I find Ark Nova's rulebook quite intuitive upon first reading, despite its intimidating 20-page length. And my mother eventually caught on as we played through our first game. While Ark Nova has its foot in multiple different board game mechanic genres (i.e. worker placement, deck building, tile placement, etc.), I find that they are all melded together rather intuitively through the theme of building and maintaining a modern zoo. Thinking of what I am doing thematically often helps me remember the rules to games, so I just apply that logic to Ark Nova, and I've had no problem with playing and forming above-basic strategies. TL;DR - While definitely targeted at hardcore gamers as opposed to casuals, I believe the former demographic will enjoy Ark Nova's theme and mechanics immensely. 9/10 - Recommended.

I got Ark on a whim and minor recommendation from a friend of mine, and oh man, did it follow through. Ark Nova is a very large game about running a zoo while also taking part in animal conservation efforts across the globe. Turns happen one after another were players choose one of five actions like playing animal cards, building enclosures, assisting conservations, getting sponsors or drawing more cards. While turns are short, they do require quite a bit of strategy and forward thinking as another players action could force you to change your next move. There are a multitude of winning strategys available as well. My fist game was focusing strictly on primates, another player mainly aimed towards getting animals of a certain continent while someone else goal was to increase his fame through sponsorships. The game also supports nearly 250, beautifully photographed cards of animals all across the globe, making it a aesthetically pleasing as well! My only real gripe with the game is that the rules can be difficult starting out. Our group started the game and didn't really get into the flow of the turns for the first 2 hours; and when the box say an average game takes about 2 and a half to 3 hours, they mean it. So while the game is great, it's not really for new board game players or people looking for a casual game. All-in-all, a great game and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great time killer or who has a love of all things animals!

Amazing game

À part la rejouabilité et la thematique du jeux, c vraiment bien pensé ... Chapeau pour l'editeur

De los mejores juegos de mesa que he jugado

Bellissimo gioco che si basa sulla costruzione di uno zoo. Perfetto per chi ama gli animali e la natura. Le istruzioni sono molto lunghe e complicate, ma una volta imparate, il gioco è molto semplice. Le regole sono tutte esclusivamente in inglese.

This is such a fantastic game. I found the initial learning process to be a bit challenging but after watching a rules guide and playthrough online it really became an easy and strategic game to play. There are a lot of opportunities to focus on different strategies so I really enjoyed having multiple options to explore. Play time is about 90 minutes for me and my friend, but we have done 3 games in an evening because of how much we love this game!