Worldwide, there are 8,000 tigers in captivity compared to 4,500 tigers in the wild. And yet, as a human being, you encounter tigers everywhere. The tiger lives in our fantasy thanks to children’s books, animal pictures, and well, zoos.
But if caged animals outnumber the free ones, what responsibility do you have if you run a zoo in 2022?
Zoo game Ark Nova gives an answer. Yes, in this game you have to build enclosures that are filled with animals and attract paying visitors. Running the flat side of a zoo, shall we say. But Ark Nova also provides a deeper layer: the players are expected to set up breeding programs, support conservation projects and contribute to scientific research. The modern zoo director is an eco-conscious project manager and Ark Nova wants to show you what it takes.
A brave choice. But also overwhelming. When we put our pawns down on the conservation track, the pause track, the popularity track and the reputation track, we think: what have we started?
Fortunately, your room for maneuver is more limited than a first look at the table suggests. There are five different actions you could take on your turn, depicted on cards. The rightmost is the most powerful variant of that action. Chosen actions move to the left, and any action you don’t take will move to the right and become stronger. It gives priority, a rhythm that moves you through the game.
Equally intimidating is the deck of cards, featuring more than 200 zoo animals, sponsorship cards, and conservation projects. But gradually you learn to see the patterns. With vultures you take cards back from the discard pile (scavengers!), the spokesman increases your reputation. Ark Nova is not afraid to push unknown and unloved species forward. Honestly, who had ever heard of the spectacled langur, Yemen chameleon and red coati? And yes, of course, there is your own tableau where you build your own animal park, here executed as hexagonal Tetris: you build a small hutch for the raccoon, a huge enclosure for the elephants and a petting zoo for the sheep.
The cheap photos on the cards take some getting used to. As if the makers have looted a stock photo library. But the flat photos do what they’re supposed to do: they show the muzzles, beaks, and muzzles of your menagerie.
Don’t be fooled by the elephant and comrades on the box. Ark Nova is a very complex game and commentary on modern zoo life in one. Oddly enough it still works.
Ark Nova, 1-4 players, 80 euros