Ark Nova Scoring: Appeal, Conservation, and the Crossing

Ark Nova’s scoring looks strange the first time: two tracks, running in opposite directions, around the same board. Once you see them as one number, the gap between your two counters, most decisions get easier. This lesson shows how the tracks fit, what each point is worth, and how to read your position at a glance.

How do the two tracks fit together?

Your appeal counter starts near 0 and climbs. Your conservation counter starts at 0 on the far end of the same board and climbs back toward it. The board is cut into scoring areas: each is one conservation space plus the appeal spaces beside it.

When your two counters sit in the same scoring area, or pass each other, the end of the game is triggered. The endgame lesson covers the timing. For now, think of the game as a race to close your own gap, and then to push past it.

What is each point worth?

An appeal point moves your counter one space. A conservation point covers more ground:

• Up to 10 conservation, each point covers 2 appeal spaces.
• After 10, each point covers 3.

So a project paying 5 conservation after you pass 10 closes 15 spaces of gap. An animal with 5 appeal closes 5. That ratio is why the late game leans so hard on conservation.

Crossing a milestone mixes the two rates. Going from 8 to 11 conservation closes 2 + 2 + 3 = 7 spaces.

At the end, your score is your appeal plus the small number printed on your conservation space. When your counters exactly meet, that comes to about 100. Everything past the meeting point adds to it. The solo rules say this plainly: reach the same scoring area, or pass, and you have at least 100 points.

If your rulebook tells you to subtract a “target number” from your appeal, you have an earlier printing. The math is the same with every score 100 lower. The World Boardgaming Championships uses the official change that adds 100.

Appeal is income first

The space your appeal counter sits on also shows the money you collect at every break. The rulebook’s example: 7 appeal pays 11 money. Capstone’s play-by-play guide shows 11 appeal paying 13 and 14 appeal paying 14.

Notice the slope. From 7 to 11 appeal, income rises by 2. From 11 to 14, by 1. Early appeal pays you again at every break for the rest of the game. Late appeal is mostly points.

One caution: at 5 appeal, your zoo becomes a legal target for the interactive animal abilities. The competitive play lesson covers them.

Conservation is points that grow late

Conservation comes from:

• supporting conservation projects, the main source,
• some animals and sponsors,
• donations, once your Association card is upgraded,
• your Final Scoring card at the end, worth 1 to 4.

Early conservation counts less as points, but the track pays you along the way. At 2 you flip an action card or gain a worker. At 5 and 8 you take 5 money or a Bonus tile. And the first player to reach 10 makes everyone discard one of their two Final Scoring cards. The conservation projects lesson covers those races.

Read the gap

Count the appeal spaces between your two counters. That number is your real position, better than either track alone. Then judge each action by how much gap it closes:

• “This animal closes 6, for 14 money.”
• “This project closes 8 now, or 12 once I pass 10.”
• “This sponsor closes nothing today but pays me 3 money every break.”

Engine pieces like that last one close no gap on the turn you play them. They earn it back over the following breaks, so they are worth most early. Our engine building explainer describes the same curve in other games: build early, cash in late.

A shape for the whole game

There is no fixed script, but many games follow a three-part shape:

1. Opening. Animals for appeal and income, a partner zoo, a well-placed kiosk, and an early project at a low level to reach 2 conservation and its upgrade.
2. Middle. Appeal keeps rising. You race for the 5 and 8 bonuses, and you plan for the moment someone reaches 10.
3. Late. Conservation is worth 3 a point. High project levels, releases into the wild, and your Final Scoring card close the gap quickly.

For a sense of scale, the WBC 2025 event report lists table-winning scores from 110 to 132.5 in the later rounds, and an event high of 148.

Caps and odd cases

• Appeal stops at 113 and conservation at 41.
• Reputation stops at 15. Any reputation you earn past that becomes 1 appeal each.
• Releasing an animal into the wild moves your appeal counter back by that animal’s appeal. After 10, the conservation it earns often more than pays for it.