Building Your Ark Nova Zoo Map: Enclosures, Kiosks, and Bonuses

Your zoo map is more than a place to park animals. Every building costs 2 money per space, so the map is where much of your money goes. Built well, it also hands money and bonuses back. This lesson covers the building rules that shape a map and the habits that make one pay.

The buildings you can make

With the Build action on side I, you build exactly one building, up to the action’s strength in size:

• Standard enclosures, sizes 1 to 5. Each animal needs its own empty one, at least as big as the size on its card.
• Kiosk, size 1. Pays money at every break.
• Pavilion, size 1. Gives 1 appeal once, when built.
• Petting Zoo, a special enclosure of size 3. Only one per zoo.

Once Build is on side II, two more special enclosures open: the Reptile House and the Large Bird Aviary, both size 5, one of each per zoo. Side II also lets you build several different buildings in one action, up to the strength in total size, and build on the marked spaces that side I cannot touch.

Unique buildings, such as the Meerkat Den, come only from sponsor cards.

Placement rules

• Your first building must cover at least one border space of your map.
• Every later building must share an edge with one you already have.
• No building may cover rock or water, overlap another building, or hang off the map.
• Kiosks need at least 2 spaces between any two of them. Those spaces can hold other buildings.

Size discipline

The cost is twice the size, so every extra space is 2 money. A 5-space enclosure costs 10. A 2-space one costs 4. Build the smallest enclosure that fits the animal you plan to play next, and use the Build action at the matching strength. Using Build at strength 5 to place a 2-space enclosure wastes three steps that could have gone to another card.

There is one exception. A larger enclosure keeps options open if your hand holds two animals of different sizes and you are not sure which you can afford first. That is a deliberate choice, not a default.

Rock and water

Some animals need their enclosure to touch one or two rock or water spaces. Those spaces are fixed on each map, so the spaces next to them are valuable. Do not fill the edges of your water with kiosks and pavilions early. Save at least one spot beside water and one beside rock for the animals that need them.

Placement bonuses

Some spaces on your map show a placement bonus. Cover one and you take it at once. The rulebook’s example shows why this matters: a player with 7 money wants a 2-space and a 3-space enclosure, which cost 10. The first one covers a 5 money bonus, and that money pays for the second in the same upgraded action.

Plan your early builds toward bonuses that help your next turn: money before an expensive animal, a card draw when your hand is thin, an X-token before a big action.

Kiosks: where they pay

At each break, a kiosk pays 1 money for each unique building, special enclosure, occupied standard enclosure, and pavilion that shares an edge with it. An empty standard enclosure pays nothing, but an empty special enclosure does.

So a kiosk earns most at a crossroads. Put it where three or four buildings will meet, not at the edge of the map. Then fill the enclosures around it with animals. A kiosk touching four occupied buildings pays 4 money at every break for the rest of the game.

Pavilions are cheap neighbors for kiosks. A pavilion costs 2 money, gives 1 appeal, and adds 1 to a touching kiosk’s income at every break.

Special enclosures

Special enclosures hold several animals, each marked with your player tokens.

• Petting Zoo: the only home for petting zoo animals.
• Reptile House: any reptile can live here or in a standard enclosure.
• Large Bird Aviary: some birds can live here or in a standard enclosure.

When you build the Reptile House or Large Bird Aviary, you may move animals that fit into it from standard enclosures, once. Each move flips an enclosure back to empty, ready for a new animal without another Build action.

Filling the map

With an upgraded Build card, covering every buildable space on your map earns 7 appeal at once. It is a real goal in long games, but not one to chase at the cost of animals and projects.

A simple pattern for your next game

1. First build: an enclosure for an animal in hand, on a border space with a placement bonus.
2. Second or third build: a kiosk where your next enclosures will gather around it.
3. Keep spots beside rock and water open until you know who needs them.

The advanced maps change the puzzle with their own abilities. The advanced zoo maps lesson covers them at Level 3.