How to Teach Ark Nova

Ark Nova has a reputation as a hard teach. The box holds 212 Zoo cards, a glossary, an icon overview, and five action cards with two sides each. A host who tries to explain all of it before the first turn loses the table in ten minutes.

The good news is that the core loop is small: pick a card, use it at its strength, slide the row. Everything else hangs off that loop. Here is a script in the order you would say it. Print the Ark Nova teach sheet and put it in the middle of the table.

Before anyone sits down

Do the whole setup from the how to play lesson in advance. Two choices make the teach much easier:

• Map A for everyone. The rulebook recommends it for a first game. All four copies are identical and generous, and each starts with a free 3-space enclosure next to the kiosk.
• The official starting decks. Capstone’s Ark Nova page offers suggested starting hands with tips for the first moves. They skip the hardest choice of the night: keeping 4 cards out of 8 before you know what any of them do.

If you are not using the starting decks, the rulebook’s own advice is to keep 1 or 2 sponsors and 2 or 3 animals, avoid cards with conditions you cannot meet early, and favor icons that match the base conservation projects. Say that out loud while people choose.

Minutes 1 and 2: the goal

Point at the two tracks. Say: “You are building a zoo. Animals make your zoo more appealing, and that moves this counter. Conservation projects move this other counter from the far end. The two counters run toward each other. When yours meet, the game ends, and the further past each other they go, the better your score.”

Then one more sentence: “Appeal is also your income. Every time we take a break, you get paid by how appealing your zoo is.”

Minutes 3 to 6: the row

This is the heart of the teach, so do a real turn.

1. “These five cards are your actions. The number above each slot is its strength, 1 to 5.”
2. “On your turn you use one card. Its slot is how strong it is.”
3. “Then it goes back to slot 1, and the cards that were to its left each slide one step right.”

Move the cards physically while you say it. Then ask someone to tell you what the row looks like if you use the card in slot 3. Getting one person to answer correctly is worth more than a minute of explanation.

Minutes 7 to 11: the five actions

One or two sentences each, pointing at the card.

• Animals: “Play an animal from your hand into an empty enclosure big enough for it. Pay its cost, gain its appeal. At strength 5 you play two.”
• Build: “Build one building up to the strength in size. Two money per space. Enclosures hold animals; kiosks earn money.”
• Cards: “Draw cards. At strength 5 you can take any card from the display instead.”
• Association: “Send a worker to do a job: reputation, a partner zoo that makes animals cheaper, a university, or at strength 5, a conservation project.”
• Sponsors: “Play a sponsor card, or take money equal to the strength.”

Minutes 12 to 14: breaks and the end

“Some actions push this Break token. When it reaches the end, everyone discards down to 3 cards, workers come home, and you get paid.” Point at the money printed beside the Appeal track.

“When your two counters meet, the game is almost over. Everyone else gets one more turn, then we add up the score.” Leave the exact timing for when it happens.

Minute 15: play

Start the game. The start player begins at 0 appeal and the others at 1, 2, and 3, which balances turn order. Tell the table that, so nobody wonders why the counters are staggered.

What to leave out

• Side II of the action cards. Teach it the first time someone reaches 2 conservation.
• Donations and releasing animals into the wild. Both are rare in a first game.
• The Final Scoring card discard at 10 conservation. Mention it when someone gets close.
• Interactive abilities like Venom and Constriction. The rulebook lets your group use the solo effects instead. For a first game, that is a kind choice.

Coaching the first game

New players freeze on two things: icons and money. For icons, read the card aloud with them and point to the glossary entry. The next lesson is a guide to exactly that.

For money, ask a question rather than giving advice: “What does that animal need first, an enclosure or a partner zoo?” Help with the puzzle, not the decision.

Expect the first game to run long. The box says 90 to 150 minutes, and first games with new players usually sit at the top of that range or past it. Our piece on analysis paralysis has gentle ways to keep turns moving, and the best one is planning while others play.