2023 · Animals
Ark Nova: Marine Worlds
Adds sea animals, special enclosures and new action cards that integrate with the base game. Players build water-adjacent enclosures for marine species, play reef dwellers that trigger abilities of all matching animals in the zoo, and handle a wave mechanic that discards and replenishes display cards when sea cards appear. Includes a fourth university option on the association board; claiming it lets a player take one of six special registries and reveal deck cards until they find a matching-animal card. Five action cards gain four alternate variants for drafting at setup, replacing two standard actions to increase asymmetry. Also provides new bonus tiles, final scoring cards, alternate wooden track markers and small animal tokens for conservation projects.
- Players
- 1–4 best 2
- Playing time
- 90–150 min
- Age
- 14+
- Complexity
- 3.9 / 5
About the game
- Design
- Publisher
Expansion for
See them in Ludoya
Expansions
See them in Ludoya
Where to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 144
- Plays logged
- 109
- Players
- 1h 52m
- Average play
- 245
- In collections
- 20
- On wishlists
- 1
- Pre-ordered
8.6/10
from 46 Ludoya reviews
zim zhang6.0 This expansion doesn't save the game.
1–4 Players 90–150 Min Age: 14+ Weight: 3.65 / 5
Javo9.0 Excelente expansión para un grande juego. Incorpora nuevas formas para puntuar al final de partida, un montón de cartas nuevas con dos nuevas mecánicas, oleadas y corales. Si que es cierto que las nuevas cartas pueden quedar diluidas entre las otras muchísimas cartas que hay pero aparecen, aunque quizás no tanto como uno esperaría. También incorpora nuevas losetas de bonificación y nuevas cartas iniciales asimétricas que son lo mejor. Si te gusta Ark nova es un añadido que merece la pena tener.
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
Can I accommodate sea animals in regular enclosures, or do they have to go in aquariums?
Most sea animals must be accommodated in the two new special enclosures (small or large aquarium) and cannot be placed in other enclosures; only a few sea animals that also belong to another category may be placed in a standard enclosure or the reptile house as explicitly shown on the card (page 3–4).
Do aquariums have to be next to water/rock, and can I split an animal’s token cost between the small and large aquarium?
Both aquariums must be built next to at least one water space (their water icon counts as water) and some animals additionally require adjacency to rock — if you place tokens in both aquariums to accommodate an animal, each aquarium used must meet any stated terrain requirements; splitting the required player tokens between small and large aquarium is allowed (see the example on page 5) (pages 3–5).
What does the wave icon on sea-animal cards do?
The wave icon has no effect when you play the card; instead, whenever you replenish the display and you add a card with a wave icon, discard the bottom card of the display and continue replenishing (discard one bottom card per wave icon revealed); ignore wave icons during setup (pages 4–5).
When I play a Reef Dweller, do I trigger all Reef Dweller effects in my zoo (including the one I just played)?
Yes — when you play a Reef Dweller you trigger the Reef Dweller effects of all Reef Dwellers in your zoo, including the one you just played, and you may choose the order to resolve those effects (page 4; see the example on page 5).
How does the new Action‑card draft work — how many alternate Action cards do we keep and can they be the same type?
At personal setup each player draws 3 new Action cards, passes and keeps cards in a 3‑player pass draft so that you end up choosing 2 cards to use and discarding 1; you must finish with two different action types — if you somehow end with three of the same type you draw a random different type to use instead (pages 2 and 8).
How do the new partner universities work — who can take one and what do you get?
You may take a new university only if the generic university tile is still on the Association board and you don’t already have one; taking it places the chosen animal icon on your zoo, lets you reveal cards from the deck until you find a card matching that icon and add it to your hand, and grants a research icon, and the generic tile is removed from the board until the next break so only one player can take a new university per break (page 6; setup references on page 2).
Free, on web, Android and iOS
Play Ark Nova: Marine Worlds with Ludoya
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.