I think I have learned more about animals in my 9 years of parenting than the rest of my years combined. No, my family does not have any pets (though we did have a beta fish for a few years). Instead, my children are fascinated about animals and learning everything about them. Whether it is watching shows like Wild Kratts, reading books like Who would win?, or playing with the various stuffed animals and animal toys they have collected, my kids soak up everything they can about the fascinating creatures that grace God’s green Earth. Our visits to the Brookfield Zoo with grandparents have been very exciting for our kids as they get to see awesome and interesting creatures that they otherwise would not be able to see where we live.
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Short Explanation of How to Play
I started hearing rave reviews about Ark Nova recently and decided that it was a game that would be well worth playing and introducing my kids to. The game has a lot of moving levers, as you are (1) trying to build a zoo, (2) trying to fill that zoo with animals, (3) building sponsorships, (4) trying to build partnerships with universities, other zoos from around the world, and conservation initiatives, and (5) drawing cards as necessary along the way. Now, that may sound overwhelming to start, but what I appreciated about this game was while there were a lot of moving parts, the activity of the game funneled down to those 5 actions, and each player has action cards right in front of them to tell them what to do. When I wrote that numbered list, I did it off the top of my head without referencing the game or the rules because I had needed to use each of the actions so frequently, they became second nature. What starts as complicated, becomes intuitive and simple as the game goes on. The goal of the game is to build up a combination of conservation and attraction with your zoo. The paths for each of these goals start at opposite ends of the board and move toward one another, and the game ends when a player gets the two paths to cross.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work For Our Family
What Worked: The theme was a lot of fun for my kids. They liked collecting animals and putting them in the zoo, as well as figuring out how to set up their enclosures to hold the animals. One of the kids focused on building and filling petting zoos, while the other wanted to put ferocious cats in his zoo. Even though the game has some complex mechanics, both of my kids were fully engaged with a fairly long game from beginning to end, and were excited to play again.
What Was Challenging: There are a lot of nuances with the inclusion of sponsorships to raise money and associations with other organizations that unlock some of the cards available. While I had a handle on things pretty well, my kids were more focused on the animals and may have missed some of the things that they could have been doing because of the bigness and complexity of the game. While that was absolutely fine for gameplay, as we all had a blast playing the game, I ended the game when both of the kids were still fairly early on in both the Attraction and Conservation paths. I don’t doubt they can learn and figure out the value of learning about associations and sponsorships, but until they do this will be a very lopsided game in my favor.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work With Friends
I haven’t played this game with any of my gaming friends yet, but I will update the post when I do. My suspicions are that this game will be a hit, as it has a lot of interesting mechanics and is a fun race to victory.
Teacher's Corner
This game is great for teaching about different animals. Each card has the name of the animal, an interesting photograph, and the continent where that animal lives. When learning about classification in biology or how these animals fit into ecological systems, this game could help with exposure to different animals from around the world, and could drive discussion about what aspects of each animal helps them to survive and thrive in their environments. The game can also foster discussions about what makes a zoo function and work, and what is necessary for them to have success. Conservation is a significant piece of this game, so it is a springboard to discussion there as well. Similar to most simulation games, the story of zoos that is told is simpler than the actual reality, but it is a great step into zoology and discussion around the animals present in the game.
Overall opinion, rating, and recommendation
6 year old son - He loved this game from beginning to end. This was the first time I saw him all in on a long, complicated game. His previous favorites and been much simpler, shorter games.
9 year old daughter - My daughter did a good job building up an engine of petting zoo animals. She understood how getting more of those animals would magnify her points and have a snowball benefit for her. As the game went on, she started to have a better understanding of how the associations worked. As she plays more, I’m interested in seeing how she improves as she puts all of the pieces together.
Mine - I will rate this game Heavy Family. This game is a lot of fun. There are a lot of choices that need to be made in this game, and those choices aren’t necessarily “good” vs. “bad”. Instead, there are lots of good options that can be used, and the cards that become available later may impact whether those early choices were better or not. This isn’t a bad thing. If anything, I would be perfectly happy losing the game if I built a fun zoo that I had a good time putting together. The game is mostly a game players play solo, but there is interaction as those players take cards and compete to have the better options for themselves. This game will definitely be in our family rotation of games. If someone does not like a game that is mostly solo play with a little interactivity sprinkled in, or if they are concerned with multiple mechanics going on at once, then this game may not be a great fit, but it is such an enjoyable experience that I wonder if the game would overcome those hesitations anyway.
Games with similarities with this one at each rating level:
Casual Family: Draftosaurus
Heavy Family: My Little Scythe / Wingspan
Casual Adult: 7 Wonders
Heavy Adult: - Scythe
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