Summary
Ark Nova always hits me with a nostalgia of the video game “Zoo Tycoon” that I played as a kid, and this Marine Worlds expansion gives me “Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania” vibes! The expansion is a fantastic addition to what is already a superb game, especially for marine animal enthusiasts. The new mechanics add a level of complexity, to what is arguably already a complex game, but the added bonuses can be a game-changer!
Game Set Up
The expansion builds on the existing Ark Nova set up (which you can find details of in Stefano Paravisi’s blog here, with the addition of multiple new cards and tokens. There are 54 new Zoo Cards (Animal, Sponsor and Conservation Project cards), 6 new Final Scoring cards and 1 new Base Conservation Project card. These simply get shuffled into the original Ark Nova decks and can easily be removed again if you want to revert to the base game by locating the seahorse icon present on the cards. Additionally, there are some duplicates of cards already in the base Ark Nova game, that have been modified to accommodate the new animal types of the Marine Worlds expansion, and these should be swapped in for the original base game versions.
There are new enclosures for your marine animal friends: the Large and Small Aquariums. These function in the same way as the Reptile House and Large Bird Aviary from the original game, with specific animals able to be played into these locations as tokens rather than by flipping over an unoccupied standard enclosure. To go with the new Sponsor cards, there are also 4 new unique buildings that can be played onto the map, including an Underwater Tunnel that provides an additional two animal spaces and can be played over Water spaces on the map.
A new Association Board allows for the accommodation of a new University type, which allows you to gain a Research Icon and an Animal Icon of your choice. This can be useful for completing Conservation Projects, Sponsor card or Final Scoring card requirements geared towards animal types. Additional Bonus Tiles also allow you to gain delayed rewards in some instances: specific gray tiles can be obtained at the usual bonus points on the Conservation Track and these can be retained to use later in the game for a bonus (e.g., ignoring up to 3 conditions on an Animal card when playing it). Finally, there are alternate counters and player token types, my favorite of which are the little penguins!
The final addition to the game are the 20 alternative Action cards. These provide added benefits on two different Action types and are advised to be drawn at random to use alongside 3 standard Action cards. Some of these cards have more significant benefits than the others, so it can make a big difference to the game. My personal favorite here is the alternative Build card number 4, which allows you to pay to play over Rock and Water spaces on Side 1 and gains you money when you play over Rock and Water spaces on Side 2!
Playing the Game
As before, I’ll focus on the new gameplay elements added by the Marine Worlds expansion (refer to Stefano’s blog again for the original game overview). The new marine animals added to the game require Aquariums in order to accommodate them in your zoo (with a few exceptions, like the Green Sea Turtle which can double as a reptile!) and these can be built without upgrading your Build card to Side 2. Aquariums must be built next to at least one Water space, but the Large and Small Aquariums don’t have to be built next to each other. An important note: the larger 5-space Aquarium can be particularly tricky to accommodate on some of the more advanced maps, so make sure you don’t get caught out on this when planning your zoo layout. You can only have 1 Large (5 spaces) and 1 Small (2 spaces) Aquariums in your zoo, so make sure that your total animal count doesn’t exceed 7 animal tokens, or you’ll be left with some washed up fishes! Pay attention to the animal requirements as well, as if there is a specification for the enclosure being next to Water and Rock, this must be taken into consideration when placing the Aquarium. The only way to expand on you Aquarium capacity is with the Underwater Tunnel Sponsor card (+2 spaces), which can be tricky to get when you’re dealing with a deck of >150 cards.
In a similar fashion to the Reptile House and Large Bird Aviary, you can move animals that can be accommodated in the Aquarium from Standard Enclosures on the turn that you build your first Aquarium. Additionally, if you have reptile/marine animal hybrids (like the Green Sea Turtle I mentioned earlier), you can move tokens from the Reptile House to the Aquarium to free up space.
The main benefit of marine Animal cards comes from their unique Reef Dweller abilities. These bonuses are present on about half of the new Animal cards and go over and above the standard Animal abilities in some cases. Let’s take the Devil Firefish (or Common Lionfish, as I recognized it!) as an example. As any nature documentary aficionados will know, these fish are venomous and this is reflected in the Venom ability of the lionfish. But, in addition to this ability, the little lionfish also has a Reef Dweller ability that allows you to gain a Break Token whenever the Reef Dweller ability is activated. This occurs both when the animal is played and when any subsequent animal with a Reef Dweller ability is played. The combination of these additional bonuses on play and the fact that they are recurring if you play multiple Reef Dwellers can be a great boost to your game!
The other new mechanic in this Marine Worlds expansion is the Wave Icon, which I personally don’t think adds a great deal to the game but is important to pay attention to when resetting the Display during Breaks. When resetting the Display, if you turn over a card with a Wave Icon it “washes away” the card in Folder 1 and causes all cards to move up one space. This can happen repeatedly, as you can draw multiple Wave Icons in the process of replacing cards, so be sure to pay attention to each card you refresh.
The last addition, the new University, allows you to gain an Animal Icon of your choice. In the games that my husband and I have played with the expansion, this can prove useful in a handful of circumstances. First, is when you have a Conservation Project that involves animal types, as it can make a difference to the tier of Conservation you can support. Second, is when you have a Final
Scoring Card that involves animal types, as it can be a get-out-of-jail if you’re one icon short. And finally, if you have a Sponsor card that provides a bonus for having certain animal types (either end game bonuses or recurring payments). I found this University type particularly useful in the latter circumstance, specifically with cards that give you increased payments based on the occurrences of a an Animal Icon type (e.g., Sponsorship: Primates card, that allows you to gain 3 monies for 1 to 2 primate icons, 6 monies for 3 to 4 primate icons or 9 monies for 5 or more Primate Icons).
Final Verdict
Overall, the Ark Nova Marine Worlds expansion is a nice add to the overall game, and improves on what it already a well thought-out board game. I would highly recommend for Ark Nova players that are already familiar with the mechanics of the base game and are looking for a way to shake things up a bit. So, what are you waiting for: be like the sturgeon and the ray, “get the urge 'n' start to play”!
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