Ark of Animals Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Game Overview
• Difficulty Levels
• Ending the Game and Scoring Points
• Scoring Points – Example

Game Objective

Each player becomes Noah's helper whose aim is to place as many different species of animals on their ark as possible. The players should put the animals on the ark in such a way that predators will not be placed next to herbivores.

Game Components

• player boards
• 84 animal tiles
• 12 wooden grain markers
• notebook for score-keeping
• sandglass (30-second)

Game Setup

Each player takes a player board that shows an ark and places it face up in front of them. Then the players place the animal tiles face down in the middle of the table so that no one can see the pictures on the tiles. Put the sandglass next to your boards, within all the players' reach. Now you can start the game.

Game Overview

The participants will play 3 consecutive rounds. Each round will proceed according to the same rules. At the end of the game add up the points scored in all rounds – the player with the most points is the winner. Below you will find an overview of one round of the game.

In each round the players must gather the animals on their ark as quickly as possible (they do it simultaneously) and use only one hand to do it. When placing the animals on your ark, start from the left side of the board. Only when the leftmost column is full, a player may start filling the next one, and so on. The player reveals a chosen tile and places it on their board (in the currently filled column) or leaves it on the table. Animal tiles should be placed on the ark face down so that it will not be visible what animal is on which space on the ship. The tiles revealed and left on the table remain there face up – the players may take them to their arks at any moment. The player who gathers 16 animals first (fills all the space available on the board) announces that they have finished and turns the sandglass. Now the rest of the players have only 30 seconds to fill their arks with animals. When the sand passes through the glass, they must stop immediately – they may only put their last tile on the board if they already had it in their hand when the time has run out.

The player who scored the most points after 3 rounds wins the game.

Difficulty Levels

There are several different difficulty levels in Ark of Animals. Each player chooses the level for themselves before starting the game. This helps to introduce new players to the game and provides new challenges for advanced ones. The rules presented in the previous section generally apply to the normal difficulty level. The rest of the levels are described below:

Novice – the difficulty level for the youngest players, who at the beginning may have problems in remembering what animals they have placed on their ark. Players playing at the Novice level use normal rules, but they put the animals on their boards face up.

Normal – the standard level presented earlier in this booklet.

Expert – at this level the first round is played according to the normal rules. In further rounds a player who decided on this level gets an extra handicap. Before the beginning of the 2nd round the player places one grain marker on the space marked on their board. If they put a herbivore on any space adjacent to the space with the grain marker, the grain is eaten and the player gets -2 points. The situation is similar in the 3rd round, but there are three grain markers on the Expert's board (one on the same space as in the second round and two new ones). Each portion of grain eaten means getting -2 points.

Master – the players who decide to play at this level must take care not only of a good arrangement of predators and herbivores. They apply the rules of the Expert level, but keeping the ark balanced is an additional challenge for them. When counting the points scored (after removing eaten animals, but before removing doubled ones) a player counts the weight of the animals on each side of the ark (6 spaces on both sides from the middle column). The weight of each animal is equal to the number of symbols on the tile (regardless of whether it is a predator or a herbivore). Then the player deducts the lower number from the higher number. The result is the number of points the player deducts from their total score for this round.

Grand Master – the highest difficulty level, which makes players count the weight of the animals even more carefully. Similarly to the Master level, a player counts the weight of each side of the ark and gets minus points equal in number to the difference between the sides of the ship. The extra difficulty is that the weight of the animals on both outermost columns is doubled (multiplier x2 marked above them). This increases the risk and the number of minus points the player may get each round.

Ending the Game and Scoring Points

When a round ends, check the arrangement of the animals on each ark. The players turn their tiles face up, leaving them on the same spaces on the board. Then take the subsequent steps in the order presented below. Some steps apply only when a player plays at a particular level (see below: difficulty levels).

1. Grain (level Expert or higher): the players check if their grain supplies have been eaten. If there is a herbivore on any space adjacent to a grain marker, remove this marker from the player board. The player gets -2 points per every marker removed.
2. Predators: the players check if the predators eat other animals. To do this, check each predator tile on your board – if it is adjacent to any herbivore equal to or smaller in size than itself (equal or smaller number of symbols on the tile), the herbivore is eaten and the tile must be removed from the ark.
3. Balance (level Master or higher): the players check if their ark is balanced well. To do this, sum up the size (the number of symbols) of all animals on both sides. The difference between the left and the right side is the number of minus points a player gets for the lack of balance of their ark. When playing at the Grand Master level, the size of the animals on the outermost columns is multiplied by two.
4. The players remove doubled animals from their boards. Only one animal of a given species may remain on the ark. The players get 1 point per every animal left on their board.
5. Finally, the players add bonus points:
   • the player who finished filling their ark first (turned the sandglass) gets 2 points,
   • the player who has the most mammals (green tiles) gets 2 points (if there is a tie, each tied player gets 1 point),
   • each player gets 2 points for having a complete set of amphibians (yellow tiles), reptiles (red tiles) or birds (blue tiles). A complete set is all 3 animals of a given type (e.g. Owl, Raven, Pigeon).

The player who scored the most points after 3 rounds wins the game.

Scoring Points – Example

Below is shown an example of scoring for one player after the end of the 3rd round of the game. The example includes all the steps as if the player played at the Grand Master level. Skip some of the steps when playing at a lower difficulty level.

1. Grain (level Expert or higher): First check if any herbivores have eaten the grain supplies on the ark (their tiles are on adjacent spaces). Since the example shows the 3rd round of the game, there are three grain markers on the board. In the example the grain in the bottom left corner of the ark has been eaten, as the Monkey, a herbivorous animal, is next to it. Remove the marker from the board, the player gets -2 points. The rest of the grain is adjacent only to predators, so it has not been eaten. Note down the player's -2 points for the grain eaten in the notebook.

2. Predators: Next the player checks if the predators on the ark have eaten the herbivores placed near them. In order to do this, check each predator and the tiles around it. The first predator (starting from the leftmost column) is the Cobra. It eats the Pigeon (it is a herbivore equal in size to the Cobra) that is above it. Remove the Pigeon tile from the board. Besides, the Cobra is adjacent to the Crocodile (two predators do not eat each other) and the Elephant (it is bigger than the Cobra – it has more symbols on the tile, so it is not eaten), which are both safe. Then check the rest of the predators. The following animals should be removed from the board: the Chameleon (adjacent to the Raven, Fox and Wolf) and the Frog (adjacent to the Fox, Wolf and Owl). After removing the eaten animals the player board will look like this:

   [Diagram: the example ark after the eaten animals are removed, with columns marked x2, x1, x1, x2 from left to right.]

3. Balance (level Master or higher): The next step is checking the balance of the ark. The way you count the points depends on whether you play at the Master or Grand Master level. The example shows the game at the highest difficulty level available. In order to check the balance of the ark, count the size of the animals (the number of symbols on the tiles) on the left and right side. Obviously, the animals that have already been eaten do not count here. Take a look at the example. On the leftmost column there are the Pigeon and the Cobra. Their total size is 2. Since they are placed on the leftmost column, this number should be multiplied by x2 (this applies only when playing at the Grand Master level, do not use the multiplier when playing at the Master level). The total weight of the animals on the leftmost column is 4. Then add the size of the animals on the second left column. Here we have the Sheep (size 2), the Elephant (size 3) and the Crocodile (size 2). Since it is not the leftmost column, the multiplier is x1. Add 4 to the size of these animals (2+3+2=7) to get the total weight of the side equal 11. Apply the same rules to the right side. The weight of the animals on the rightmost column is 6 (2x(2+1)=6) and 2 on the column closer to the middle. The total weight of the right side is 8, and the difference between both sides is 3 (11-8=3). This is the number of minus points the player gets for the lack of balance on the ark.

The total score for the whole round is 8 points: -2 (grain) -3 (balance) +10 (number of animals) +3 (bonus points).