Hidden Ark Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Content
• Setup
• Overview
• How to Play
  • Step 1. Opportunity
    • Instant Opportunities
    • One Time Opportunities (1x)
    • Upgrade Opportunities
  • Step 2. Action
    • Build
    • Operation
      • Fish Species Tile Breakdown
    • Upgrade
    • Research
  • Free Exchange Action (2 > 1)
• Refill & End of Game
• End Game Scoring
• Co-Op / Solo Mode
  • Solo Specific Rules
• Variants
  • Discovery
  • Uphill Battle
  • Long Game

Content

• 1 x Game Board
• 4 x Player Boards
• 16 x Rescue Vessels (4 x 4)
• 16 x Science Stations (4 x 4)
• 28 x Cubes (7 x 4)
• 10 x Victory Point Tokens
• 106 x Opportunity Tokens
• 9 x Award Tokens
• 24 x Escalation Tokens
• 30 x Fish Species Tiles (6 x 5)

Setup

1. Decide which side of the Game Board to use (different world projections) and place it on the centre of the table.
2. Shuffle the Fish Species Tiles in separate stacks by the different colored backs and place them facedown next to the Game Board. Draw and place faceup Fish Species Tiles from the stacks and place them on the matching colored tile spaces on the Game Board.
3. Place Victory Point tokens on the circular spaces on the Game Board's sea areas.
4. Shuffle all the Opportunity Tokens and create an Opportunity Pool by placing them facedown or in an opaque container next to the Game Board. Then randomly draw 4 Opportunity Tokens from the Opportunity Pool and flip them faceup.
5. Randomly place Opportunity Tokens from the Opportunity Pool faceup on each Location Space (the circles on land areas on the Game Board).
6. Place all the Award Tokens next to the board (If playing with 2 players use the side with the 2 Player symbol).
7. Give each player a Player Board, 4 Rescue Vessels, 4 Science Stations and 7 Cubes of a color of their choice, place them according to the setup image and 1 Cube on the Score Track for keeping track of Victory Points. Keep 1 Science Station and 1 Rescue Vessel next to the Player Board for now.
8. Randomly determine a first player, and in reverse turn order, each player places their put aside Science Station and Rescue Vessel on an available Location Space, receiving the Opportunity Token. All instant opportunities will be immediately received, upgrades and 1x opportunities will be saved for future use beside the player.

Overview

Hidden Ark is a board game about making a change! As one of the Hidden Ark science teams, you're committed to the rescue cause and will lead your team to be as successful as possible! You will build science stations, send out your vessels on rescue operations, and evolve your expertise in different fields.

In the game, the players will draft opportunity tokens supplying them with different research studies, funding and technological upgrades. They will then choose an action row on their player board and perform all available actions. Actions include building science stations or rescue vessels, researching different areas of science, upgrading your player board, and moving your vessels to perform rescue operations. Throughout the game you will increase your research abilities, expand your armada of rescue vessels and science stations, and upgrade your Player Board with new abilities to make your action rows even more powerful.

The player with the most Victory Points (VP) from Fish Species Tiles, Awards, Victory Point Tokens, Resources, Science Stations and Rescue Vessels, will win the game!

How to Play

Players take turns in turn order. A turn consists of the following two steps:

Step 1. Opportunity

Flip up Opportunity Tokens from the Opportunity Pool so there are a total of 5 faceup tokens. Then either take a faceup Opportunity Token OR take a facedown Opportunity Token and flip a faceup Opportunity Token facedown. IMPORTANT! On your first turn, repeat this step as an Establishment bonus! If there are ever no Opportunity Tokens left in the Opportunity Pool, refill it with all used and removed Opportunity Tokens (Not in Co-Op / Solo mode).

The Opportunity Tokens work in the following ways:

Instant Opportunities

Immediately receive the depicted resource by increasing the value on the respective track of your Player Board.

The symbols in the game represent the following resources: Chemical Ecology, Marine Biology, Conservation Ecology, Technology, Money.

Example: The yellow player decides to take a Marine Biology Opportunity Token with the value of 3, so she immediately advances 3 spaces on the blue Marine Biology track on her Player Board.

One Time Opportunities (1x)

One time opportunities work similar to Instant Opportunities, the only difference is that a player may keep the token and use it on a later turn instead. You are not forced to use it immediately.

• Vessel Movement: Move your Rescue Vessel orthogonally adjacent sea spaces equal to the number on the token (you may not move diagonally). You may divide the movement between your different Vessels and you may extend your movement using resources (see the below Operation section for detailed rules on movement).
• Rescue: Perform a single Rescue if you fulfill all the requirements (see the below Operation section on how Rescue works).
• Build: Perform a single Build action (see the below Build section).
• Upgrade: Perform a free Upgrade action. You may perform additional upgrades for the listed cost (see the below Upgrade section).

Upgrade Opportunities

Upgrade Opportunities may be used to upgrade your Action Rows on your Player Board with different bonuses when you take the Upgrade action. If you don't want to use them for upgrades, you may instead use them as a ONE TIME OPPORTUNITY, discarding them for the depicted benefit (Towards the end of the game, you might find them to be of better use this way).

Example: The orange player decides to take a Chemical Ecology Upgrade Opportunity Token. It will allow him to upgrade his Player Board later when using the Upgrade action.

Step 2. Action

Decide which Action Row you want to use on your Player Board by placing your Action Cube (the cube placed next to your Player Board) in an Action Slot (the cut out spaces at the very top of the Player Board). On your first turn, all Action Slots are available to use, but for upcoming rounds, you have to use a different Action Slot from your previous turn (unless you spend a dedication cost of any 2 resources). Receive any bonuses from upgrades you might have in the chosen Action Row (even if they are installed the same turn) and perform the row's Action (in any order you want). Actions work in the following way:

Build

Build a Science Station OR Rescue Vessel by paying the cost listed on the Player Board (below the component) by lowering your Money track by the required amount. If you build a Science Station, you will place it on any empty circular Location space on the Game Board and take the Opportunity Token on the space. If you instead build a Rescue Vessel, you will place it on a Location space including one of your Science Stations. A Location space can include a maximum of 1 Science Station and 2 Rescue Vessels. If you don't have available space for your Rescue Vessel, you can not build it. For each Rescue Vessel you build, you increase your movement by 1 when taking the Operation action (not One Time Opportunities/Upgrades).

Example: The teal player performs a Build Action and builds a Science Station by lowering her Money by 3. She moves her topmost Science Station from her Player Board to the available Location space in South America and takes the Opportunity Token.

Operation

When taking the Operation Action, the movement you have available is 1 + the number of Rescue Vessels you have on the Game Board. You may MOVE your Rescue Vessel orthogonally adjacent square sea spaces equal to that amount. You may also use 1 Rescue (see RESCUE below) OR use it to move one extra space instead.

You can spend any 2 resources to extend your movement by 1 space (how many times you like/can afford). When moving your Rescue Vessel from your Science Station, you may only move it to the space indicated by the arrow. You may divide the movement between your different Vessels and you may interrupt movement to take a Rescue action. Up to two Vessels (of any color) can occupy the same space. The exception to this rule are the Fish Species Tiles, which only allows for one Rescue Vessel (but a player may move through an occupied Fish Species Tile if they have enough movement). When moving upon a Victory Point Token, you immediately receive it for extra research efforts! When a player has a Rescue Vessel positioned on a Fish Species Tile, it is unavailable to everyone else as long as the player stays there.

To perform a RESCUE, the player has to have a Rescue Vessel on a Fish Species Tile and spend the listed resources in the upper left corner on the Tile. If so, the player may claim the Tile by lowering their resource tracks by the required amounts. Some Fish Species Tiles also include requirements listed below the resources, they can either be to own 2 Science Stations, or own 2 Rescue Vessels (you don't need to have both positioned on the Fish Species Tile).

When a player rescues a Fish Tile, the player removes the Tile from the Game Board, placing it beside their own Player Board. Then the player moves the used Rescue Vessel back to one of their Science Stations (if all your Science Stations are occupied, you cannot perform the Rescue). The empty tile space on the Game Board is now considered a normal water space until it will be refilled (see below Refill section). Should the player have any movement left to use, they may still use it for any of their Vessels.

Example: The Yellow Player takes the Operation Action by moving one of her Rescue Vessels 2 adjacent spaces onto a Fish Species Tile. As the Yellow Player has 1 rescue operation to use and enough resources as well as fulfills the requirement of having 2 Science Stations, she decides to do it!

"Rescue operations are the most important way to score VP throughout the game. Not only are the Fish Species Tiles worth VP in themselves, but they will also help you with other Rescue operations by giving you a resource discount, and you may also claim different awards by the end of the game for them."

Fish Species Tile Breakdown

• Resources needed: In the example tile you need 1 Chemical Ecology, 6 Marine Biology & 1 Technology.
• Rescue Reward: Victory Points as well as a permanent resource. A player will always have a discount of the depicted resource in future Rescue actions. In the example tile, you get 7 VP and a discount of 1 Conservation Ecology.
• Requirement (only on some Tiles): In the example tile you need to own 2 Rescue Vessels.

Upgrade

Upgrade your Player Board with your Upgrade Opportunity Tokens. The first upgrade is free and can be placed in any Upgrade slot (the round empty spaces on the Player Board not used for Science Stations). Additional upgrades may be installed for the listed cost below the upgrade slots (if any). Upgrades will be a permanent benefit when using the Action row!

Example: The purple player decides to perform the Upgrade action to upgrade his Build Action with his Money upgrade token. He uses his first free upgrade to install it in the most expensive slot in the Build action row. He then installs his 1 Marine Biology upgrade token in a slot without any listed cost in the Upgrade Action row. He immediately receives the 1 Marine Biology bonus as he is currently using the Upgrade Action row!

"Upgrading your board is an important aspect of the game and will allow you to do more than just the basic action on your turn and tailor make your Action Rows. Long term it will be very powerful!"

Research

Advance any 3 science resources (not Money) on the tracks of your Player Board.

Example: The teal player takes a Research action and advances 2 spaces in Marine Biology and 1 space in Technology. She also receives 1 Conservation Ecology from her upgrade in the Action Row.

Free Exchange Action (2 > 1)

A player may always at any time exchange any 2 resources into 1 resource of their choice. Using your permanent resource discount of a Fish Species Tile for exchange is not allowed, as it is a discount and not a resource.

Should you ever receive more resources than what the tracks allow, you may in the same way convert the excess resources to another resource at a 2 for 1 conversion rate.

Refill & End of Game

When there are only 4 Fish Species Tiles left on the Game Board (5 if playing 3 players, 6 if playing 2 players, and 7 if playing solo), immediately take facedown Opportunity Tokens from the Opportunity Pool and place one faceup on each tile that's left (if it doesn't already have an Opportunity Token on it or a Rescue Vessel). Players will receive the Opportunity Tokens when rescuing the Fish Species Tiles as an encouragement bonus. Refill the empty Tile spaces with new Fish Species Tiles with same colored backs. Also remove and replace the faceup Opportunity Tokens next to the Opportunity Pool with 4 new ones.

You will only perform the refill 2 times. The third time it occurs, it instead triggers the End Game. Continue playing until it's the first player's turn again. Then play one final round (one turn each, starting with the first player).

End Game Scoring

The player with the most Victory Points (VP) from the following wins the game:

• 3 VP for each of your Rescue Vessels and 5 VP for each of your Science Stations (not including your starting Science Station/Rescue Vessel)
• VP for your Fish Species Tiles
• VP for your Victory Point Tokens
• 1 VP for every 4 Resources
• VP for Award Tokens. The player with the most Fish Species Tiles of each matching color/type, receives the highest VP award. The player with the second most Tiles of matching color receives the second listed VP and so on. In order to qualify for an award, you have to have at least one Tile of the color/type (you can't get an award for a color/type you don't have). If tied, the player will share the VP from the positions (rounded down) equal to the number of players (So for example, if the purple and yellow both have the most North Pacific Tiles, they will share the VP for the first and second position giving them 6 VP each). All players may qualify for the World Wide Award of having a Tile of every color.

If tied for Victory, the tie breakers are amount of Fish Species Tiles and Upgrades, in that order. If still tied, it's a shared Victory!

Example: The Orange player receives 10 VP for his Science Stations, 6 VP for his Rescue Vessels, 30 VP for his Fish Species Tiles, 6 VP for his Victory Point Tokens, 3 VP for his Resources, and 14 VP for Award Tiles (7 VP for having the most Atlantic Ocean Tiles (green), 4 VP for having a shared second position of having the most South Pacific Tiles (beige), and 3 VP for having the third most Indian Ocean Tiles (red). This gives him a total of 69 Victory Points!

Co-Op / Solo Mode

When playing the Co-Op Mode, you follow the normal rules of the game but you work together trying to be as efficient as possible!

You will also use the Escalation Tokens, so shuffle them and place them facedown or in an opaque container beside the board during setup. When performing a refill, you will also place a random faceup Escalation Token on each of the leftover Fish Species Tiles. This increases the resources needed to rescue them. A Fish Species Tile may have up to 2 Escalation Tokens on it.

Your score will be based on the lowest scoring player combined with twice the amount of facedown Opportunity Tokens that's left. Subtract the total value of the numbers on Escalation Tokens that's still on the Game Board, and check the chart below for your rating according to player count!

1 player	2 players	3 players	4 players	Rating
0-99	0-89	0-50	0-30	PLEASE CHECK YOUR PULSE
100-130	90-120	51-80	31-50	SORRY, BUT KINDLY READ THE RULES AGAIN
131-150	121-140	81-100	51-60	ARE YOU WITH US OR AGAINST US?
151-160	141-150	101-110	61-70	SMALL FRY
161-170	151-160	111-120	71-80

Solo Specific Rules

If playing solo, follow the co-op rules above with the following exceptions:

Play with the 2 player setup but only use components for 1 player and place an extra Science Station and Rescue Vessel during setup. Also place a Rescue Vessel of a different color on a Fish Species Tile. This makes it unavailable to you, and every time you rescue a Fish Species, you need to place it on a different colored Tile.

At the end of Step 1. Opportunity, always remove a faceup Opportunity Token from the available tokens next to the Opportunity Pool. Place it on an Award of your choice. This will lower the Victory Point value of the Award (you can only place the same amount of Opportunity Tokens on an Award as its Victory Point value).

Variants

Feel free to try out these variants of the game to change things up!

Discovery

Start with all Fish Species Tiles flipped facedown. All facedown Fish Species Tiles are considered water spaces. On a player's turn, they may investigate and flip one Fish Species Tile faceup. Refilled Tiles begin flipped facedown.

Uphill Battle

Start with all resource tracks on 0 and without the extra Establishment bonus. Also place Escalation Tokens just like in the Co-Op Mode.

Long Game

Play with an extra refill (only refill Fish Species Tiles if it's possible).