Capstone Games: Ark Nova Card Drafting, Hand Management Strategy Board Game - $55.92 + F/S - Amazon

Game is wack

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardga...2/ark-nova

Apparently you're on your own with that opinion. Very very highly reviewed on bgg only downside I see is its a bit high for complexity

The bright and colourful artwork of some spectacular animals can't save this BGG darling from my critical eye: the actual gameplay is disappointing on many levels, not only in the way in which it perpetuates current unsatisfying trends in game design, but also in some key flaws that it possesses even when judged by the standards of the current zeitgeist.

After getting my first play under my belt, I had the misfortune of teaching the game on my second and found this to be an absolute chore: as is the current style, there are a multitude of actions and interlocking systems to explain, all with their own myriad details and little foibles which you want to impart on the unsuspecting new player. Much of these add very little to the actual decision space and, like with many recent releases, the result feels unfocused and sprawling, a mess of different systems without a clear, compelling core around which development could have focused on removing all of the surrounding noise.

Like many recent games, too much happens on the individual boards in front of each player. Yes, there is also a central board hosting a shared card market and some races between players, particularly in completing for some communal objectives (e.g. have a few animals of the same kind, or from the same continent), but much of the interaction is of the unsatisfying kind that is too common in recent years: an accidental blocking move by an opponent who can't realistically have studied your position but just happened to do something that got in your way, or even worse, some really irritating take-that card effects which also manage to break the ludonarrative in some seriously ridiculous ways (why exactly has the arrival of a highly venomous cobra in a competing zoo diminished my ability to construct the buildings I was planning to this turn?) Whilst the take-that effects can optionally be skipped, this is done by reverting to alternative effects in place for the solo game, so of course you're removing unsatisfying interaction in favour of having less interaction, which is no substitute for what I was actually hoping for: compelling interaction, of which there is precious little.

All of these things I expect from a hyped game of the moment, but even appreciating that this is just the style of game that is popular right now, we come to the game's biggest problem, and one that really hampers its ability to succeed even on its own terms: its sprawling and badly-designed deck of cards. There are hundreds of unique cards, a vast number of which have far-too-specific effects, or are of a niche type which is insufficiently represented. The result is unsatisfying: you can struggle to have anything that connects, whilst an opponent plays a card which triggers whenever one of the animal types you're all competing for is played and is able to dine out on the proceeds.

The current trend I've seen here on BGG and on Reddit is to insist that Ark Nova is "not a engine builder" and therefore that anyone making a criticism like I did in the last paragraph simply doesn't understand that the game is about making the best of the cards that you're dealt instead of hoping to draw something else. This is a flawed response to the point others have made about the game and that I'm making here, for two reasons:

Firstly, as I've already mentioned, it is possible for somebody to get lucky and to draw into an engine. Whilst you're making the most of your disconnected cards, they've already installed a few synergistic pieces in their tableau and now get benefits whenever they (and, in the worst cases, also you) play cards. Your opponent has drawn well and you are playing catch up (except - spoiler alert - you won't be catching up). When, once in hundreds of hands, a player in Sea Salt and Paper instantly draws both of the Sailors and the Captain and has an three-card, hand-winning combo, that hand is quickly over and it's an amusing event for both players. In contrast, in Ark Nova, when one player gets an engine delivered by the draw deck and another doesn't, one of you will slog for 2-4 hours in vain, and isn't likely to draw much consolation from the fact that they're supposedly the only one playing "as intended" i.e. having to make the most of disjointed pieces. If I'm the one actually playing Ark Nova, what's the player who is getting to trigger all the combos and win the game doing and why does it look more fun?

I'm not though, please read the following:

Criticism is buried on BGG. The rating is more representative of hype than anything especially if a game started on Kickstarter. https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklis...games-2022 [boardgamegeek.com]

Also it looks like there's a separate listing that's even cheaper.
https://www.amazon.com/Capstone-G...157&sr=1-1

It's actually available at a cheaper price from GameNerdz:
https://www.gamenerdz.com/ark-nova-on-sale
Unlike Amazon, they actually pack games well so you don't get a damaged game when it arrives...

Free shipping over $75 and flat $5 otherwise