Ark & Noah
Ark & Noah Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- 1 double-sided action board
- 26 female animal tiles (pink background)
- 26 male animal tiles (blue background)
- Animal tile backsides
- 4 character tiles
- 60 food tokens
- 12 bonus point tokens
- 36 pitch cubes
- 108 wooden dividers in 4 colors
- 4 wooden scoring markers, in 4 colors
- 8 wooden workers, in 4 colors
- 2 bags
- 1 black round marker
Objective
In this game, as Noah and his sons — Shem, Ham and Japheth — you take up the challenge of building the Ark and loading as many animals onto it as possible before the Flood begins. To win you must have the most points at the end of the game. You can score points by building stalls and placing pairs of animals inside them.
Note: If this is your first game, or you want to play with children, you can use the Simplified game variant. Its rules are at the end of the rulebook.
Setup
To begin, build the Ark. Use one board section per player. Always use the sections with the "bow" and "stern" (in the 2-player game you need only those), and add 1 or 2 additional sections between them, depending on the number of players. (The section marked with a cross is not used in the 2-player game.)
Place the action board with the standard side face up. This board shows the 7 Actions you can choose. Above each action there is a completed-action space and a current-action space.
Put the male animal tiles into the black bag, and the female tiles into the white one.
Remember! In the 2-player variant, discard the animals reserved for the 3- and 4-player game (marked 3+ and 4 on the animal tiles). Remember to set them aside into the box before putting the animals into the bags.
Each player chooses a Character, a worker pawn (in the 2-player variant take two pawns per player), and also: 3 divider pieces, 2 pitch cubes, 2 food tokens, and 2 animals of each sex. If a player draws a pair, they must discard one of the animals and draw again a different one (two players may already own animals of the same species).
Put the remaining dividers, pitch and food within easy reach of all players.
The person who has gone longest without feeling raindrops on their head is the first player. They place their worker on the first completed-action space (the leftmost one) on the action board. The next player takes the next completed-action space, and going clockwise the players place their workers. In the 2-player variant the first player takes spaces 1 and 4 of the completed actions, while the second takes the second and third spaces.
Then place all players' scoring markers on the first space (with the rainbow) of the scoring track, and the black marker on the round track.
An animal tile shows: its sex (female — rainbow symbol / male), its size (in Loading Points; 0 means a small animal), and its victory points (rainbow corner). Note that the lions are the only animals whose male and female are drawn differently. Use the animals marked "3+" and "4" only in games of 3 or more players.
Gameplay
The game itself consists of 10 rounds, each divided into 2 phases:
- planning / choosing actions
- carrying out the chosen task
Phase I: Choosing an Action Space
At this stage you choose the actions you will want to carry out later in this round.
Starting with the player who is first on a completed-action space, each following player takes a free current-action space of their choice. It may be the same space as before, if it has not already been taken by another player.
Attention! Each current-action space may be occupied by only one worker at a time. Once you have taken a space, no other player may stand on it during this round.
Bonus point token: If there is a bonus token on an action space, you automatically move the corresponding number of points on the scoring track. Then discard that bonus point token.
Remember: during the first round there are no bonus point tokens on the board.
Once all players have taken their chosen action spaces, for the empty spaces after each action, a bonus point token is taken from the general supply. If a space already has such a token, increase its value by 1, up to a maximum value of +4.
Phase II: Performing Tasks
In this phase, working from left to right, the players whose worker pawns occupy a given space carry out the actions tied to it.
Starting from the first space (if a worker stands on it), the player performs the tasks tied to the action they occupy. All actions except Trading affect the remaining players too. The player whose pawn sits on the action space resolves it first, then the following players carry out that action in the established turn order.
Once every player has finished this phase, move all the pawns onto the Completed Action spaces located above the Current Action spaces.
Example: Noah occupied action 2 with his worker. Shem placed his worker on space 4. Ham is on the space with action 6. Japheth's worker took space 7. The bonus point tokens land on action spaces 1, 3 and 5.
Action 1: Noah goes first, then Shem, Ham, and finally Japheth. Because nobody is on space 3, that action is skipped and the next is the space with action 4. Because that is Trading, only Shem benefits from it. Action 5 is not occupied by any worker, so it is skipped too. The next one is action 6. This time Ham acts first, followed by Noah, Shem and Japheth. At the end comes action 7, which Japheth performs first, followed by Noah, Shem and Ham.
Building the Ark
Dividers in the Ark: The Ark board is divided into a corresponding number of squares (24 to 48 depending on the number of players). You may lay dividers on the free edges of each square, as well as on the banks of the Ark itself. Your task when laying dividers is to create enclosures.
Attention! You may use for building an enclosure only those dividers you already own; you may not build with dividers from the supply, so to obtain them you must first use the Clearing the Forest action or the Trading action.
Enclosures: An enclosure consists of a group of at least four squares surrounded by wooden dividers. Only into completed enclosures may pairs of animals be moved. Completed enclosures need not be built from dividers of one color, and they may be created by the players together.
Attention! You may not place dividers inside completed enclosures.
Pitch Coating: Around the Ark there are small square fields. You may seal these places with pitch cubes in order to score points. You may do this only when the neighbouring squares are already built up with dividers. The dividers may be of different colors.
Example: Ham placed a worker on the Building the Ark action, so he may use 8 elements to build it. He decided to add 6 dividers and 2 pitch cubes, which gives him 8 victory points. Noah is next in turn. He uses 5 dividers and gains 5 VP. Next is Shem. He has only 2 dividers and 1 pitch cube. He decides to use only the pitch and keeps the dividers for another occasion. He gains 1 VP. Last in turn is Japheth. He adds 5 pitch cubes to the Ark and scores 5 VP.
- You may place pitch cubes only on those fields of which two adjacent sides are dividers (even in the corners).
- If a divider stands inside an enclosure, return it to the supply.
- Enclosures built from 3 or 4 squares may be of any shape.
Types of Action
Each of the actions you take has a different effect. The player who placed their worker on a space begins the action; the remaining players then perform the parts of that action that apply to them, in the turn order established for this round.
Action 1: Producing Pitch
This action lets all players take pitch cubes from the general supply. The player who activated the space must take 3 pitch cubes; each following player, in the turn order for this round, must take 1 pitch cube from the supply. If the pitch runs out, some players get nothing.
Action 2: Taming Animals
The action lets all players gain one animal each. Animals are the main source of points. The player who activated this space draws animals from the two bags.
- 2-player game: 1 male, 1 female
- 3-player game: 1 male, 1 female, and 1 male or 1 female (that player's choice)
- 4-player game: 2 males, 2 females
That player then must choose which 1 animal they keep for their collection. The remaining drawn animals are taken by the other players, one each, in the turn order for this round.
Attention! All animal tiles are double-sided. Keep tiles whose partner is not yet in the play with the "unpaired" (blue or pink) side up. Turn to the "paired" side all the animals whose partner is already in the play. Animals form a pair as soon as their partner is drawn from a bag, even if the two tiles belong to different players.
Example: Noah draws 2 males (dog and giraffe) and 2 females (bitch and dove). He keeps the dog, Shem takes the bitch, Ham the dove, and Japheth the male giraffe. The tiles of the two dogs, of the dove just drawn, and of the dove that was already in the play must be turned to the pink pair side. The giraffe stays unpaired.
Action 3: Gathering Food
The action lets all players obtain the food needed to feed animals.
The player who took this space must take 3 food markers from the general supply; each following player, in the turn order for this round, must take 1 food marker from the supply. If the food runs out, the remaining players get nothing.
Action 4: Trading
Trading is allowed to one player only — the one who took this space. That player may trade 1 animal tile or swap 2 dividers.
A player who plans to perform either of these actions first takes a bonus in the form of:
- 1 victory point,
- 1 food marker,
- 1 divider,
- or 1 pitch cube.
Now they must make one of the two trading options.
- Exchange any 2 dividers. The dividers must be of different colors.
- Draw 3 animals from bags of the player's own choosing (all three may come from one bag).
From the drawn tiles the player may choose only one animal; the unchosen tiles go back to the bags. The trade may involve animals of different sexes.
Attention! You may not trade away an animal whose partner is already in the play, even if the partner belongs to another player. If all of your animals already have partners, you may use only the first trading option, that is the swap of dividers.
Once the action is finished, no player may perform the Trading action any more.
Action 5: Clearing the Forest
This action lets all players obtain the wooden dividers needed to build the Ark.
The player who took this space must take 4 dividers of their own color from the available supply.
Each following player must take 2 dividers of their own color. If the wood runs out, they take nothing.
Action 6: Building the Ark
The action lets all players lay dividers and pitch cubes on the Ark. Every element added this way scores victory points. Closed enclosures make it possible to place animals inside them. The player who took this space may use 8 points to move up to 8 dividers and/or pitch cubes. After that player has placed their individual elements, the following players get 5 points each for building the Ark. Each player increases their score by 1 victory point (on the scoring track) for every element they add.
Action 7: Loading the Ark
The action lets all players load food and pairs of animals onto the Ark. It is the main way of scoring victory points.
The worker on the Loading the Ark space may use 8 Loading Points to move their food and animals onto the Ark.
After that, each following player, in the turn order for this round, may use 5 Loading Points to likewise move their food and animals onto the Ark.
Loading Points can be used in two ways:
-
Place food markers (1 Loading Point per marker). To do this, the enclosures must be complete and at least one of their dividers must be the color of the player doing the loading. Every square inside the enclosure must hold 1 food marker. Each such square holds 1 marker. Once placed, a marker may never be moved or removed. You gain 1 victory point for each food marker placed on the Ark.
-
Place a pair of animals of the same species. To load animals you must meet the following conditions: The mated pair (male and female) must already be paired up. A player who wants to place the animals must own at least one animal of the pair (the other may belong to another player). There must be an enclosure on the Ark whose size matches the size of the animals being moved. Each animal tile shows the size of the enclosure needed for that pair. You may not put animals in an enclosure that is too small or too large.
Exception: You may add one pair of Small Animals (those of size 0) to an enclosure of any size.
Example: A pair of dogs needs an enclosure of exactly one square. A pair of elephants needs an enclosure of exactly four squares.
- the enclosure must be filled with provisions, that is one food marker on each square inside it;
- the enclosure must be empty, except that it may hold one pair of Small Animals;
- if any part of the enclosure lies on the edge of the Ark, all the pitch fields along it must be filled;
- at least one of the enclosure's dividers must be the color of the player filling the Ark.
If all the conditions are met, the animals may be placed on the Ark (move the animal tiles into the enclosure). Pay a number of Loading Points equal to the size, for each animal placed on the Ark (loading one elephant costs 4 points, a pair costs 8). When both animals belong to the player doing the loading, they pay for each of them. If, when loading a pair, one of the animals comes from another player, they pay only for their own animal; the other costs nothing.
Small Animals have no Loading cost. However, an enclosure may not hold more than one pair of Small Animals and one pair of large ones (those of size 1-4).
For animals placed on the Ark, victory points are awarded:
- each animal awards victory points to the player who owned it at the moment of loading. The number of points granted to a player is in the upper right corner of the tile (Small Animals by themselves bring no points).
- each player gets 1 victory point for a divider of their color used to build the enclosure in which the animals were placed.
- the player who loaded the animals receives 1 victory point for each pitch cube that forms part of the enclosure.
Example: Japheth placed his pawn on the Loading the Ark action, so he may use 8 Loading Points. He spends 2 points on placing food markers in an enclosure. He gains 2 victory points. Then he spends 6 Loading Points on placing a pair of lions in an enclosure (3+3=6). At the moment of loading he owned both lion tiles, so he is awarded victory points for both: 6 points for each animal. The owners of the enclosure's dividers also gain points: 5 sky-blue ones belong to Japheth, so he receives another 5 points. The 2 green dividers belong to Noah, so he gains 2 points. The red divider is Ham's, so he gains 1 point. Finally, two pitch cubes were used to build the enclosure, so Japheth receives another 2 points. Japheth used all 8 Loading Points, but he may still "for free" bring a pair of Small Animals onto the Ark (they cost no Loading Points). He therefore places the male raven in the same enclosure as the lions and takes from Shem the female raven, which he moves into the enclosure with the lions. The ravens give no points, but the dividers and pitch used to build the enclosure are counted once again. So Japheth in total gathered: 2 (food) +6 (lion) +6 (lioness) +0 (both ravens) +5 (his dividers counted when loading the lions) +5 (his dividers counted when loading the ravens) +2 (pitch cubes used to build the enclosure counted when loading the lions) +2 (pitch cubes used to build the enclosure counted when loading the ravens) = 28 victory points. Noah scores: 2 (his dividers counted when loading the lions) +2 (his dividers counted when loading the ravens) = 4 points. Ham scores: 1 (his divider counted when loading the lions) + 1 (his divider counted when loading the ravens) = 2. Shem gains no points, even though Japheth used his female raven when loading. Japheth finished the Loading action; now it is Noah's turn, who has 5 Loading Points at their disposal. They begin by spending 1 Loading Point on placing a food marker. They spend another 4 points on placing the female elephant, which they own. Shem has the male elephant, which must be handed over for loading. Noah pays no Loading Points for placing Shem's elephant. Noah gets 1 point for the food marker, 8 for their elephant, 5 for the dividers used to build that enclosure, and also 3 points for the pitch cubes that were in that enclosure. That gives them 17 points in total. Shem also scores 8 points for their elephant, plus 5 points for their dividers. That brings them 13 points in all. In this case both players worked together to prepare the enclosure for the elephants. During Phase I, Noah chose the action that let them load animals before Shem, so they got the additional points for pitch. Very clever!
An enclosure may hold 1 pair of Small Animals and 1 pair of large ones (of size 1-4), and no more; you may not load another pair of Small Animals into an enclosure that already holds such a pair.
End of the Round
When all the actions have been performed by the players, the round comes to an end. Move the round marker one space to the right. Now check whether the game has not ended. If not, begin Phase I of the next round: Choosing Actions.
End of the Game
The last round occurs once the following conditions have been met:
- at least 10 full rounds have been played (the marker reached the last space of the round track);
- dividers stand all around the Ark (not all of them must be filled with pitch).
At this moment the downpour turns into the Deluge! The players have their last chance to load onto the Ark as much food and as many animals as they can.
Starting with the player who has the fewest victory points and ending with the player who has the most, each may load the food markers they still hold into empty enclosures, without spending Loading Points. They may even place food markers in enclosures that contain none of their own dividers.
Then, in that same order, each player may load pairs of animals onto the Ark, following the usual loading rules but without spending Loading Points. They may also place animals in enclosures in which they have no dividers of their own color.
Attention! You score no victory points for loading in this last moment before the Deluge.
When everyone has loaded the food and animals they are able to, the final scoring takes place.
Final Scoring
At the end of the game, bonus points and penalties are summed up.
- The player (or players, in case of a tie) who laid the most dividers forming the outer edge of the Ark gains 5 extra victory points.
- -1 point for each divider, food marker or pitch cube not taken onto the ship.
- Negative points equal to the size of each animal that could not be brought onto the Ark (e.g. -4 for an elephant). No penalty applies for Small Animals left behind.
- The player who gathered the most points wins! In case of a tie, the players share the victory.
Family Variant (Quick Game)
The family variant is simpler and shorter. It is a good way of getting to know the game, and its rules are simple enough to play with children. Food markers and pitch cubes are not used in this variant — put them back in the box. Turn the action board over to its simplified side. Small Animals do not take part in the game; put them back in the box as well. The rest of the setup phase stays the same as in the normal rules.
Round: In contrast to the standard rules, the turn order is not given by the order of the pawns on the action board. Instead, choose the starting player and, following the direction of the clock hands, determine the order of the remaining players. After all the players have used their action, move the round marker to the next space.
On their turn a player may take the following actions. First they choose an action. Choose any action space; it does not matter whether somebody took that space in an earlier round.
Action 1: Animals. The player draws animal tiles from the two bags, depending on the number of players:
- in a 2-player game: 1 male and 1 female;
- in a 3-player game: 1 male, 1 female plus 1 male or female, whichever you choose;
- in a 4-player game: 2 males and 2 females.
Then they choose 1 of the animals they drew and add it to their collection.
Action 2: Trading. After choosing this action the player gains 1 victory point. Then they draw 3 animal tiles from bags of their own choosing (only one, or both of them). They may exchange 1 of the drawn tiles for 1 of their own, then return the unchosen animals to the bags. Animals of any sex may be traded. The chosen action affects no other player.
Attention! In contrast to the normal rules, you may trade away animals whose partners are in the play.
Action 3: Wood. Take 4 dividers of your own color from the supply. Each following player draws 2 more.
Action 4: Building. You may lay up to 8 dividers of your own color on the Ark. The following players may place up to 5 dividers of their own color on the Ark. The Ark board is divided into a corresponding number of squares (24 to 48 depending on the number of players). Dividers may be laid on the free edges of each square, as well as on the edges of the Ark itself. The players' task while laying dividers is to create enclosures.
Attention! For building enclosures the players use dividers they already own; they may not build with dividers from the general supply, so to obtain them they must first use the Wood action.
Enclosures: An enclosure consists of a group of at least four squares surrounded by dividers. Only into completed enclosures may pairs of animals be moved. Completed enclosures need not be built of dividers of one color; enclosures may be created by the players together.
Attention! You may not place planks in already completed enclosures.
Attention! Note that, in contrast to the normal game, players do not get points for laying dividers.
Action 5: Loading. The first person who took this action may load up to 2 pairs of animals. The following players, in turn order, may load 1 pair each.
Loading rules: During loading the following conditions must be met:
- a matching pair of animals (male and female). A player must have at least one of the animals of the pair (the other may belong to another player);
- there must be a completed enclosure of exactly the size that matches the size of the animal. The tile with the animal shows the exact size of the enclosure. Animals may not be placed in enclosures that are too large or too small. Example: A pair of dogs needs an enclosure one square in size. A pair of elephants requires 4 squares.
- the enclosure may not already hold any animals;
- at least one of the dividers forming the enclosure must be the color of the player bringing the animal on board.
If all the conditions have been met, the animals may be loaded.
After loading animals the players get victory points:
- each animal rewards the player who owned it with victory points. The number of points is in the upper right corner (on the rainbow) of the animal tile;
- each player receives one point for a divider of their own color that was used to build the enclosure.
End of the game: The game ends once both conditions have been met:
- 8 rounds have been played (the round marker reached the end of the track);
- all the dividers around the Ark have been laid.
Final tally: The player (or players, if there is a tie) who has the most of their own planks around the Ark gets 5 extra points. The player who has the most victory points wins the game.