Ark Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Animal & Provision Cards
• Preparation
• Playing the Game
  • Take Cards
  • Play Cards
• Open a New Cabin
• Rain Cards, Pets, and Game End
  • Pets
  • Game End
• Game End
• Special Abilities of ! Cards
  • Drive Out

Contents

• 1 set of cards with: 5 rain cards, 8 provisions cards, many animal cards, 5 scoring cards, and the bow of the ark
• 85 animal figures in 5 colors
• 1 yellow disc to show the incline (or heel) of the ark
• 22 orange discs, for use as: action discs and marking "half points"

The game may contain more wooden pieces than shown. These are extra and are not used.

Animal & Provision Cards

The animal and provision cards have up to 5 features:

1. Preferred climate: hot = yellow background, cold = blue background, and none = both colors.
2. Weight: 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.
3. Nourishment: herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore. Some animals and the provision cards do not have these symbols.
4. Kind: heavy, useful, slow, provision, or shy. There is a scoring card for each kind.
5. Exclamation mark: indicates the card has special abilities, which are described in detail at the end of these rules.

Preparation

1. Place the bow card on the table, so that there is plenty of room on each side. Place the 5 scoring cards to the side.
2. The players choose a starting player.
3. Each player takes 3 action discs. The players in position 4 and 5 (start player is position 1) each take 4 discs. With 3 players, each takes 4 discs. The rest remain as a supply.
4. Each player takes the animal figures in his color.
5. Remove the rain cards, shuffle the remaining cards, draw the top 4 cards, and place them face up as shown in the figure below. Only use cards of weight 1 or 2. If other cards are drawn, place them face down under the deck. Also, if a third or fourth card of one kind is drawn, place this face down under the deck as well. Thus, for example, players will not have three or more useful animals at the beginning.
6. Now, determine the inclination of the ark based on these first 4 cards. The inclination is shown on the bow card. Compare the sum of the weights on one side of the ark with those on the other. Place the yellow disc on the bow card to show this difference.
   • Example: cards B and C each weigh 2 and cards A and D each weigh 1. Place the yellow disc on the far right on the side with B and C as they total 2 greater than A and D.
7. Shuffle the cards, including those not used in step 5 (but still leaving out the rain cards). Each player draws 2 cards as his starting hand, keeping them secret from the others. Draw 3 more cards, placing them face up on the table.
8. Divide the remaining cards into 2 approximately equal stacks. Shuffle 4 of the rain cards into one of these stacks, then place the fifth rain card on top of this stack. Finally, place the other stack on top of this stack. Thus, the first rain card will be drawn halfway through the supply. The rest will come at random times after that. Place the combined stack as a supply next to the 3 face up cards on the table.

The starting layout has: the bow card and scoring cards in the middle of the table, the yellow disc on the bow card, the 3 face up cards to pick from next to the supply stack, and cards B and C on one side of the bow with cards A and D on the other.

Playing the Game

The starting player begins and the game continues in clockwise order from there. On a player's turn, he has two choices:

1. either take cards
2. or play cards.

He must do one or the other, but may not combine the two on a turn!

Take Cards

The player first takes one of the 3 face up cards and then the top-most card from the supply, adding both to his hand. Then, he draws the next card from the supply, placing it face up next to the other 2, so there are again 3 face up cards.

When a player draws a rain card, he places it aside, face up, and draws again, until he draws a non-rain card.

When the second rain card is drawn, players will have the opportunity to choose a pet (see Rain Cards, Pets, and Game End). When the fifth rain card is drawn, the endgame starts (see Rain Cards, Pets, and Game End). No more cards are drawn after the fifth rain card.

Play Cards

When he selects this option, a player can play 1 or 2 cards. However, if he plays a slow animal or a provision, he plays only 1 card. If his first card is one of these, he may not play a second. Neither of these can be played as a second card.

Rules for playing cards:

• The animal cabins on the ark are in rows. Each row has 2 cabins (one port and one starboard), separated by the middle of the ark. Each cabin can hold 3 cards. After the initial setup, there are 2 rows with 2 cabins each.
• Cards are added to an existing cabin, or to start a new cabin. The rules for starting a new cabin are described under Open a New Cabin.
• In each cabin, there can be only animals with the same or compatible climate preferences. Animals with hot (yellow) and cold (blue) cannot share a cabin. Animals with no preference (yellow-blue) can share with either hot or cold preferring animals.
• The difference in total weight between the port and starboard sides cannot exceed 2:
  • When a card is played, the player immediately adjusts the ark's inclination by moving the yellow disc on the bow toward the side of the ark where he placed the card by the number of spaces equal to the weight of the card added.
  • The player may not play a card that would capsize the ark, so a card may not be played that would cause the yellow disc to be moved off the bow.
  • Example: the player places a polar bear (weight 2) in a lower cabin. He moves the yellow disc 2 spaces in that direction. He could only place animals in the upper cabins of weight 0, as the yellow disc is at the limit in that direction.
• A card may not be placed that would endanger or be endangered by cards already there:
  1. Carnivores must be lighter than the other animals in the cabin. Even the same weight is not allowed! The effect of this is that each cabin may have, at most, one carnivore or omnivore.
  2. Herbivores may not share a cabin with provisions!
  3. For omnivores, both above rules apply.
  • Example: the dog, a carnivore, may share a cabin with provisions or with the two heavier herbivores, but not with the herbivore of the same weight.
• Shy animals will not enter a cabin with a carnivore. Also, will not enter a cabin adjacent to or opposite a cabin with a carnivore. Diagonal cabins are not a problem, nor do they have problems with omnivores. However, a shy animal will not leave a cabin when carnivores show up later.
  • Example possible positions for the shy rabbit illustrate that it may enter cabins that are diagonal to, but not adjacent to or opposite, a cabin holding a carnivore.
• After a player plays a card, he places one of his animal figures on the corresponding scoring card. We suggest that a player announces the weight and value as he plays a card, so that his right neighbor can move the disc on the bow as appropriate.
• When a player plays a card with special abilities (!), he can use those abilities. The special abilities are described at the end of these rules.

When a player plays two cards in a turn, he must:

1. ...place them in different cabins.
2. ...play each legally. For example, excess weight of the first cannot be corrected by the weight of the second.

Open a New Cabin

A player can open a new cabin with a single card. To do so, the player:

1. Gives one action disc to his right neighbor. When a player has no action discs, he cannot open a new cabin!
2. Can open a new cabin on the port side (lower) or starboard side (upper) by playing a card on the empty space next to the last cabin on that side of the ark. Thus, there are always exactly two places to open a new cabin.
   • Example: the player can open a new cabin at A or B. If he opens one at B, the next new cabin can be opened at A or D.
3. When a player opens a new cabin, he immediately takes one of the 3 face up cards. Only at the end of his turn, does he refill the face up cards. Thus, if he opens a second new cabin, he takes one of the two remaining face up cards.

Rain Cards, Pets, and Game End

Pets

When the second rain card is drawn, each player may choose to bring a pet on the ark. To do so, the player places one card from his hand face down in his player area - this is his pet. Pets:

• are always animals, never provisions.
• may only weigh 0, 1, or 2 (not 3 or 4).
• may have no special abilities (no !).
• are turned face up at game end and scored then.

Game End

When the fifth rain card is drawn the normal game ends. However, to the annoyance of Noah and the other animals, the player may bring some last minute animals onto the ark. This is the end game.

The player who draws the fifth rain card ends his turn immediately - he draws no further cards. His left neighbor begins the endgame.

During the endgame, players continue to play in clockwise order. They have two options on their turns: either pass or play.

When a player passes, the game is over for him. He cannot later play.

When a player plays, he pays an action disc to the supply and adds an animal to the ark. The normal rules for adding cards continue in place, including paying a disc for opening a new cabin.

• During the endgame, players may not draw cards, but may only play cards already in their hands.
• Slow animals and provisions may not be played during the endgame.

Game End

The game ends when all players have passed during the endgame. Players score for majorities on the 5 scoring cards and their remaining action discs:

• First, all players turn over their pets and add an animal figure to the appropriate scoring card for their pet. However, illegal pets are not scored: too heavy, special (!), and provisions.
• Now the players earn points for their animal figures on each scoring card. The player with the most figures on a card earns 10 points and the player with the second most earns 6 points. Each other player with at least one figure on a card earns 2 points.
• In the case of ties, the points earned are averaged and rounded up before distributing equally to those tied.
  • When 2 players tie for first, each earns 8 points (10+6 divided by 2).
  • When 2 players tie for second, each earns 4 points (6+2 divided by 2).
  • When 3 players tie for first, each earns 6 points (10+6+2 divided by 3).
• Each action disc that a player has, scores the player one point.

The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the fewest animal cards (not counting provision cards) in his hand is the winner.

Special Abilities of ! Cards

Fox — When a player adds the fox to the ark, he takes 2 action discs from the supply.

Turtle — Not bothered by larger carnivores or omnivores, and so can share a cabin with them.

Hedgehog — Not bothered by larger carnivores or omnivores, and so can share a cabin with them. So there can be a second carnivore or omnivore in a cabin with a hedgehog.

Skunk — Drives any animal from a cabin (see Drive Out, below).

Mosquito — Drives a weight 2 animal from a cabin (see Drive Out, below).

Spider — Drives a shy animal from a cabin.

Bronto — Instead of a simple animal figure, the player places his animal figure on an orange disc from the supply - this counts as 1.5 figures. Two such figures of the same player on the card can be replaced by 3 simple figures.

Chimpanzee — Put an orange disc from the supply under any of your animal figures on any scoring card, except provisions - this counts as 1.5 figures. Two such figures of the same player on the card can be replaced by 3 simple figures.

Drive Out

When an animal drives another out of a cabin, it takes the place of the driven-out animal. The driven-out animal is removed from the game. The player of the driving-out animal places one of his animal figures on the scoring card that corresponds to the animal driven out. The animal figure placed for the driven-out animal is not removed from the scoring card, however.

The driving-out animal must fit legally in the cabin after driving out the other animal. Thus, the spider and mosquito cannot be in a cabin with another carnivore or omnivore, and the skunk cannot be in a cabin with provisions.

The inclination of the ark is changed by the difference in the two. For example, when the skunk (weight = 1) drives out the elephant (weight = 3), the players move the yellow disc 2 spaces (3 - 1 = 2) to the side with the skunk.

When a player drives out the Bronto or Chimpanzee, he gets the special scoring that they do. The fox, spider, and mosquito will not be driven out by anything.