New York Zoo FAQ
44 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Turn Overview and Elephant Movement
Golden Rules
Components and Setup
Puzzle Rules
Enclosure Tiles
Animal Acquisition
- When you land on a blue Animal Acquisition space, can you take any animal or only the pictured ones?
- If you cannot place both animals from an acquisition space, can you take only one?
- Can you take an acquisition action when all your houses are full?
- Can one acquisition action put four animals into enclosures when you have house extras?
- Must the extra animal from your houses match the animal you just placed?
- When you place an acquired animal into an empty enclosure, can the second animal come from another enclosure?
Completed Enclosures
- Can you refill an enclosure you emptied earlier, and must you?
- Can the second acquired animal go into an enclosure that the first acquired animal just emptied?
- Can the extra animal from your houses go into an enclosure that was just emptied in the same action?
- When an enclosure completes and your houses are full, what happens to its animals?
- In what order are attractions taken when several players complete enclosures in one breeding?
Animal Breeding
- When you pass a breeding line, when do the breeding steps happen relative to the rest of your turn?
- Can you skip Animal Breeding, or must you breed at least once?
- Can breeding put an animal into an empty enclosure?
- Does the two-animal limit apply to breeding?
- Does bonus breeding need two animals of that species already in the enclosure?
- Can bonus breeding be used on any species, and can it target the enclosure that just bred?
- If two enclosures bred in one breeding, do you get one bonus breeding or one per enclosure?
- Does bonus breeding apply to all players or only the active player?
- In a breeding phase with bonus breeding, is the main breeding resolved for everyone before the bonus breeding?
- If one elephant move crosses two breeding lines, do both breedings happen?
- After a breeding completes another enclosure in the same turn, can you move an animal from a house into an enclosure?
- Can one player complete three enclosures in a single breeding in a 4-player game?
Game End and Winner
Solo Game
- In solo setup, do the removed enclosure tiles go on your board or back in the box?
- How does the solo game end, and how is it scored?
- In solo play, if the elephant lands exactly on the starting space with your board full, do you win?
- In solo play, can you move to an animal acquisition space without a range marker when you could use one?
- Can the 4+ range marker move more than four spaces in solo play?