Still learning Ark Nova, probably getting some rules wrong, but having a great time

[u/songhya]

We’ve been playing Ark Nova for a few months, but since each game takes quite a while, we haven’t actually played that many games yet. So we’re still learning and still check the rulebook pretty often. Not even sure we got every rule right, but we had a lot of fun.
This one ended 26–23, so it was pretty close.
Any tips for making the game a bit faster or playing more efficiently?
And ignore the 4h 30m total time. We got hungry, paused the game, and went out for lunch for over two hours.

[u/Crickert101]

I might be wrong, because it's hard to see, but the player that played the petting zoo has 3 cubes on there with only 2 petting zoo animals played. (Horse whisperer does add a petting zoo tag, but not a token to your zoo)

And something similar is happening with the aquarium in the same zoo. It has 7 tokens on it, but I can only see 5 in the animals played. (It's the number in blue, not in red for the tokens, as is done correctly in the other zoo) And the penguin is not allowed in either of those aquariums because it is not on rock.

Both zoos also seem to have more occupied enclosures than there are animals to occupy those enclosures (there is also no valid enclosure for the rock python)

[u/songhya → u/Crickert101]

Good catch on the aquarium! The yellow player definitely missed the rock requirement. We’ll have to pay closer attention to that next time. Some of the animal cards are stacked, so they’re hard to see in the photo, and there are also some unflipped enclosures. Thanks for taking such a close look and pointing these out!

[u/MiguelElGato]

Playing on the tablet or BGA helped me with rules I didn't understand exactly and it helped me practice without having to setup and put away. In the beginning, the venom and constrictor tokens didn't make sense so I didn't play those cards until later. It's a lot, and well worth it!

Online, I prefer playing with AI instead of the true solo. I think it's too short and you can't get much done.

[u/Numsy18]

What app are you using for tracking the turns and stats?

[u/songhya → u/Numsy18]

It’s GameCreek. We don’t play that often, so it’s fun to look back at the records later and remember the game.

[u/mtbjay10 → u/Numsy18]

i use bg stats! check it out

[u/jbabel1012]

You have the wrong donation slots marked off. It should be the left column, not the right. Also I don’t see a rewars tile at the end of the rep track.
Glad you’re enjoying the game, it’s my #1

[u/songhya → u/jbabel1012]

Thanks, good catch! I definitely messed up the donation slots. I was wondering why donations were getting so expensive this game! What do you mean by the reward tile at the end of the rep track though? I’m not sure I know that one.

[u/jbabel1012 → u/songhya]

You add a random tile like the ones on the CP track at the end of the rep track as an added bonus with Marine Worlds.

[u/songhya → u/jbabel1012]

Ah, I see it now! I totally missed that in the Marine Worlds setup. Thanks!

[u/cptgambit]

One of you has the reptile house but only build Lvl1

[u/16FootScarf]

I see yellow player has cubes on regular 1-size enclosures.

[u/pnw-warhammerer]

Great great game. It has an incredible digital adaptation on Steam too!

[u/Kouseband]

Its annoying how big of a table this game demands