0:13

Hello and welcome. I'm

0:13

Rachel.

0:16

I'm Jake.

0:17

And we're so bored. The

0:17

Podcast where each episode we

0:21

take a close look at a tabletop

0:21

game and discuss our personal

0:24

experiences with said game to

0:24

help answer the question, Will

0:28

this cure our boredom?

0:29

That's right, we look at

0:29

the mechanics complexity and

0:31

replayability in a game to

0:31

determine if it's the perfect

0:34

alternative to say, I don't know

0:34

staring at yourself in an empty

0:38

Zoom meeting, waiting for

0:38

everyone else to join while

0:41

simultaneously noticing that

0:41

your beard is growing longer in

0:44

just one spot on your face than

0:44

everywhere else. So you try

0:47

scrunching it up. So looks like

0:47

it's the same length and hope

0:50

nobody else will notice.

0:53

Did that happened to you?

0:55

It wasn't my beard. It was

0:55

my mustache. But yeah, that

0:58

happened this morning.

0:59

Your mustache is too

0:59

long in one spot?

1:02

Well, it's short in one spot.

1:04

Oh, okay. Anyway, a

1:04

couple of announcements before

1:08

we get started on our game for

1:08

the week. We are streaming

1:12

pretty regularly, usually on

1:12

Wednesdays doing board games

1:16

stuff. So we'll be streaming

1:16

tomorrow. I'm not sure what

1:19

we're playing yet. Yeah, it's

1:19

still up in the air. So come

1:22

check us out. Come hang out with

1:22

us. It's always a lot of fun.

1:26

Sometimes we have like

1:26

interesting themes going on with

1:29

like the food and the board game

1:29

that we're playing. So I don't

1:32

know. Um, time. There's always

1:32

some fun stuff going on.

1:35

Sometimes we use food as

1:35

the different game components.

1:38

Yeah. Question. No, no.

1:38

Although last week, what did I

1:45

throw into my Thai chicken?

1:49

You threw in the bedding

1:49

stone from Equinox?

1:53

Oh, that's right. We

1:53

were playing Equinox. Excellent.

1:56

We spilled some of the little

1:56

bedding stones into my was it

2:00

Thai garlic chicken. So yeah,

2:00

you know, that's always fun. So

2:03

yeah, come check us out. We're

2:03

on twitch.tv/SoBoardPodcast. And

2:08

if you're interested in video games,

2:10

I also am streaming on

2:10

Twitch. I do a lot of retro

2:14

games. So I just completed

2:14

Majoris mask on stream a couple

2:17

weeks ago. We're working on

2:17

winwaker right now as well as an

2:21

old turn based Lord of the Rings

2:21

game called the Third Age which

2:24

is amazing and incredible. But

2:24

you can find me on Twitch at

2:28

NaughtyDoc541 That's

2:28

twitch.tv/NaughtyDoc541 comm

2:36

check it out. I usually update

2:36

my schedule every Sunday so that

2:40

you'll know when I'll be on that week.

2:41

Yeah. Okay, so which

2:41

game are we talking about today?

2:45

We are talking about

2:45

tiddlywinks?

2:48

I don't know what that

2:48

is? I don't know either. That

2:51

sounds like something from Harry Potter.

2:53

No, we're talking about

2:53

arc Nova today. This is an

2:56

exciting game because it is a

2:56

brand new ish game kind of Ark

3:01

NOVA is a strategy game with

3:01

elements of hand management,

3:04

Income Management and open card

3:04

drafting. I believe it was

3:07

originally written in German

3:07

some of the rules may or may not

3:11

translate well. It was designed

3:11

by Matthias Wiig with art by

3:15

Lois bill you I believe that's

3:15

how that's pronounced. Dennis

3:20

loh Housen, Stephen Baker and

3:20

Christoph Tisch, it was

3:24

published by fairland Spiele.

3:24

And released in 2021. It was

3:29

also the winner of the 2021

3:29

Golden geek heavy Game of the

3:33

Year, and it was nominated for

3:33

the 2022 I'm gonna save this and

3:37

hope it's right. Kennerspiel des

3:37

Jahres.

3:41

that looks right. I think that sounds right.

3:43

Basically, what I

3:43

understand is that is like

3:46

Germany's Game of the Year.

3:46

Yeah, I think so. I believe it

3:49

was crowdfunded originally. And

3:49

it was released in 2021. For

3:53

those crowd funders, though, it

3:53

was only just recently made

3:56

available for commercial

3:56

purchase this year. Yeah.

4:00

So this has been on our

4:00

lists of things to do for a

4:03

while, just because we've been

4:03

hearing such good things about

4:06

it. It's been on the top of

4:06

board game geeks hotness list

4:10

for many, many weeks with no

4:10

longer number one, but it was

4:14

there for quite a while

4:15

it was there for like,

4:15

three or four months.

4:18

Yeah. So you know, I

4:18

think it's about time we got

4:21

around to it. So what is Ark

4:21

Nova? Ark NOVA is a game where

4:26

you're building a zoo, when

4:26

you're trying to build the most

4:30

attractive zoo by gathering

4:30

diverse animals and

4:34

participating in conservation

4:34

efforts. And I did read

4:40

somewhere I think it's in the

4:40

rulebook that, like the creators

4:43

of the game actually worked with

4:43

people who like our zoo

4:47

biologists or, you know,

4:47

participate in conservation and

4:51

like zoo efforts, and so they

4:51

did their best to kind of

4:56

translate what happens in real

4:56

life into a board game. And now

4:59

That's what this is supposed to

4:59

be. So there's a little bit of,

5:03

you know, a background on it

5:03

that this goes deeper than just

5:07

wanting to be a game about making a zoo.

5:09

So are you saying that I

5:09

would be good at running a zoo,

5:11

then?

5:13

Maybe?

5:15

Maybe? We'll talk about

5:15

that later.

5:18

But yeah, so let's get

5:18

into it. This is a heavy game, I

5:21

would agree with that award that

5:21

I got for a heavy game. Yeah. So

5:26

the rules are going to be a

5:26

little long. But I think you're

5:30

gonna benefit from us explaining

5:30

them because the rulebook is a

5:35

little rough. And we'll go into

5:35

that more later.

5:38

I have not read the

5:38

rulebook. So I can't speak to

5:40

that. But yes, that's what I

5:40

understand.

5:44

I have. Okay, so I'm

5:44

gonna start out just describing

5:48

like, what the different boards

5:48

look like. So your main, a game

5:53

board is a very, very long and

5:53

thin rectangle, not a normal

6:00

board shape. And it has various

6:00

point trackers, because there

6:05

are multiple types of points

6:05

that you get in this game. So

6:09

basically, going around like

6:09

starting, let's say, at the top

6:14

of the board, it goes off to the

6:14

right, and then it wraps around

6:18

the side, and then comes back

6:18

down to all the way to the left

6:22

side, basically, almost going

6:22

all the way around, except for

6:26

that one left side, you've got a

6:26

confusing looking point tracker.

6:31

And so you have like different

6:31

shapes and different colors kind

6:36

of going on on this point

6:36

tracker. So there is a like tan

6:41

looking ticket shape that kind

6:41

of is in the center of all of

6:44

this, that is for tracking your

6:44

appeal points. And that

6:48

actually, you start tracking

6:48

that at the bottom of the board,

6:51

and you will wrap around to try

6:51

and get up to the top. And then

6:55

there is like a green oblong

6:55

shape that connects some of the

6:59

tickets. And these are your

6:59

conservation points tracker. So

7:04

usually, there's multiple

7:04

tickets associated with a single

7:07

like conservation point that

7:07

becomes relevant later when

7:10

you're scoring. And then like on

7:10

the other side of the tickets,

7:15

so if the green part is on the

7:15

bottom, then on the top of the

7:17

tickets, you have a dark blue

7:17

oblong shape that is also

7:21

attached to multiple tickets,

7:21

but not in the same way that the

7:24

green shape is attached to the

7:24

tickets that are attached in

7:28

different ways.

7:28

So yeah.

7:31

And that describes the

7:31

income that you gain when you do

7:35

the take income step. And it's

7:35

also like determines your

7:39

scoring area for your final

7:39

scoring, which we will come back

7:43

to. And then in the middle of

7:43

the board, you have just this

7:47

absolutely giant deck of cards,

7:47

there's 200 Plus cards in this

7:52

deck. And that contains mostly

7:52

animals. And these are, you

7:56

know, animals that are going to

7:56

go into your zoo into the

7:58

enclosures. But there are also

7:58

sponsors, which are various like

8:03

research projects, or they

8:03

provide you with a special kind

8:07

of enclosure that goes in your

8:07

zoo, or there's a bunch of

8:11

different stuff. But it

8:11

basically adds like new ongoing

8:14

effects that allow you to score

8:14

points throughout the game. And

8:18

then there are conservation

8:18

cards also in this deck. And

8:23

those we will talk about a

8:23

little bit more when we get to

8:26

the association step. Yes. But

8:26

they're basically like

8:31

additional goals that give you

8:31

additional conservation points

8:35

in the game. But yeah, well,

8:35

we'll get more into that. And

8:38

then so you've got this deck of

8:38

cards, and then you've got six

8:42

spots that basically look like

8:42

manila folders. And each of

8:48

those is like a slot for a card

8:48

to go. So you have six cards

8:52

from that deck that are always

8:52

face up at a time. And then

8:55

along those manila folders is a

8:55

reputation track. So

9:00

yeah, another track.

9:03

You are tracking appeal

9:03

points, conservation points and

9:07

reputation points in this game.

9:09

Yes, there's a lot to

9:09

manage, and a lot of trackers to

9:13

keep moving. So the association

9:13

board is what we're going to

9:18

talk about next, the Association

9:18

Board is a very small board,

9:22

rectangular in nature divided

9:22

into five sections going from

9:26

left to right, we have the pink

9:26

section, which is to donate this

9:29

allows you to spend the income

9:29

that you earn in the game to

9:33

receive conservation points to

9:33

move that conservation token up

9:37

on the tracker. This is

9:37

unfortunately not available to

9:40

you until you upgrade the

9:40

association action which we'll

9:43

talk about actions in a little

9:43

bit. But keep that in mind.

9:47

Section two is the blue section

9:47

gets you to reputation points,

9:52

which is another way to get that

9:52

reputation track moving. There's

9:55

a blue section to partner with

9:55

zoos one for each To have the

10:00

five continents available in the

10:00

game you have the Americas,

10:04

Europe, Asia, Africa and

10:04

Australia. Next section is also

10:09

blue. This is a section to

10:09

partner with various

10:12

universities. These will give

10:12

you different scientific bonuses

10:15

and an increased hand limit

10:15

throughout the game, depending

10:18

on what you choose. And the next

10:18

blue section is to back a

10:22

conservation project. Now, the

10:22

conservation projects is

10:27

something that Rachel mentioned

10:27

earlier, under the board.

10:30

Starting at the beginning of the

10:30

game, there are three to four

10:32

depending on the number of

10:32

players, conservation projects

10:36

that are permanent, that are

10:36

available to back conservation

10:39

efforts are typically cards that

10:39

will have you meet a specific

10:44

set of criteria in order to back

10:44

and then it will grant you

10:48

conservation points, as well as

10:48

an either immediate bonus or an

10:52

ongoing bonus, depending on what

10:52

you choose above this

10:55

rectangular board are spaces to

10:55

play new conservation projects

10:59

as you receive them throughout

10:59

the game. Yes, the player mat is

11:03

the last board. This is an

11:03

individual map for each player

11:08

in the center. But there's a map

11:08

with hexagon tiles with spaces

11:12

to place animal enclosures. So

11:12

you're going to need to build

11:15

the enclosures for your zoo to

11:15

put animals in them. On the left

11:18

hand side, that's where those

11:18

different bonuses are that you

11:21

can choose when you back those

11:21

conservation projects that I

11:24

mentioned. And there's some

11:24

examples like each time you take

11:27

a break in the game, you'll be

11:27

able to take a card, each time

11:31

you take a break, you'll get a

11:31

free to space enclosure, or

11:35

there's some immediate ones that

11:35

immediately grant you like 15

11:38

gold, or immediately gets you a

11:38

number of X tokens, which we'll

11:42

talk about all these later. But

11:42

you are able to choose when you

11:45

back those conservation

11:45

projects, which of those bonuses

11:48

you'd like to receive. Now on

11:48

the right side of that player,

11:50

Matt, is your partner zoos and

11:50

universities. These are, as we

11:54

talked about earlier from the

11:54

Association Board, where you

11:57

indicate what you have already

11:57

acquired from the universities

12:00

or the partners use? Yes. As you

12:00

get more and more of those, they

12:05

will also provide you bonuses.

12:05

Yep. There's a lot of

12:09

bonuses, there's a lot,

12:09

just a lot going on in this game

12:13

a lot to keep track of. Okay, so

12:13

let's talk about the actions,

12:18

you basically have five action

12:18

cards that you're given, and

12:22

these kind of shuffle, like

12:22

right and left under your player

12:27

mat. And that makes them more or

12:27

less powerful, like the further

12:31

to the right they are, the more

12:31

powerful they are and meaning

12:35

that they can just do bigger and

12:35

greater things. So I've heard

12:39

that this is a lot like

12:39

Terraforming Mars, I've actually

12:42

never played that game, which is

12:42

just a shame, we need to fix

12:46

that situation. But that's what

12:46

I've heard it associated to or

12:50

compared to. So hopefully that

12:50

makes it a little easier to

12:54

understand for people who have

12:54

played Terraforming Mars before.

12:57

But so these are the different

12:57

action cards that you have that

13:01

are moving up and down and what

13:01

they do for you. So you have the

13:04

cards action. This lets you draw

13:04

cards from that giant deck. Or

13:10

if your power level is high

13:10

enough, you can draw from the

13:14

center display where they're

13:14

face up. And also, depending on

13:18

the power will determine if you

13:18

have to discard any cards in

13:23

replacing that this is also

13:23

where we're introduced to this

13:27

term called snapping. So

13:27

snapping just refers to taking a

13:33

card from the manila folders

13:33

that are face up rather than

13:37

drawing it facedown from the

13:37

deck. Then you have the build

13:40

action. So this is where you go

13:40

and you build most of your

13:44

animal enclosures. And you place

13:44

them on your hexagons on the zoo

13:48

map, your first enclosure can go

13:48

anywhere. But after that all of

13:52

your enclosures and everything

13:52

that you build needs to be

13:55

adjacent to a previously placed

13:55

enclosure. So it is important

13:59

where you start out and I

13:59

realized that the other day when

14:01

we were playing this game again

14:01

was like, Oops, I made myself as

14:06

far away from water as I

14:06

possibly could and had to like

14:10

build my way across the map to

14:10

be able to get access to

14:13

anything with water. Your

14:13

enclosures that you build start

14:17

out empty, so they will be on

14:17

the yellow side or would the

14:20

yellow border and then once you

14:20

fill them, you flip them over to

14:25

the green side.

14:26

All right, the next action

14:26

is probably my favorite action

14:30

in this game. I'll be honest,

14:30

the animal's action. This allows

14:35

you to play animals into an

14:35

appropriate enclosure in your

14:38

Zoo. In order to do that they

14:38

need to read a couple of

14:41

requirements that has to be the

14:41

right enclosure size, you have

14:45

to pay a specific cost

14:45

associated with the animal and

14:48

these requirements are listed on

14:48

the left side of the card. They

14:51

also might require some animals

14:51

at the same type or certain

14:54

amount of research or certain

14:54

environments. So like Rachel

14:58

just said some animals need

14:58

water or some animals need

15:01

rocks. Some animals like to live

15:01

with other animals. So once you

15:06

are able to pay all those costs,

15:06

and you play the animals action,

15:09

depending on how powerful you

15:09

play that you can play between

15:13

one and two animals, you flip

15:13

the empty enclosure to the green

15:17

side to indicate that it's now

15:17

filled. Or if it's a special

15:20

enclosure, you'll add cubes to

15:20

indicate how many spaces are

15:24

being taken up by animals. For

15:24

example, there's an enclosure

15:28

called the reptile house, it has

15:28

space for five reptiles in it.

15:32

So instead of building an

15:32

individual enclosure for each of

15:34

these reptiles, you can now show

15:34

five of them into here. Assuming

15:38

they all take one space, there

15:38

are reptiles that don't take any

15:43

space. So you could

15:43

theoretically continue to put

15:46

things in there. It's pretty

15:46

cool.

15:49

There are also some

15:49

large reptiles that take up two

15:52

spaces. I don't know if I've

15:52

seen anything that takes up more

15:55

than two. But like I saw a

15:55

crocodile yesterday that takes

15:58

up two spaces in the reptile

15:58

enclosure.

16:01

Yeah. So on these cards as

16:01

well, the animals will show the

16:05

type of animal that it is, some

16:05

of the examples include a

16:08

predator or a bird or amphibian

16:08

or lizard, herbivores, it will

16:13

also show what continent that is

16:13

from, there's a nice photograph

16:17

of the animal in the middle of

16:17

the card, which is really cool.

16:20

Like, I think that they did such

16:20

a good job making these animal

16:23

cards, because honestly, the

16:23

reason that this is one of my

16:26

favorite games that we've been

16:26

playing lately is you just get

16:29

to see all these cool animals.

16:29

And you're just building the

16:32

zoo. And you're like, I have

16:32

these tigers in my Zoo. Yeah. Or

16:35

I have this reindeer in my Zoom

16:35

now.

16:37

Yeah. And I mean, so the

16:37

picture is nice, because it is a

16:41

legit photograph. Somebody went

16:41

somewhere and got near this

16:45

animal and took a picture,

16:45

right? That's pretty cool. It's

16:49

really cool. So and what came

16:49

out the other day, when we were

16:53

playing, it was like this

16:53

adorable little fox, it didn't

16:56

matter. Box. Yeah, it didn't

16:56

matter. Like what the fox did

17:00

for our zoos, we both wanted it

17:00

because it was just so cute

17:03

wanted the Fennec fox,

17:03

because it's, it's a cute Fox,

17:06

it's not worth that much appeal.

17:06

It's not that expensive. It's

17:10

really not that great of an

17:10

animal to have in your Zoo. But

17:13

it's cute. It's freaking cute.

17:13

And exactly. So I wanted it. So

17:18

as well as the picture of the

17:18

animals. At the bottom of the

17:22

card, there's a section that

17:22

shows special effects that are

17:25

associated with the animal. A

17:25

lot of them are immediate

17:29

effects. When you play this,

17:29

this will happen. So a lot of

17:32

these cards are just immediate

17:32

effects. When you play this

17:34

animal, you get x number of

17:34

points for each predator in your

17:38

zoo, right. So it has almost an

17:38

engine building feel to it as

17:42

well, because you're building on

17:42

top of what you've already

17:45

played. So at the very bottom,

17:45

it will also show you the appeal

17:49

points which when you play the

17:49

animal, you immediately gain

17:52

those appeal. Sometimes there

17:52

are conservation or reputation

17:56

points awarded as well. Those

17:56

will also be indicated at the

17:59

very bottom of the card.

18:00

Yes. Okay, so the

18:00

association action. So this is

18:05

what takes you over to do the

18:05

stuff on that association board

18:08

that we talked about. And

18:08

depending on what power level

18:12

you play this at determines what

18:12

action you can do. So at a power

18:16

level two, you can gain to

18:16

reputation, simple power level

18:21

three, you can choose to partner

18:21

with one of the zoos from the

18:24

five continents. But you must

18:24

already have an animal in your

18:29

zoo from that continent to have

18:29

that partnership or to make that

18:32

partnership. At level four, you

18:32

can partner with a university.

18:37

And like Jake already mentioned,

18:37

like this grants you like

18:39

scientific research, or

18:39

sometimes it gives you

18:42

reputation points or even

18:42

increases your hand limit size.

18:46

And then power level five is

18:46

where you get into backing those

18:49

conservation projects. So the

18:49

conservation projects will have

18:53

conditions on it. Like you have

18:53

to have so many herbivores in

18:57

your zoo, or something like

18:57

that. And it will have three

19:01

levels of like meeting the

19:01

requirements. So there's the

19:05

lowest level that's worth the

19:05

lowest amount of points, the

19:08

next level worth slightly more

19:08

points, and then the highest

19:12

level worth the most

19:12

conservation points. And you can

19:17

do this action once you meet the

19:17

criteria on there and you will

19:21

take one of those cubes off of

19:21

the left side of your player mat

19:27

and place it on whichever like

19:27

slot is appropriate for like the

19:32

conditions that you meet. If

19:32

you're at the lowest or the

19:34

middle or the highest, you will

19:34

immediately gain those

19:37

conservation points from placing

19:37

your cube there and you will

19:42

also immediately gain whatever

19:42

benefit you unlocked from which

19:45

cube you chose off of your

19:45

player mat. So that's the like

19:49

you might be able to draw a card

19:49

or you might be able to get a

19:54

free size two enclosure or

19:54

there's a bunch of them. So like

19:59

Jake said there's like pre

19:59

existing ones, there's three to

20:03

four, depending on the number of

20:03

players already at the bottom of

20:07

the association board. But if

20:07

you get a conservation card out

20:11

of the deck, then you can also

20:11

play that above the association

20:15

board, and place a cube for

20:15

however criteria you meet that

20:20

as more new like conservation

20:20

cards are played, it will push

20:27

the existing ones from the left

20:27

to the right. And eventually, if

20:30

you get enough of them, it'll

20:30

fall off. Honestly, that's

20:34

actually pretty rare, it seems

20:34

like because compared to the

20:38

number of cards that you have in

20:38

the deck, only, like 10% of them

20:42

or less are actually

20:42

conservation cards. So that

20:45

seems like that would be pretty

20:45

rare. That's everything you can

20:48

do with the Association board.

20:48

And then there's, you know, the

20:51

donating once you upgrade your actual right,

20:53

so the next action is

20:53

sponsors. This is to add a new

20:58

special ongoing effects to your

20:58

Zoo. These are cards that you

21:01

will also get from the deck. But

21:01

in order to play them, you need

21:04

to instead of play an animal or

21:04

build an enclosure, this is its

21:09

own separate action sponsors,

21:09

the cost of the actual sponsor

21:13

card to play it is actually paid

21:13

in power level. So you have to

21:18

meet a specific power level with

21:18

this action to play that sponsor

21:23

card. And that's actually shown

21:23

up in the top left corner.

21:26

Normally, where the Animal

21:26

Enclosure size requirement is,

21:30

that is where that is shown, the

21:30

ongoing effect is described in

21:33

symbols at the top middle, it's

21:33

very, it's confusing a little

21:37

bit because honestly, there are

21:37

so many symbols in this game, it

21:40

is hard to keep track of what they all do

21:43

too many. And even, even

21:43

though they give you like a

21:47

sheet, like a cheat sheet for

21:47

all the symbols, I still have a

21:52

hard time like reading off what

21:52

the sheet says. And then looking

21:55

at what this card says in

21:55

symbols and like interpreting

21:59

that into meaning. Like, I still

21:59

can't make that mean something

22:05

sometimes in my head,

22:07

there's usually a text

22:07

that is associated with it as

22:10

well. But that's not often as

22:10

clear as it could be. So some of

22:14

these ongoing effects include

22:14

every time a predator is played

22:18

into any zoo, you accumulate

22:18

money, or for each herbivore

22:22

that is placed in the zoo,

22:22

you'll accumulate conservation.

22:25

So they can be extremely

22:25

beneficial. But once again, it

22:29

is a little confusing to see

22:29

what these things are doing when

22:32

it's written purely in symbol

22:32

form. Now, sometimes these will

22:36

add things to your zoo,

22:36

scientific research,

22:40

it can add a continent

22:40

symbol, like if you get a

22:42

European specialist, they will

22:42

add like a European continent

22:47

symbol to your zoo, right. So

22:48

you can add these things

22:48

to your Zoo. That symbol is also

22:52

shown up at the top right of the

22:52

card. There's a picture in the

22:55

middle of the card just like all

22:55

the others, depicting a rough

22:58

idea of what this is supposed to

22:58

be. So if it's the European

23:02

specialist, like you just

23:02

mentioned, it might just be a

23:04

picture of a person doing

23:04

something with a European

23:07

animal. There is the text

23:07

description of the effect of the

23:10

bottom half of the car. But once

23:10

again, sometimes it's worded a

23:13

little bit confusing. And I

23:13

think that may be due to

23:16

translation, I'm not entirely

23:16

sure. But at the very bottom,

23:20

there can often be seen more

23:20

symbols describing immediate and

23:24

some end game effects. So some

23:24

of these cards will have both

23:27

immediate and end game scoring

23:27

effects. So it's a little

23:31

overwhelming to look at.

23:32

Yeah, and so I just

23:32

wanted to provide an example of

23:35

like, what the meerkat then

23:35

looks like, and this is the

23:38

example of like, the card

23:38

anatomy that they give in the

23:42

rulebook. So I guess it's a

23:42

standard card, but it has like

23:47

it describes in text that this

23:47

is what happens now. And this is

23:51

what happens at the end of the

23:51

game. But then it also adds that

23:55

in like colored symbols down at

23:55

the very bottom. And so you've

24:01

got just this card that is

24:01

describing that you need to have

24:05

space for an enclosure that

24:05

needs to be near rocks. And you

24:10

know, it's going to give you

24:10

this size enclosure or like this

24:13

shape. And so all of this is in

24:13

the symbols in the pictures. And

24:17

then at the very bottom, it's

24:17

got like a little yellow

24:19

lightning symbol describing

24:19

again, that enclosure and then

24:24

like a brown symbol describing

24:24

whatever happens at the end of

24:29

the game with the MIRAT done.

24:29

There's just a lot going on and

24:33

it can definitely be

24:33

overwhelming to look at. I do

24:36

appreciate when they put the

24:36

like they write it all out in

24:40

the text. But there are

24:40

definitely cards that are purely

24:44

described in symbols and the

24:44

text does not help you interpret

24:48

that. Yeah, that's one of my

24:48

gripes with this game. Yes.

24:51

Okay. So those are the actions

24:51

that you take during the game.

24:55

So you basically just go around

24:55

the table with everybody taking

24:59

their Turn doing one action at a

24:59

time. And for each person and

25:04

each action you do, you are

25:04

going to progress this like

25:07

little coffee cup meeple looking

25:07

thing down a brake track, yay,

25:11

more tracks,

25:13

another tracker. So I

25:13

think we're at like five right

25:15

now,

25:16

we're at least at four.

25:16

But so once that coffee cup

25:20

reaches the end of the brake

25:20

track, that is like the

25:23

signaling of the end of a round.

25:23

So it's not based on everybody

25:27

having so many turns or anything

25:27

like that, it's just the

25:30

progression of this coffee cup.

25:30

So once you get to a break, what

25:36

you're going to do is these

25:36

steps in this order, first,

25:39

you're going to discard down to

25:39

your hand limit, your hand limit

25:41

is three, until you get the

25:41

university that upgrades it to

25:45

five, that's pretty low. So I

25:45

would definitely recommend

25:49

getting that university like

25:49

pretty early on. And then you're

25:52

going to clear any tokens that

25:52

you have on your action cards.

25:56

So we didn't really talk about

25:56

this. But you can get things

25:59

like a times two token on your

25:59

action card, which just doubles

26:03

the power level that it's

26:03

currently at. Or you can get

26:05

like negative effects as a

26:05

result of other people playing

26:09

certain animals into their zoos.

26:09

So like a lot of snakes. If you

26:13

play a snake into your zoo, it

26:13

will put a venom token on your

26:18

opponent's action cards. And

26:18

what does it do?

26:22

If you don't take those

26:22

actions each turn that you take

26:25

without taking those actions,

26:25

you pay cash?

26:27

Oh, that's right. That's

26:27

right. So okay, there's just

26:30

like a monetary drain on doing

26:30

that

26:32

I was gonna say, which

26:32

seems pretty ineffectual because

26:35

it only happens on that player's

26:35

turn. And depending on how many

26:39

players are playing, and when

26:39

the breaks happen, the break

26:42

could happen very quickly, and

26:42

have those things cleared before

26:44

that player even gets to go.

26:46

Yeah, even in a two

26:46

player game. I mean, we probably

26:49

get to take like three turns

26:49

each maybe before a break. Yeah,

26:53

sometimes less. I think. So it's

26:53

not that much. I don't know, I

26:57

have found that money is not a

26:57

problem in this game. No, I was

27:01

overflowing with money the other

27:01

day I was, but we'll talk about

27:05

it later. So anyway, on your

27:05

break, you can clear those

27:08

tokens off of your action cards.

27:08

And then you're going to take

27:11

your workers back from the

27:11

Association Board, the

27:13

association board is where the

27:13

game becomes like a worker

27:16

placement game for a second. So

27:16

your workers stay out there

27:19

until you take a break, you will

27:19

discard the bottom two cards

27:24

that are on like the bottom two

27:24

folders in the center display

27:28

and slide everything down and

27:28

then replenish those two. And

27:32

then everyone does their take

27:32

income step. And so this is the

27:37

point where you calculate your

27:37

income based on where your

27:41

tracker is for appeal points,

27:41

based on the number of kiosks

27:45

that you have in your Zoo, and

27:45

like how many different

27:48

enclosures they're touching. And

27:48

then other various things such

27:52

as the cubes that you take off

27:52

of the left side of your player

27:56

mat, and that get put on to

27:56

conservation efforts. Those may

28:00

also give you additional

28:00

benefits that you gain on the

28:04

break. And during that take

28:04

income step. And then you reset

28:07

the track and then you just go

28:07

back to going around the table

28:10

until it happens again,

28:11

one thing we didn't

28:11

mention, we mentioned earlier,

28:14

when we when we said we would

28:14

talk about are the x tokens. The

28:18

player that triggers the brake,

28:18

so moves the coffee cup to the

28:22

final end on the brake track,

28:22

they will get an x token that x

28:27

token can be played during their

28:27

turn to increase the power of a

28:32

card or an action by one one per

28:32

token. So if you really want to

28:37

do something at the maximum

28:37

level, but it's only three, you

28:40

could spend 2x tokens and

28:40

actually use it at level five.

28:43

Yeah, yep. So the end of the

28:43

game is actually triggered when

28:48

someone's appealed tracker, and

28:48

conservation points tracker are

28:52

either within the same scoring

28:52

area or have past each other,

28:56

which is the appeal tickets and

28:56

the green conservation points

29:00

tracker section. So as those

29:00

trackers move around towards

29:03

each other one clockwise one

29:03

counterclockwise. Once they

29:06

touch or pass that is triggered

29:06

the end of the game, you adjust

29:10

your appeal and conservation

29:10

points. According to the end the

29:14

game effects on your cards and

29:14

your secret objectives. Yes,

29:18

this game does have secret

29:18

objectives. We did not mention

29:21

that earlier. But each player

29:21

gets to at the beginning of the

29:24

game and at some point will have

29:24

to choose one and discard

29:27

another your score is basically

29:27

your appeal points minus your

29:32

conservations points, kind of

29:32

there in bracketed sections. So

29:37

that section minus that section

29:37

is what your points are.

29:41

Yeah, I still can't

29:41

quite wrap my head around this

29:46

one. I mean, I guess I get it,

29:46

but it's usually the person that

29:50

triggers the end of the game

29:50

that wins unless it's really

29:53

close. Yeah, I mean, unless it's

29:53

really, really close. Yeah, but

29:56

in our experience, it's the

29:56

person who triggers the end of

29:59

the game. And if you move your

29:59

conservation points up to the,

30:05

like appeal number, because

30:05

remember, the conservation

30:08

points is like a green thing

30:08

that's attaching multiple

30:10

tickets. So if you move that up

30:10

to like, the highest appeal

30:14

number and you subtract your

30:14

appeal points from your

30:19

conservation points, that's a

30:19

pretty good rough estimate. I

30:24

would say only if you're within

30:24

like one or two or three points

30:28

from somebody then actually get

30:28

out the rulebook and figure out

30:31

the appropriate way to properly

30:31

calculate. But I would say

30:35

that's a pretty good, like rule

30:35

of law to try and make your life

30:39

a little easier in terms of

30:39

calculating your final score.

30:42

Yeah, so that's basically

30:42

the game. I know, that was a

30:45

long rule section.

30:46

Yeah. Like we said, it's

30:46

a heavy game. So hopefully, our

30:51

explanation makes it a little

30:51

bit easier for you to get

30:53

through.

30:54

Because this is one of the

30:54

heaviest games if not the

30:57

heaviest game we've covered on the podcast.

30:59

I think it is the

30:59

heaviest game we've covered on

31:01

the podcast. It's over a four, isn't it?

31:03

No, it's 3.72

31:05

3.72. Oh Wow. Okay.

31:07

It's not quite crisis.

31:07

Yeah. But I don't think we've

31:11

covered that yet.

31:12

No, we haven't.

31:14

This is gonna go into our

31:14

experience. I like the games

31:17

that make you think and consider

31:17

and weigh options. And also

31:21

consider and weigh the options

31:21

of your opponents as well.

31:24

Crisis does that more so than

31:24

this game, but in this game, you

31:28

are very much in control of what

31:28

you are doing. And when it

31:31

happens, it is entirely up to

31:31

you to do well in this game. And

31:34

I think that's one of the reasons I love it so much.

31:36

Yeah, I would definitely

31:36

agree with that. There's no

31:39

point. And I mean, we're getting

31:39

a little bit into a rating

31:42

section here. But there's

31:42

nothing that's left up to

31:44

chance. Really, right. It's this

31:44

is about you doing a good job

31:48

and executing properly. Yep. So

31:48

yeah. Why don't you tell us

31:53

about your experiences? You love

31:53

this game? So so much.

31:56

I do love this game.

31:56

Apparently, I'd be very good at

31:58

running a zoom. Because I am

31:58

undefeated in this game. I have

32:02

only played it twice. But I am

32:02

undefeated.

32:05

Granted, those two times

32:05

were both just the two of us

32:09

playing.

32:09

Yes. There was kind of a

32:09

large point difference both

32:13

times yeah, I don't know. I

32:13

don't know what's wrong with my

32:16

brain. But it just does things.

32:18

I don't know. It just

32:18

works. You're good at board

32:20

games,

32:21

I guess. So. So the very

32:21

first time we played this game,

32:24

I was just focused on big

32:24

animals, big animals with big

32:27

appeal. And that's pretty much

32:27

it. And it paid off. But in the

32:31

second game we played, I decided

32:31

to kind of diversify a little

32:35

bit. So in the first game,

32:35

Rachel actually focused on

32:39

petting zoo animals for a little

32:39

bit, because they're cute. They

32:42

are, they're adorable. And I was

32:42

like, you know, they're not

32:45

worth anything. There were three

32:45

appeal. And that's it. But you

32:48

can cram as many as you want

32:48

into into that single enclosure.

32:52

So that's good. So that's what I

32:52

decided to do on this last game,

32:55

get as many of those as would

32:55

pop up that I could, while also

33:00

getting some larger animals. I

33:00

had a ton of money at one point,

33:04

I had more than you when this

33:04

happened. You walked away. And I

33:08

said, Okay, I'm gonna play these

33:08

animals. This is what I'm doing.

33:12

And then you came back and I had

33:12

$1 left to my name. But I played

33:16

the animals action at the

33:16

highest level I was able to play

33:19

to one of them was the elephant

33:19

which was very expensive. And

33:23

then the other one was, I think,

33:23

another herbivore that or it was

33:27

the dingo. The Dingo HL baby.

33:27

Yep, one of those two. But I

33:32

don't know, I really liked this

33:32

game, because I like to just

33:35

collect the animals and see all

33:35

the pictures.

33:38

Yeah, I like the game

33:38

too. And my feedback is going to

33:42

sound like I'm complaining about

33:42

it. But I think I'm harsh on

33:46

games that are good. Like, I

33:46

hold them to a higher standard

33:50

level, you know, and so I'm kind

33:50

of critically analyzing every

33:55

little aspect of it. Whereas,

33:55

like, something that is not so

33:59

highly acclaimed, and whatever,

33:59

I'm more willing to be like,

34:03

Yeah, you know, it's a good

34:03

game, whatever. Like, I'm not

34:06

gonna pick at it too much, you

34:06

know. But anyway, so I guess

34:11

first of all, let's talk about

34:11

this last game that we played, I

34:15

thought that I was doing better.

34:15

And I mean, I guess I did

34:17

technically do better because in

34:17

the first game, I had negative

34:20

points. And I actually had

34:20

positive points in the last game

34:24

that we played, although

34:24

granted, it was only two I ended

34:27

the game with two points, but I

34:27

spent the game like trying to

34:32

specialize in certain types of

34:32

animals, and really just kind of

34:37

focus on a couple of different

34:37

areas. And so what I did was I

34:41

had a European specialist, and

34:41

he made it so that every time I

34:47

played an animal from Europe or

34:47

I played something with a

34:51

European symbol, I would

34:51

automatically gain a size one

34:57

enclosure or size one Building

34:57

when I was using that to make

35:02

kiosks for the most part, and

35:02

that actually worked out really

35:06

well for me because kiosks were

35:06

worth an extra money. Once I had

35:13

like certain symbols on my map

35:13

covered up, and so that I felt

35:16

like was all kind of jiving and

35:16

playing together really well.

35:19

But I got to the point where I

35:19

just I had too much money, I had

35:24

so much, I didn't know what to

35:24

do with it all. And it doesn't

35:28

really convert very well into

35:28

anything. So obviously, you need

35:33

the money to play animals and to

35:33

build things. But I had more

35:37

than I could ever possibly need.

35:37

And so I started doing the

35:42

association action where I could

35:42

go and donate and earn

35:46

conservation points. But that

35:46

was still something that was

35:49

pretty limited, because you only

35:49

have so many workers that can go

35:54

there. And like I had a nice

35:54

little engine that was making me

35:57

lots of money, but then I didn't

35:57

properly convert that money into

36:00

points. And I made a misstep.

36:00

Yep. In my little engine. There

36:06

was a cog that wasn't working as

36:06

well as the

36:09

others. Yeah.

36:09

Unfortunately, this game doesn't

36:12

do much with money, because it's

36:12

not worth anything at the end

36:15

either.

36:16

Yeah, I think it might be worth something if it's a tiebreaker. But yeah, this was

36:17

not a tiebreaker. Definitely

36:22

wasn't a tiebreaker. Jake won by

36:22

a lot.

36:25

I filled my whole zoo that

36:25

gets you seven extra appeal.

36:29

Every single hexagon slot was

36:29

full.

36:32

I also did that, which, okay,

36:34

I don't think we talked

36:34

about really, that's another

36:36

thing I like about this game is

36:36

the enclosures have different

36:40

shapes for the different sizes,

36:40

obviously, because they're

36:42

hexagon, all in nature, each

36:42

tile, but then you're

36:45

connecting, here's a two size

36:45

enclosure, a three or four or

36:49

five, and then you've got some

36:49

of the special ones, which are

36:52

oddly shaped. So to make

36:52

everything work, and fit is

36:56

impressive in itself, but also

36:56

fun.

36:58

Yeah. So that's where

36:58

the game decides to become

37:00

patchwork for a little while.

37:02

Yeah. And also there are

37:02

spots that you can't place

37:05

anything on, because there's

37:05

either mountains or water

37:07

terrain. Yeah. And animals need

37:07

to touch those depending on what

37:11

they are. There's a whole lot

37:11

going on in this game a lot to

37:14

juggle a lot to balance. But

37:14

that's one of the reasons I like

37:17

it is because knowing that I did

37:17

it means that I don't know

37:21

that's prideful. I'm sure we

37:21

know. We know. So prideful. I'm

37:26

so arrogant.

37:27

All right, let me move on to something like complaints about the game. All right,

37:29

complaint away the final

37:32

scoring. It does not need to be

37:32

this complicated. I'm sorry. It

37:36

just doesn't. Like there's no

37:36

reason. And Jake was telling me

37:42

Yeah, but we want to make sure

37:42

like if you've got the

37:44

conservation points, and you've

37:44

got the appeal points, like you

37:47

want both of them to count for

37:47

something, right? But like it

37:50

just why it doesn't need to be.

37:55

Yeah, my logic was, if one

37:55

is not worth anything, and it's

38:00

just the single track that

38:00

matters, then nobody will care.

38:03

So breaking it down, you want

38:03

the difference they have past

38:07

each other between your appeal

38:07

and your conservation points to

38:11

be as large as possible. The

38:11

larger that differences once

38:15

they've passed, the more points

38:15

you have. But if that wasn't the

38:18

case, and it was just as total

38:18

number, then you would just

38:21

crank and crank and crank on

38:21

appeal and get it as high as you

38:24

can. Because that appeal number

38:24

is so much higher. Yeah. Then it

38:30

goes up to the 100 and 20s, I

38:30

think, and the conservation only

38:34

goes up the 30s.

38:35

Yeah, I get that. And I

38:35

don't know, like, I don't know

38:39

if I want to suggest that like

38:39

the conservation points

38:41

shouldn't be in the game. Yeah,

38:41

I don't know if I want to

38:44

suggest that because there are

38:44

some cool things that you're

38:46

doing with those conservation

38:46

points. And it would change the

38:50

game quite significantly if you

38:50

got rid of that. But I feel like

38:53

it should be like add both

38:53

numbers together or something

38:58

like that. That's not quite so

38:58

complicated to calculate what

39:03

your score is. Like, there

39:03

shouldn't be a question at the

39:07

end of the game. I think my

39:07

score is this. Right. But the

39:10

way that it's explained and

39:10

written in the rulebook, not

39:13

superduper. Clear, and like,

39:13

it's just a confusing concept.

39:18

I've never come across a game

39:18

that has you score this way.

39:22

Yeah, I don't think I have

39:22

either. It's very different. But

39:27

I mean, I understand why they've

39:27

done it the way they've done it.

39:29

So I have a little bit less to

39:29

say about that.

39:32

Yeah, okay. All right.

39:32

My one other complaint is

39:35

there's just too many symbols,

39:35

too many symbols that I agree

39:39

with completely. And like they

39:39

give you a whole sheet of paper

39:42

front and back that covers the

39:42

symbol cheat sheet. So that

39:46

should tell you something like I

39:46

was saying earlier, even when

39:51

reading like what that means

39:51

trying to then go back to a card

39:56

and interpret how these symbols

39:56

like add up together next to

40:00

each other, what that whole

40:00

thing is supposed to mean can be

40:04

very confusing. Because like,

40:04

let's say you've got, you'll

40:09

have like a symbol for the

40:09

European continent, right? So

40:12

that's another little circle,

40:12

and then you'll have a colon,

40:14

and then you'll have like, a one

40:14

underneath it a two underneath

40:19

it a three, and then like a

40:19

slash, and a three, and then

40:25

underneath it a five underneath

40:25

it a seven. And what that's

40:30

supposed to describe as like for

40:30

each European symbol, like if

40:34

you have one, then you get three

40:34

points. If you have two, you get

40:39

five points. If you have three,

40:39

you get seven points. Like

40:42

that's what that terminology

40:42

would be describing. Like, there

40:48

has to be that way. Just I'm

40:48

sorry, no, it's tough. It's

40:54

confusing.

40:54

Yeah, there's a lot to it.

40:54

The symbols are overwhelming.

40:58

But now that you've heard about

40:58

our experience with the game,

41:01

we're going to talk about the

41:01

add ons and expansions for this

41:05

game. And this is a great

41:05

section because there are none.

41:09

This game was released, like I

41:09

said earlier for crowdfunders

41:12

last year, just barely made

41:12

available for public purchase in

41:16

2022. So there's nothing yet

41:16

that being said, my personal

41:20

stance on this game as it stands

41:20

right now, as we said, it's

41:24

weighted at a 3.72 out of five

41:24

on difficulty on BoardGameGeek.

41:28

I don't think it needs much

41:28

more. I don't think they need to

41:31

add much more.

41:32

I wouldn't want them to

41:32

add anything more mechanics

41:35

wise. The only thing I could

41:35

does maybe new card. Yeah, if

41:38

they added new cards, they could

41:38

have a cards expansion. Yes.

41:42

Give me new animal cards. And

41:42

that's pretty much even at the

41:44

same time, like it feels

41:44

significant. The number of cards

41:48

that you have to start with

41:48

anyway. Yeah, like I said,

41:50

there's 200 Plus that are in

41:50

this deck that you're drawing

41:54

from. It's a huge stack. Yeah,

41:54

like to the point that it is

41:58

inconvenient to shuffle, you

41:58

know?

42:00

Yeah. So when we were last

42:00

playing, I shuffled the stack

42:04

shuffle the shuffle them like

42:04

okay, it's all set. Like that

42:07

wasn't as bad as I remember. And

42:07

then I look over, that was only

42:10

half of the deck.

42:11

Yeah, we get so many

42:11

cards, they're in two different

42:15

bags.

42:16

Oh, I need to continue

42:16

shuffling I guess.

42:19

Okay, so this game has a

42:19

rating on BoardGameGeek of 8.68

42:25

with like, 10 and a half

42:25

thousand reviews. So yeah,

42:29

that's pretty good. It's

42:29

currently ranked at number nine.

42:32

We've said like previously, it

42:32

was number one for quite a

42:36

while. And I think that's

42:36

probably because there was a lot

42:39

of interest in it before it was

42:39

actually publicly available. So

42:42

there were, you know, the crowd

42:42

funder people who had it, and

42:46

telling everyone how good it

42:46

was. And then there's all these

42:48

other people like, oh, I can't

42:48

wait to get it. And like, you

42:50

know, constantly searching for

42:50

it and looking it up and trying

42:54

to find more information on it.

42:54

So I'm not trying to argue that

42:57

it's not a good game. I'm just

42:57

saying like, what it sounds

43:00

like, to me, that kind of

43:00

explains why it's been so high

43:04

on their hotness list for so

43:04

long. But I don't know, it's not

43:07

surprising. I mean, it won an

43:07

award. Jake loves it to do so

43:12

must be great.

43:13

I think I might love it

43:13

almost as much as crisis.

43:19

Almost crisis should be

43:19

this game that we just always

43:22

talk about. Like it's always

43:22

like your favorite game, but

43:25

we'd never do an episode,

43:27

or we're going to do an

43:27

episode on it. Okay,

43:30

so let's get into our

43:30

rating section. Easy versus

43:34

difficult. This is talking about

43:34

how easy or difficult is it to

43:39

understand the rules and the

43:39

mechanics. How difficult was it

43:43

to read the rulebook? So it took

43:43

me three days to read this rule

43:48

book. Oh, my gosh, that sounds

43:48

crazy, right? Obviously, I

43:53

wasn't sitting there for three

43:53

days straight trying to read

43:56

this rulebook. But

43:57

it didn't take me 72

43:57

continuous hours to read the

44:01

rulebook. Okay?

44:04

No, but it's so text

44:04

heavy. And I mean, I understand

44:08

why because it was written in

44:08

another language. And so they

44:11

want to make sure that they

44:11

really clearly describe what the

44:15

mechanics and the rules are, I

44:15

get it, but it's so text heavy,

44:18

I would read three or four pages

44:18

and be like, I need to take a

44:23

break. So it took me three days

44:23

of going like back and reading a

44:29

couple pages at a time to get

44:29

through the whole rulebook. So

44:33

I'm gonna put it a little bit

44:33

more on the difficult side, you

44:36

know, for that reason, and also

44:36

just kind of all the mechanics,

44:41

which starts to get into simple

44:41

versus complex, but all the

44:44

rules that it's describing all

44:44

the symbols that we are having

44:47

to look up all of this stuff,

44:47

like makes it a little bit more

44:50

difficult. So I'm gonna give it

44:50

like a seven, I think,

44:55

yeah, I was thinking about

44:55

a seven for the difficulty. I

44:58

mean, there's a lot to juggle

44:58

and manage as far as like what

45:02

you're doing when you're doing

45:02

it. Order of operations,

45:05

especially with the different

45:05

levels of the actions that

45:07

you're taking. lot going on.

45:07

Also, the symbols, the symbols

45:11

in themselves, make it difficult

45:11

to play, because there's just so

45:15

many Yeah. Now, our next rating

45:15

section is simple versus

45:20

complex. If you're not familiar

45:20

with how we do things here, or

45:24

if you're confused as to why

45:24

that's different from easy

45:27

versus difficult, easy versus

45:27

difficult is how hard is it to

45:30

play and understand simple

45:30

versus complex is how to use the

45:34

mechanics to win. What kind of

45:34

viable strategies are there

45:37

understanding how to make the

45:37

game work cohesively?

45:40

Personally, like I said earlier,

45:40

this is one of the most

45:44

complicated games we've played,

45:44

I think, on this the show so

45:47

far. I want to give this an

45:47

eight, eight and a half on

45:51

complexity, because you can

45:51

focus on so many different

45:54

things to get your trackers

45:54

moving. And there's so many

45:58

different trackers to keep

45:58

moving. It's very complicated.

46:01

Yeah, I definitely

46:01

agree. highly complex game. I'm

46:04

actually really surprised that

46:04

Board Game Geek has only rated

46:07

it at a 3.72. Yeah, it feels

46:07

like it should be in the fours.

46:13

Yeah. Because crisis is over for

46:13

right. No. Sure. Yes.

46:18

I'm gonna keep talking

46:18

about crisis until I know.

46:22

It's a no thing. All

46:22

right. We're gonna look this up

46:24

right now. Board Game Geek comm

46:24

crisis is 3.05. What? Yeah, this

46:34

is more complicated than crisis.

46:34

But I feel like it's more

46:38

complicated than dominant

46:38

species. But dominant species is

46:42

weighted in the forests. Yeah.

46:42

So maybe I'm, like,

46:45

misremembering that game,

46:45

because it's been a while since

46:48

we've played it. It's been like

46:48

two and a half years since we

46:50

played it. Yeah. But I mean,

46:50

this feels more complex.

46:55

Fun fact, I'm also

46:55

undefeated, a dominant species,

46:59

but I've only played it the ones

46:59

that really matter. It's nothing

47:04

to boast about. Luck. That was

47:04

all.

47:08

But I definitely agree.

47:08

I'm gonna rate this as an eight.

47:12

For complexity.

47:13

Yeah, I'm gonna call this

47:13

eight, eight and a half. Like,

47:15

this is a complicated game. This

47:15

is, this is something to chew

47:19

on. And it can last a while, too.

47:21

Yeah. Um, how long did

47:21

it take us to play the other

47:23

day? Like three hours? Three and

47:23

a half hours? Yeah, just for the

47:27

two of us. Yeah. Someone

47:27

actually told me that they were

47:32

playing Organovo over their

47:32

lunch. And I was like, what?

47:36

Like, this is not a game that

47:36

you play over a lunch break? No.

47:41

She's like, No, no, no, I think

47:41

I come back to it like

47:43

throughout the day. But like, I

47:43

like to do that over my lunch

47:47

break. Like, okay, this is not a

47:47

lunch.

47:51

No, this is not a Lunch

47:51

Game. This is like a Saturday

47:54

morning game that goes until

47:54

evening.

47:57

Yeah, not that long. But

47:59

where you start? And then

47:59

you got to stop and have lunch,

48:01

and then you got to finish and

48:01

you know, okay, because you

48:04

can't eat around the board

48:04

games, because then you end up

48:07

throwing your components into

48:07

your Thai chicken. So

48:10

yep. It's our last

48:10

reading section is wrote versus

48:14

random. This is describing, you

48:14

know, what components of the

48:18

game make it a unique

48:18

experience? Is there any dice

48:22

rolling randomized cards, any of

48:22

that? So the card randomization

48:27

is really the only thing there

48:27

is to it, that

48:30

kind of there are

48:30

randomized boards that have its

48:34

true, different maps, and then

48:34

different perks on those maps as

48:37

well. So there is a little bit

48:37

of randomness. And honestly, I

48:42

know that you don't want to say

48:42

that shuffling of cards is

48:45

randomized. But given the number

48:45

of cards, the sheer number of

48:49

cards in this deck, I do feel

48:49

like that has some weight to it.

48:52

I've never

48:53

said that. Yeah, whoever

48:53

said that shuffling cards is not

48:56

randomized.

48:57

I'm feel like you have

48:57

what you've tried

49:01

to argue with me in the

49:01

past. Is that like, what a

49:03

player chooses to do on their

49:03

turn is random. And that's not

49:08

true. I disagree with that.

49:10

wholeheartedly. Have you

49:10

played with edge?

49:14

But for the most part,

49:14

like that's not a random thing.

49:18

That doesn't add randomization

49:18

to the game.

49:21

Okay. Okay. But you're

49:21

right about the maps. The maps

49:25

are definitely randomized. Yeah.

49:25

Which is

49:27

nice. I mean, so I feel

49:27

like it's definitely a Euro

49:30

game. Yes. But there's enough to

49:30

it that makes it a unique play

49:34

experience every time you play.

49:34

Yes. So I'm going to read it at

49:38

like a three on randomization.

49:40

Yeah, that's what I was

49:40

thinking to two or three. But I

49:43

don't know. I can't really

49:43

praise this game enough.

49:45

Especially just all the animals

49:45

give me the animals.

49:50

Okay. Yeah, it's a good

49:50

game. I mean, I'm not like

49:54

falling head over heels for it,

49:54

but it's plenty fun to build and

49:58

there's a high C Feeling for

49:58

mastery, which is something that

50:02

I really like. I like knowing

50:02

Oh, you know what, like, I did

50:06

this well last time, but I could

50:06

really improve this. And like, I

50:11

have the opportunity to come

50:11

back next time and make that

50:13

improvement and really see how I

50:13

progress and how my score

50:17

improves every time I come back

50:17

and play it.

50:19

Okay. Well, I mean, that's

50:19

it. I think that we are all

50:23

finished with our ANOVA. Yeah,

50:23

so

50:25

I mean, it's time to

50:25

answer the question, Jake, would

50:29

you rather play this game than

50:29

staring at yourself in an empty

50:34

Zoom meeting while waiting for

50:34

everyone or anyone else to join

50:38

us what it says while

50:38

simultaneously noticing that

50:42

part of your moustache is

50:42

shorter than the other? And so I

50:46

don't know you're trying to

50:46

scrunch up the long part to make

50:49

it look like it's even and

50:49

you're just really, really

50:51

hoping that nobody will notice.

50:53

I mean, I'm doing that

50:53

right now. But I'd rather be

50:55

playing och Nova. Hmm.

50:57

So yes, the answer is

50:57

yes. We'd rather play this game.

51:00

Yes.

51:01

Much, much rather. Well,

51:01

that's good. Yes. And there you

51:04

have it. That is arc Nova.

51:06

Thank you guys for

51:06

listening. As always, you can

51:10

hit us up on all the social

51:10

medias, Facebook, Twitter,

51:14

Instagram. I guess we're not on

51:14

tick tock, no, sorry. Maybe

51:17

that'll be a thing someday. But

51:17

we are at so bored podcast.

51:21

That's S O B O A R D podcast. We

51:21

love hearing from you guys.

51:27

hearing your experiences playing

51:27

this game, any fun house rules

51:30

that you have, or just anything

51:30

else fun that you've got going

51:35

on. You'll also find pictures

51:35

and short stories of games that

51:39

we've been playing recently. And

51:39

you can interact with us all

51:42

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51:42

feel like doing it on social

51:45

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51:45

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51:49

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51:49

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51:57

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52:22

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52:22

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52:26

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52:30

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52:30

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52:34

So help us spread the word and

52:34

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52:38

people find us.

52:40

We also want to give shout

52:40

outs to the people who knew we

52:42

were reviewing arc Nova based on

52:42

the picture we posted last week.

52:46

So congrats to Hayes's

52:46

Dominguez, Jeff Knapp, Jessica

52:50

waters, Dustin Davis, Zhao

52:50

pimento. And at BMB rammer. On

52:57

Twitter.

52:58

I think it's BM Brammer.

53:00

No. BMB rammer spelled

53:00

phonetically Awesome job,

53:04

everybody. We also want to thank

53:04

Mitchell Mims, the designer of

53:07

our art, he is currently

53:07

accepting commissions. So go

53:10

check him out at mi m s. C. O

53:10

SAR, a on Instagram, or on his

53:15

website, Mitchell Mims. That's

53:15

mi ch e l m i m s dot c ar d.co.

53:21

Once again, we are streaming it

53:21

looks like every Wednesday

53:25

occasionally we'll change that

53:25

on [email protected] slash so

53:30

bored Podcast. I'm not sure what

53:30

we're going to be playing

53:32

tomorrow we will be playing

53:32

something. I am also streaming

53:35

on Twitch, you can find me if

53:35

you want to watch old retro

53:38

video games. And when I say old

53:38

I mean like 20 years old. Some

53:43

of them in the late 20s years

53:43

old. I can be found at

53:46

twitch.tv/nau gh t YDOC 541.

53:46

That's naughty Doc 541. And I

53:54

update my schedule weekly. So

53:54

come check it out. Come hang out

53:58

with me. Let me know that you

53:58

found me from our podcast. I'd

54:02

appreciate it. Yeah. And that's

54:02

it. Thank you all so much for

54:05

listening.

54:06

We will see you next

54:06

time. Bye.