Plays: 7 at player counts: 1 - 2
Appearance
The front of the box shows a range of animals on leaves and has a beautiful colour palette that really catches the eye. The back of the box shows a 2 player game in progress showing the game components and shows a close up of some of the cards as well as describing the games theme. There are lots of different components included in the box, with the cardboard components stored in 2 plastic trays for easy setup. The cardboard is good quality, the enclosures have nice details on them but the unique buildings tiles lack this detail with only one image on them. The universities and partner zoos are ok though could have done with some background art as well as the basic icons. The money tokens are in different sizes to make identification easy but feels like a real missed opportunity as they are very bland. The player mats are detailed with plenty of icons and colours but are unfortunately only cardstock. The game board has two sides letting you set it up horizontally or vertically based on your table layout and is very long so this is probably necessary.
Each player has several wooden components, mainly cubes used for various abilities, hexagonal counters for track movement and workers which have a nicer more obvious sculpt. The main components are the cards though which are good card stock though not linen finished. Half the card is taken up by photos which have been stylised in most cases and whilst this may not be to everyones taste, I quite like how they look when placed in front of you. With the exception of each players set of action cards they are all unique images and though some abilities, costs and rewards which are similar to one another each cards feels different. Overall, good quality components.
Gameplay
The aim of the game is to have the most victory points after the end game has been triggered. The end game is triggered when one players two scoring markers overlap, as they move in different directions with each other player getting one final action after this occurs. On your turn you have 6 actions available to you, you can activate one of the 5 actions cards in front of you with a strength equal to the number above the card or move a card back to the one space and take an X token instead. When you activate a card you perform the action based on its power level and then move it to the 1 slot of your 5 card row moving the cards to the right to replace the card removed. You may flip these action cards to a more powerful 2 side during the course of the game using various bonuses.
The first of the 5 actions is the cards action, this lets you draw a number of cards from the deck based on the power level of the card and then you may need to discard a card from your hand. 336
Alternatively if it is a 5 power action you can snap a card from the display into your hand instead. Whatever action you choose you advance the break marker 2 spaces. The break track defines when a round ends and the board replenished with cards cycled in the display, various other tokens refilled and players receiving the listed income on their player mat along with money based on their track position and collecting workers from the association board. When you use the upgraded cards action you may also draw cards from your reputation range as well as the deck. The display has a reputation track above the cards where you have a player marker, which you can only advance fully on if you have this card upgraded. Your reputation range is every card below or to the left of this marker. One of the bonuses on this track is to upgrade a card.
The build action allows you to construct exactly one building onto your zoo map with a maximum size of the power level of the card. This costs two money per space covered and you can build basic buildings including 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 size enclosures and the petting zoo for animal storage. You may also build pavilions which reward one appeal and kiosks which produce money based on adjacent filled enclosures. With the upgraded build action you can build multiple different buildings up to your power level and have access to the large bird aviary and reptile house which allow the storage of multiple animals. You may also only build on certain hexes if you have the card upgraded. When you cover bonuses on your zoo you receive them immediately including money, X tokens or cards. If you cover your whole zoo area you immediately receive 7 tickets.
The animals action allows you to play animals into enclosures in your zoo based on its power level. Some animals have a requirement such as having a symbol in your tableau and/or the upgraded animal card. You must pay the listed money cost and then flip an empty enclosure of at least the size shown on the card or place the listed cubes into a special enclosure (aviary or reptile house). The animal card then goes into your tableau and can then resolve the listed abilities on the card and receive the ticket sales along with possibly conservation points and reputation. 629