Sanctuary: An Ark Nova Game is a tile-placement game for 1–5 players. On a normal turn you draft one tile, use one of four action cards, and may add a building, support a conservation objective and upgrade cards. The rules are easier to follow if you separate which tile you take from which tile you can legally play. This walkthrough follows the publisher’s official rules; for solo differences, use the solo guide.

Set up the shared display and objectives

Shuffle the 135 zoo tiles face down, reveal six into numbered positions on the display board, and place five randomly drawn conservation objectives on the conservation board. Keep markers in a common supply. Each player takes a zoo map, a tile holder, four action cards, four upgrade markers and four conservation achievement markers. For a first game, use side 1 of the zoo map. You start with no tiles in hand.

Set the four action cards to side I. The starting player places Projects in strength slot 1; later players place theirs in successive slots, with players four and five both using the fourth slot when necessary. Randomize the remaining Forest, Rock and Water action cards into the empty slots. The number above each card is its current strength. Upgraded cards gain one extra strength at the same position and an improved action.

1. Take one tile from the display

Look at the white arrow on your Projects card. If it points at 3, you can take one tile from positions 1, 2 or 3, but not 4–6. Add the chosen tile to your holder. The Projects card stays put during this step, even if you plan to use it for your action. Other effects that explicitly let you take from the display can reach any position unless their text says otherwise.

2. Use one action card

Choose Projects, Forest, Rock or Water. Use the card’s current strength to perform its gain tiles or play tiles option. Projects can take a tile from anywhere on the display; when upgraded, it can take a second. An animal action can draw two face-down tiles instead of placing an animal. Tiles gained in this way remain in your hand until a legal play or later discard.

To play a project, the Projects action must meet the project’s level. Most projects enter an empty legal space; a release-into-the-wild project instead goes on a matching animal, covering that animal and its icons and points. To play an animal, use the Forest, Rock or Water card matching its habitat and meet its printed level. An animal with the undefined-habitat icon can use any animal card. An upgraded animal action may play two matching animals if the action’s strength is at least their combined levels; fully resolve the first before placing the second.

After resolving the action, slide the used card to the far-left slot and move the intervening cards to the right. The next strength numbers therefore change. Do not move a card simply because you looked at it to draft a tile.

Place tiles legally and account for open areas

A normal played tile goes on an empty space next to the zoo entrance or another placed tile. Printed open areas on the map are useful for animals but do not count as placed tiles for extending where a new tile may go. Keep tile icons at the top; you cannot rotate a tile to redirect its arrows. Arrows that demand open areas must point inside the map to printed open areas, existing face-down open-area tiles or empty spaces you can cover with hand tiles face down. They cannot point to an occupied face-up tile.

Example: your water animal needs one open area immediately to its left. A printed open area there costs no tile. If that space is empty instead, you may place a tile from your hand face down on it to create the area. If a face-up project already occupies it, that animal cannot be placed at that location. Covering a printed placement bonus with either a normal tile or a face-down open-area tile grants its bonus.

3–5. Building, conservation and upgrades

After the action, you may play one building from your hand if you meet its printed condition and have a legal empty space. Buildings are blue tiles; they are not played using action-card strength. Next, you may support one of the five displayed conservation objectives you have not already supported. Count its required icons in your zoo. You may spend conservation markers as substitute icons, but at least one real matching icon must be present. Put an unused achievement marker corresponding to a number you meet onto that objective; each marker can be used once.

Finally, check unused upgrade conditions: support one objective; have two projects; form three connected tiles of one habitat; or show four different animal-class icons. Each fulfilled condition lets you flip one unupgraded action card to side II. Several may be fulfilled in the same turn. Think about which action you expect to repeat; the flip strengthens that action at every slot.

6. Clean up and check the end

Discard down to six hand tiles, slide remaining display tiles into the lower-numbered gaps, then refill to six. Check end conditions at the end of the turn: four supported objectives, a completely covered map, or an empty face-down tile pile. The first two give the triggering player a 10-point marker and all other players one final turn. If the pile runs out first, the game ends immediately after that turn. A player who also fills the map or supports four objectives on their final response turn earns a 5-point marker.

First-game mistakes to avoid

• Using the selected animal action card to decide your draft reach; it is always Projects that sets the normal draft range.
• Placing a building with an action card, or forgetting that one eligible building can follow the action.
• Rotating a tile to make its open-area arrows fit.
• Assuming two animals from an upgraded action each get the full strength; their levels are added together.
• Using only conservation markers with no matching icon on the map to support an objective.

Next, read strategy for drafting and placement and the scoring walkthrough. Rules checked October 3, 2026 against the publisher-verified Dized rules and Capstone’s rulebook listing. Follow the printed tile text for individual effects.