Sanctuary includes a real solo mode. You still draft, play animals and projects, add buildings and support conservation objectives as in the multiplayer game. The difference is a numbered marker that removes a second tile from the display each turn and tracks how many turns remain. Your goal is to trigger the game end before you run out of markers. This guide also explains the publisher’s printable solo challenge sheets.

Set up the solo game

Use the ordinary shared setup: six face-up tiles in the display, five conservation objectives, a zoo map, four action cards and the other player supplies. Put the Projects action card in slot 1, as the first player would. Shuffle all 18 Solo markers face down and keep them within reach. Each marker has a number corresponding to a display position.

For a shorter clock, take 15 or 12 random markers and put the rest away without looking at their numbers. The fewer markers you use, the fewer turns you have to build and finish the zoo. The 18-marker version is the place to learn the mode before trying the harder variants.

What changes during each turn?

Play the normal turn first. Take a tile within the reach of your Projects card; use one action card to gain or play tiles; optionally place a building, support an objective and claim earned upgrades; discard down to the six-tile hand limit. Then, before refilling the display, reveal one Solo marker. Remove the tile currently in its numbered position. If that position is already empty, remove the tile in the lowest-numbered occupied position instead. Slide remaining tiles toward lower numbers and refill the display as usual.

Example: your actions have emptied positions 1 and 3. The revealed marker shows 3. Because position 3 has no tile, remove the remaining tile at the lowest filled position, position 2. The marker still counts as a turn used. This extra removal imitates pressure from another player; it is not a tile you add to your own hand.

Win condition and score

If you reveal the last Solo marker and have not triggered the game end on that same turn, you lose. If you trigger the end in time, you win immediately. For comparison between successful solo games, perform normal final scoring with the ten-point end marker and add five points for each Solo marker still face down. Thus a victory with three unused markers earns 15 points more than the same finished zoo at the last possible turn.

Points do not rescue a game in which the solo turn limit expires. Conversely, the basic win condition does not require beating a fixed score target. These two facts make it sensible to plan for an attainable ending first, then improve the score or shorten the clock on later attempts.

Plan backward from an end trigger

Two end routes you can actively pursue are four conservation achievements and a covered zoo map. Which is realistic depends on the revealed objectives, the action upgrades you can earn and whether your placement network can reach all empty playable spaces. A zoo full of high-scoring tiles but with awkward isolated holes may be unable to fill the map quickly. A conservation plan with only one icon type may support one objective but struggle to complete four distinct ones.

Use the first few turns to secure a useful upgrade. Supporting an objective can unlock an upgrade immediately; so can two projects, three connected tiles of one habitat or four animal classes. In solo, saving one action matters twice: it can produce more points and leave an unused Solo marker worth five. But do not overdraw your hand when it is already at six; the end-of-turn limit still applies.

Official solo challenges

Feuerland offers English Basic 1, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 challenge downloads on its Sanctuary/Artengarten page. These are optional milestone sheets layered on the standard solo game, not a separate box or new base-game turn structure. The Basic 1 instructions say you mark a milestone only after winning the game and meeting its condition; multiple milestones can be achieved in one victory. Use the map matching the 18-, 15- or 12-marker difficulty you played, because some targets scale with the clock.

For example, the Basic 1 sheet illustrates a goal involving five Petting Zoo animals and another involving six animals of undefined habitat at the 18-marker difficulty. A win can count toward both when both conditions are present. The Advanced 1 sheet adds restrictions such as winning with limited action upgrades or avoiding placement bonuses. Read the printed sheet for the exact milestone and any special exception before treating it as a normal-game rule.

Solo troubleshooting

• Marker points: only still face-down, unused markers add five points after a win; revealed markers are spent.
• Empty numbered display position: remove the tile in the lowest filled position, then refill normally.
• Challenge milestone: meeting it in a lost game does not mark it complete.
• Tile pile: keep the normal game-end check as part of the administrative step, after the display is refilled.

Return to the full turn sequence, or use the strategy guide for draft and placement decisions. Sources checked October 3, 2026: publisher-verified solo rules and Feuerland’s English solo challenge downloads. Strategy suggestions are editorial.