Zoo-ography Overview - Kickstarter Prototype

I received a prototype copy of Zoo-ography in exchange for posting an overview of the game, which I passed on to another reviewer.  The final game will be for 1-4 players, but the prototype I received only included enough material for up to 2 players.  I played the game many times solo and once with an opponent.  The prototype I received also had some offset cards.  The habitat walls don't always line up exactly in the prototype, but will line up in the final version of the game.  My goal is not to convince you to back the game, but to let you know how the game plays so that you can decide for yourself if it's something you would enjoy.

Doomsday Robots is the successful publisher of the beautiful Bridges to Nowhere, and they're returning to Kickstarter with their equally stunning new game, Zoo-ography. Zoo-ography is a game with a simple rule set that belies the underlying challenge of not only drafting cards to create a zoo but drafting animals and attractions to place in your zoo to make the best zoo possible.

How do you know what the best zoo looks like? You’ll start by choosing objectives, 5 in total worth 1-3 points, which tell you what your zoo needs to be successful.  Some games will be focused on the animals and habitats, while others will be focused on different attractions and things for people to see and do while at your zoo, or you might have to balance a mix of attractions and animals.  The prototype I received had 4 objective cards which offered a decent mix, but I was told the final game will include many more objectives for even more variability.  Even only 4 objective cards offered plenty of different combinations, as each card has a front and back side with different objectives that are paired with the front or back of all other cards.

Once you know what your objectives are, it’s time to start making your zoo.  The next thing you’ll do is populate the animal draft cards.  To do this, you’ll place 6 cards face down under the animal draft and add the matching animal to the draft by placing the animal on the lowest numbered slot available.  Some animals might end up in the reserve, to be used in a later round.  Once the animals have been placed on the appropriate slots, you'll flip the 6 cards over and they will become the cards you take to make your zoo.

On your turn, you'll take a card from the remaining options and add it to your hand.  Then, you can place any card from your hand into your zoo.  To place cards, you just need to make sure the edges of a habitat match.  There are two sizes, short and long, but the challenge is that they're not always facing the way you'd like them to and it can be tough to find the right ones that will help you complete objectives that ask for enclosed habitats.  Once you've placed your first card, you can place another from your hand, or you can take animals to place in your zoo.

If you want to populate your zoo with animals, you'll need to take them from the animal draft.  To do so, you'll take all animals from a single animal draft card (never taking any from the reserve) and place them in your park.  The caveat here is that you must be able to place all animals you take, and you can't take just one or two - you have to take them all.  There are green circles in the grass of each habitat and each one can hold a single animal.  Small animals (the smaller tokens) can be placed anywhere, but to place large animals (the bigger tokens), you'll need to ensure the habitat has at least two watering holes for each large animal you place.  This means for two large animals to share a habitat, you'll need 4 watering holes available to them. 

But it's not that easy because this is a zoo - you can't just place animals together willy nilly or they might eat each other!  You'll need to reference the habitat guide to see what animals can live with each other.  The habitat guide is quite clever - it allows for one type of large animal per habitat, with some of the smaller animals able to share habitats with two different large animals.  Then there are the secluded animals which always have to live alone.  The habitat guide is an elegant and intuitive solution for animal placement that doesn't bog down the game, and creates a real challenge in how and where you can place the animals you've drafted.  

At this point your zoo might be looking great with lots of animals and habitats, but if all your zoo has is animals then people might not enjoy their visit. What about places for your visitors to eat, or a gift shop so they can get souvenirs, or maybe an aviary or aquatic exhibit to mix things up?  People come to zoos for the attractions as much as the animals, and Zoo-ography provides plenty of attractions to keep your visitors happy, yet much like the other aspects of the game, getting and placing attractions may be easy, but how each scores offers a challenge.

For instance, having a restaurant without places for people to sit doesn't make much sense, so you'll only score for restaurants if there are two seating areas adjacent.  If you want people to enjoy a gift shop, you should make sure it's close to the gate so they don't forget to visit on their way in and out of your zoo.  And it's nice to have viewing areas so people can see the animals, but there's no point in having a rhino viewing area if there's no rhinos nearby, so you'll need to make sure the habitat across from the viewing area has a matching animal or it won't score.  Not all attractions offer a huge challenge - some like the aquarium or aviary score just for having them and offer a free animal for your park.

For such a simple rule set, Zoo-ography will surprise you with how difficult it is to actually accomplish the game’s goals.  All you have to do is pick a card and play a card or take some animals from the display, but the rules for taking and placing animals and attractions make planning your zoo tricky.  You might have plenty of spots for animals, but if one of the secluded animal objectives is in your game you might have to sacrifice a larger habitat to a single lion.  Or you might be going for 4 different attractions, but the other player takes the ones you need, leaving you with attractions you’ve already built.    Or you might have plenty of places for animals but your opponent takes the only set of animals you’d be able to place, leaving you with nothing that round.

It might sound mean, taking cards or animals your opponent needs in a game that’s so tight.  However, because the game forces you to only taken animals you can actually place, it never feels mean.  Even taking a card your opponent wants doesn’t feel especially mean - since you can only pick 3 cards per round, taking a card your opponent needs but you can’t play is rarely worth it.  What you get is more a feeling of disappointment that you didn’t get to the card or animals first, not anger or frustration with the other player.

Of course, you don't have to worry about any of that if you want to play alone.  The solo game of Zoo-ography really shines thanks to, once again, small changes to the rules that are easy to incorporate, yet create a nice challenge.  For one, you won't be using the reserve slots when you place animals on the animal draft cards, and if you ever run out of slots to place an animal during setup for the round, you lose.  Also, after each round is complete, you'll remove all animals from one of the animal draft cards if it's full - so if you were really hoping to get those animals next round you're out of luck.  Finally, while choosing cards to place in your zoo is easier since you get to pick one and throw the other away, you have to meet at least 4 of the 5 objectives for the game to win with 8 or more points, which is incredibly tough to pull off given the other changes noted above.  I found the solo game relaxing and enjoyable; a nice little puzzle to work out when you have some quiet time alone, with variability from game to game thanks to the changing objectives.

What Zoo-ography offers is a simple rule set that's the backbone of a challenging game, and if you enjoy games where you're trying to meet tight objectives, building up a scene that is unique each time you play, and puzzling out how to meet the objectives by staying one step ahead of your opponents, then Zoo-ography is a great game for you.  If you enjoy solo games, Zoo-ography again offers a decent challenge that never feels impossible, but isn't easy to win.  Finally, if you enjoy thematic games, Zoo-ography oozes theme in a way that's perfectly integrated with the mechanics, from the type of attractions to add to your zoo and how they score, to the variability of the animals and how they live together. 

The Zoo-ography Kickstarter  is over now and the game unlocked some crazy nice stretch goals.  Hopefully a late pledge option will be available for anyone who missed it.