Zoo Tycoon

Zoos as Utopian Enclaves in Ark Nova

This paper analyses the economic board game Ark Nova (Wigge, 2022) and its portrayal of zoos as utopian enclaves, using a ludo-textual method that combines close reading of game mechanics with ecocriticism and critical utopian theory.

• The paper argues that Ark Nova departs from earlier zoo games like the Zoo Tycoon franchise and its board game adaptation, which frame zoos purely as profit-driven colonial-style entertainment parks, by presenting zoos as sites where capitalist pressures and conservation goals collide.
• Players in Ark Nova use two forms of capital, economic and ecological, and must balance ticket revenue against contributions to research and conservation in order to win.
• Animal cards are shuffled into the same deck as human cards such as scientists, treating human and nonhuman actors as functionally equal in construction and play, though animals still carry a capitalist ticket value.