What is Lost Ruins of Arnak?
Lost Ruins of Arnak (2020) is a deck-building worker placement board game designed by Min & Elwen published by CGE for 1-4 players. You take on the role of an archaeologist leading an expedition to explore the uncharted island of Arnak and discover the secrets of the vanished civilization.
For a quick look at the game board, check out my very first TikTok! (I promise I’ll get better at this.)
Game Setup
Set up the play area according to the rulebook setup. Keep in mind this is a very long game in terms of its footprint on the table! The game board does come in two parts, the main board and a shorter resource and tile board. The resource board holds resources, site tiles, Guardians, Assistant tiles, and start area for research tokens. Above is the main board with the island map containing five dig sites to get initial resources, two levels of discovery sites, and the research track climbing up the right side. Lastly, there are six Artifact and Item card spots, with the Moon Wand indicating the Round and the very top of the board containing the draw and discard piles.
If pressed for space, feel free to move the Resource board off to one side or not have it out at all.
Player Setup
Each Player chooses their color and takes the player board with the tent and items in their player color – 4 starting cards plus 2 Fear cards, starting resources, two Archeologist meeples, and research tokens.
Starting Resources for Player #
- #1: 2 coins
- #2: 1 coin, 1 compass
- #3: 2 coins, 1 compass
- #4: 1 coin, 2 compasses
In addition, all players place their two research tokens on the bottom of the research track. These tokens include a magnifying glass and a notebook in their color. Place the magnifying glass on top of the notebook, as players need to discover first and record in their notebook later, so the magnifying glass will be the first to move up the track. Keep in mind the notebook can never progress higher than the magnifying glass.
How to Play Lost Ruins of Arnak
The game is played over five rounds. The Moon Staff toward the top indicates the Round. Each round proceeds as follows:
Round Events
- Draw – All players draw 5 cards from the top of their decks.
- Take turns – This is where most of the game will be played! The player with the start marker begins, with plays going clockwise. You are limited to one main action, plus an unlimited number of free actions (denoted by a lightning on a card/action).
- Pass – Passing indicates you’re done playing for the remainder of the round. Once all players pass, move to the next step.
- Setup for next round – Play area cards are shuffled and returned to the bottom of the player’s deck, meeples returned, assistants refreshed, and the board is setup for the next round. Finally, pass the starting player marker to the left.
- Move the Moon Staff – This marks the passage of time. Exile the Artifact card on the left and the Item card on the right. Move the Staff to the next round, and then fill in the empty spaces with additional Artifact cards. After 5 rounds, the moon is full and final game scoring is done.
Travel Costs
As you explore the island, you’ll need to pay Travel Costs. You can use a card for its effect or its Travel Value depicted on its top left corner. Your initial player deck will include 2 Fear cards; these have a boot icon that comes in handy in the first few rounds. As you discover more of the island, you’ll need better transportation methods, such as a Jeep and a Boat. Jeeps help you explore the left land side, and Boats allow you to explore the right waterway side. You can use a Jeep or Boat to substitute for a boot, but not for each other. The final transportation is an Airplane, used as transportation for anything – Jeep, Boat, and Boot. You can always pay two coins for an Airplane ride. Sites cost 1-2 Travel costs.
Main Actions
Players can only choose one Main Action (plus unlimited free actions) per turn, from the following:
Main Action: Dig at a Site
This action is convenient at the beginning of the game to obtain resources. These Dig Sites cost one boot. This boot cost makes sense, as when you first land on the island, you’ll easily walk around to the nearest locations. There are 5 locations where you may obtain the following resources: 2 coins, two compasses, two tablets, one arrowhead, or play a card without its benefit to exchange for a jewel. Discard a card with a boot or higher and place your archaeologist in this spot to obtain resources.
Main Action: Discover a New Site
Level 1 Sites
The most accessible Sites to discover are the eight Level 1 Sites. In addition to the travel cost of a Jeep or Boat, you also need to pay three compasses to discover them. Choose the Site you want to discover, pay the travel cost, the three compasses, and place your archeologist on the spot.
Level 2 Sites
To reach the Level 2 Sites, you’ll pay two travel costs and double the compasses, for a total of 6 compasses to discover, but you also get a significant reward boost. There are only four Level 2 Sites.
Idols
On Level 1 Sites, you’ll get 1 Idol. Gain its benefit immediately and place it on your player board facedown. Level 2 Sites grant you 2 Idols – one face up and one facedown. Gain the benefit of the faceup icon and then place it facedown next to the other idol. All Idols grant you 3 points at the end of the game. You can move Idols at any time on your player board to an Idol spot which can grant you additional benefits.
Then place a tile from the stack that matches the Site (either Level 1 or Level 2) and place it on the spot face up. You immediately gain its rewards. Next, awaken the Guardian (a scary monster that guards the Site), draw the top tile from the Guardian deck and place it on the site tile. On a future turn, you can overcome this Guardian, which is another Main Action.
Main Action: Overcome a Guardian
Pay the Guardian costs, and you can take that Guardian home. Each has a beneficial boon in the top right corner. If you use this boon, turn the Guardian tile face down in your area. Whether you use the boon or not, all Guardians you Overcome score 5 points each.
Main Action: Buy a Card
Along your journey, you’ll find (buy) useful Items and valuable Artifacts to help with your expedition. At the beginning of the game, only 1 Artifact is available, and 5 Items are available. Purchase Item cards with coins and Artifact cards with compasses—their cost showing in the lower-left corner of the card. When you purchase an Item, place the card facedown under your deck to be used on a future turn. When you buy an Artifact, you’re able to trigger its effect for free immediately! Then set it on top of your play area. When this card enters your hand in the future, you can trigger its effect by paying a Tablet. As the Rounds progress, more Artifact cards will be available (more powerful) and fewer Item cards.
Refill the card row after you purchase a card, sliding cards in toward the Moon Staff to fill any empty spaces.
Main Action: Play a Card
Play the card from your hand face up into your play area and Resolve the card’s effect. Remember, the lightning icon denotes a free action that does not count as your Main Action. Your four starting Funding and Exploration cards offer a free action of a coin or compass. If you play an Artifact, remember to pay its Tablet cost to use it. You can play a card using it for its Travel Value or effect, but not both.
Main Action: Research
Head up the Research track, earning points and goodies along the way. If you’re fast enough, you’ll also gain some bonus tiles. You’ll even find new Research Assistants to help you on your expedition! If you get far enough into your research, you’ll discover the Lost Temple! Place your magnifying glass on the leftmost spot with the most points and look through the bonus tiles, take one, and put them back facedown. You can now explore this lost temple by paying to gain temple tiles for the highest scoring bonuses.
Main Action: Pass
If you’re out of things to do, you may pass for this round. Therefore you cannot take any more actions in the round.
Several ways to earn Points in Lost Ruins of Arnak
I love this game because there are so many ways to win, but the best strategy is to adapt to the opportunities presented to you. If you’re an adventurer, you’ll love discovering the new sites, grabbing their rewards and fighting the Guardians. If you’re the scientist type, you’ll be keen on racing up the research track, gaining the bonus tiles and discovering the Lost Temple for score bonuses. You can buy cards to build a very powerful deck! I suggest doing a bit of all three, at the very least, researching enough to get your two assistants and building your deck to have more than just your starter cards.
Each Fear card is worth -1 point at the end of the game, so you’ll want to use effects that allow you to exile this card from your hand and place it back on the main Fear card pile.
Final Scoring
At the end of the game, use the included scorepad to record everyone’s points. You’ll be adding up:
- Research Tokens – each of your research tokens scores based on its row
- Temple tiles
- Idols – each idol scores 3 points, and any empty idol slots will score the points indicated in their slot
- Guardian – each guardian scores 5 points
- Item and Artifact cards – scores their points in the lower right corner
- Fear cards – subtract 1 point per fear card. If you have fear tiles, subtract 2 points each.
Whoever has the most points wins!
Lost Ruins of Arnak Bling
This game has lovely production quality, with three plastic resources in unique shapes – tablets, blue arrowheads and red gems. I did use a wash over the tablets to make them look more weathered. I also substituted the cardboard money for gold metal coins about the same size.
The archeologist meeples have stickers from Levity Games on Etsy. They perfectly fit the artistic feel of the game and wear the same clothing as the people on the front of the box. Look at the blue archeologist; he even has the same facial scar!
On the way from Italy is a Dicetroyer Lost Ruins of Arnak insert. Coincidentally they just released this wooden insert today! They ship super fast, and they are one of my favorite insert manufacturers. Probably most of my inserts come from this company.
Lost Ruins of Arnak Summary
I love this game; the theme shines as you collect items, artifacts and resources to help you explore the island. It’s a race trying to be the first up the research track to get all the goodies and points, as well as rushing to discover new sites, getting their bountiful rewards and overcoming the Guardian. Turn the board over to the Snake Temple side for a more challenging game!
A solo mode is included, as well as a free solo campaign; I’ll be playing that soon and will share that experience! So look forward to more Arnak goodness, where I play the new Expedition Leaders, explore the Solo Campaign mode, and show off the Dicetroyers insert!
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Lost Ruins of Arnak
Board Game Halv
says:These are some of the nicest Lost Ruins of Arnak photos I have ever seen! Keep up the good work, loving the reviews and other content.