Well, if you get into crafting, you could print-n-play your own games at home and make the boxes just right.
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I believe there is an entire list devoted to this over at BGG.
Splendor is the poster child for this problem. It’s a decl of cards and a dozen poker chips boxed as a full board game.
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Didn’t it used to be the same with video games? We bought the whole box. I wonder what happened to those
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Just finished a long session of whiskey and Ark Nova and I have to say I quite like the game but it is also not a Terraforming Mars killer for me. Maybe I’m too fresh on the heels of the game, but it is a bit too long for what it is and I think I would rather play something like TFM twice in the same length, or even a less complex game like Everdell. We played Lost Ruins of Arnak just before and even though Ark Nova is far superior in nearly every way, Arnak at least felt quick…
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I agree with you entirely @Mirefox
It’s good, really good, and I respect what it brings, but there is some tight competition.
How did you find the scoring? I can’t convince my wife to play again - “what do you mean I get a negative score for building this amazing zoo?!?!? Get in the sea.”
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I really don’t get Ark Nova. Having watched the release with interest, I was puzzled to see the exact same complaints about it as TFM (too long, too random because of too many cards) and played it to find it’s not as good or as interactive as TFM.
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I’m fine with the scoring and nobody that played had any complaints. The only thing that seemed slightly odd is that the winners all had half finished zoos and the two of us that had fully-filed zoos and many animals were far behind. I get how it worked mechanically but not thematically.
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That’s interesting, because I haven’t found our plays of Ark Nova to be any longer than our plays of Terraforming Mars.
All of my TM games (with maybe a couple of exceptions) are at least 2 hours if not longer depending on the players. Our Ark Nova games have been 2-3 hours.
For me, there is no difference as far as length is concerned.
I still haven’t decided how I feel as far as which is “better,” but I know that right now I’m clamoring to play Ark Nova more than TM. That could be because of the newness factor, though.
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I mean, TfM is barely interactive, especially if you don’t draft. Is Ark Nova interactive at all?
How dare you, sir. And no, it is not.
Anyone play Tapestry at all? Thoughts?
Stonemaier’s worst game to date for balance, and that really is saying something. Nothing against the random grab-bag of tech cards (I love Innovation, for instance), but the severely unbalanced different civs ruin it for me. There’s a good, detailed breakdown here showing some civs are just clearly better than others, and so skew the game quite a lot. I abandoned ship on it fairly quickly so I don’t know if fixes have been supplied yet.
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I played it once, it was alright. I suspect the game could be wildly unbalanced if you get the right/good cards. I think there was a lot of hype prerelease, and it didn’t really live up to the hype. I played it while unhyped, and it was fine, except the aforementioned balance issue.
Thanks! Almost got suckered in by cute minis! (Again…)
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2 quick reviews.
9 lines of text.
Balance mentioned 4 times 
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I do like the 4 tracks in Tapestry and how the work with each of the others.
I’ve only played once so balance wasn’t an issue as we were all learning. I really liked the game.
Ark Nova is far less interactive than Terraforming Mars. There are a handful of cards out of hundreds that have minor effects you can play on another player but other than that, most of the “interaction” is possibly taking a card from the center row that someone else may have wanted…
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It’s been up on Board Game Arena with some version of rebalancing for the civilizations for a bit now. I’ve rarely won it but enjoy the mechanics.
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