Arctic

About this board game

Arctic is a card-driven animal-spotting game for 2–4 players, with play lasting about 40 minutes. Move across a snowy landscape, build a personal pile of animal cards, and guide your totem animal toward the pack ice while shaping the most rewarding collection.

Each card shows a placement value, a main animal, a companion animal, and a draw value. At the start of your turn, place cards from your hand into your personal pile according to the placement value of your visible card. Your newly visible card then determines movement: advance the main animal’s token and move the companion backward, or reverse those movements.

After moving, draw cards from the six-card river according to your visible card’s draw value. If your hand grows beyond seven cards, discard down to seven by placing the excess in your personal penalty pile. Cards you cannot place during the required placement step are also added to this pile, making hand management an important part of your decisions.

• Animal powers: Placing an animal lets you take its matching power card, even from another player. Hold it to use its listed effect each turn.
• Changing options: Powers can provide extra animal movement, let you draw from your penalty pile, or refill the river after each card you draw.
• Collection scoring: Score each animal type based on its largest consecutive set in your pile, then gain a bonus for the number of sets completed.

When the deck runs out, finish the round, place cards one final time, and score. Reveal the animal token received at the beginning and score according to how far it advanced across the landscape, then lose one point for every card in your penalty pile.

In Arctic, every visible card changes what you can place, draw, and move, while your growing pile determines your final score. The player with the highest total wins.