I like that in the SUSD cinematic universe, the most common recurring character is Matt in a sleeping bag being a worm. I hope this never changes.

Matt deserves an Oscar for still delivering his lines while Tom handlessly devours and egg off plastic wrap. Bravo, gents.

Me: has a side table for drinks to prevent spills near the game. Tom: THROW MULTIPLE EGGS ON IT. Happy to see the return of both Lion Matt and Worm Matt in this one.

SU&SD: Putting breakfast foods on board games for no adequately explained reason since 1623.

Soooo happy to see 2 person SUSD reviews again!

absolutely cracking vid, but now the bar has been raised for all board game reviews and I'm gunna be expecting an entire egg devoured, uncut, on camera, in each one. the industry can't keep up

I said to myself “why does Tom have a gun?” I didn’t realize it was Chekhov’s gun.

Noticing the wrinkles of the plastic wrap around the board when Tom ate the egg (7:25) was a weird mix of relief, that thank god they didn't actually smudge their board and cards with greasy eggy stains, and disappointment in the illusion being broken.

This is the first SUSD video where I actually gasped. Tom really went for that egg! Kudos for nailing the bit.

I'm halfway through the video and I'm really loving all the animals, especially the slow worm. Can't wait to see how the rest of the video goes!

I will forever remember the egg eating bit. That slurping noise will haunt my nightmares and fuel my.... other dreams...

Tom eating the egg off the board at 7:40 was something else

Wow incredible editing here, I really felt like Matt and Tom were in the same room together!

Wish Tom didn't eat that egg, revealed the illusion of willing dropping a fried egg on the expensive boardgame materials.

I have a lot of design issues with the game, and yet, it is SO FUN to play. And that's why we play games, right?

I was horrified until I saw the creases in the plastic wrap form underneath the egg

Something that needs to be stressed when playing in that is that it is very much a race up the various tracks to get stuff 'n' bonuses. Like Lost Ruins of Arnak, Ark Nova showers the strongest player with further rewards to help juice their engine, which can leave those lagging behind in the cold (not quite as bad as Arnak, mind you. 3rd and 4th players can get a consolation prize of some cash in lieu of a juicier bonus token). In all games of Ark Nova that I've played, the first person to get access to the various goodies on offer invariably went on to win. Unlike Terraforming Mars, say, where there are arguably very few objectively bad cards in that you're always gaining something at least, in Ark Nova you absolutely can get junk cards that do nothing to support your strategy. Also in Terraforming Mars, each game feels largely equal and competitive up until the end - snowballs rarely occur and the various means of scoring points are well supported. This is in stark contrast to Ark Nova, thanks to its racing aspect. Your point dobbers for Appeal and Conservation serve to mark the end of the game when they cross over, so when your dobbers are adrift across the yawning chasm of the points track, you can only watch on helplessly as the frontrunner's dobbers rush together to close like the jaws of a steel trap. When someone's dobbers cross over, signifying the game end, they also serve as a point threshold as you get a higher positive score the bigger the crossover. It means every other player essentially gets saddled with *negative* points based on how far apart their dobbers were at the endgame. Bad enough that you never drew cards that supported your strong opener and pivoted too late, or that you spent the last hour knowing full well how far behind you were on the board, but then to be told your zoo scored -28 points? Christ, what were you even doing the past 2.5 hours? Building an anti-zoo?! Ark Nova has its merits but without some means of mitigating the card variance, it's difficult to recommend it over Terraforming Mars, with its gentler and fairer pacing, from a competitive gameplay perspective. Ark Nova is a different beast and I don't regret playing it, but for those unprepared to get their skates on and race you may well be left in the dust, with a half-finished petting zoo and some crushed dreams.

so happy to get to watch a double review in person. the zoom stuff and single is great but I love watching everyone play off eachother it's what has made SU&SD itself since episode 1. be safe love ya'll

I cannot state how relieved I was at seeing the cling film underneath the egg.

Rest In Peace slow worm 😔

The ending to this is comedy genius. Between Tom's face and the fact that it follows Matt's 2 minute monologue on responsible conservation representation... omg.

Lmao, Tom and Matt visibly fighting the urge to smirk at 7:36 😂

Love seeing these collaborative reviews again, always a joy to see thank you susd

Big Bin Barry & Big Bin Garry are the true MVPs here

Arboretum showing up amused me immensely.

I'll never forget Gorm.

Holy hell I was INDREDIBLY UPSET watching them put raw and cooked food on top of a beautiful board and cards. Then I saw they were using plastic wrap to protect it like good boys and just thought "Damn they hide it well"

Nice to see you boys doing these reviews together. I missed the duo-dynamics.

I flipped out on that egg until I realized you covered that board in plastic wrap. Great video and humor!!!!

With the (often already problematic) deference given by reviewers to publishers over authors these days, I am surprised that folks find it so hard to distinguish between original publisher and international licensee. This is not a Capstone game. The game was published (and developed) by Feuerland. Capstone Games is merely the co-publisher in the US. They presumably had little to no input into the game development except for putting the logo on the box.

The arc of that game though: it starts as a hectic efficiency puzzle to get your economy going and your action cards upgraded. Then there’s beautiful breezy exploration finding synergies in the cards you draw. Until you realize that the scores are really ramping up and you have to decide which of your plans you can still finish in the few remaining rounds. This is one of the greatest game designs in years!

But does Ark Nova have a monk track?

If you thought this was overly optimistic, you should play Endangered! That game is so realistic it makes me and my friends depressed when we play it. It's almost impossible to win and we call it the Eldritch Horror style version of conservation boardgames

We have played a few times now and drawing from the deck early game works, but snapping and using the card upgrade to draw from the table makes it more competitive. Our last game was 18 to 24.

Seeing Matt and Tom work on something together now gives me Forbidden Waters vibes, having seen them play it together with the creators.

For some reason I've not been keeping up with susd vids for a year or so. VERY happy I get back into them by watching Matt and Tom barely contain their laughter as Tom slurps an egg. That's board games baby!

Love it when two SU&SD reviewers work together! And I think Matt is on to something at the 14:30 mark. One of the things I really like about Terraforming Mars is that you can build an engine that is light with plants and fish and scrub brush, or you can go dark with nuclear weapons and drug-fueled metropolises and indentured servants. It makes no difference mechanically but it really adds to the flavor of the game.

The pure chaos energy in Matt and Tom sharing a video is exquisite. *Chef's kiss*

Great teamwork on this review and I really appreciate the way your two takes give a much better whole impression. However the bit where Tom eats the fried egg broke the illusion, I will forever see the clingfilm behind the jokes!

"Who are you talking to?" "I don't know. I've never been sure." XD

Do you.. have.. ANY IDEA!?!.. how relieved I was when I saw the plastic wrap?! Jesus Christ y'all. My heart can't take this.

Getting some significant Mighty Boosh flashbacks with you two running a zoo.

7:36 when Tom nearly breaks after he slurps the egg. Comedy gold.

Winning by drawing a lucky end-game scoring objective is a time-honored tradition in eurogames.

Brilliant! Watching this first thing in the morning over a cup of coffee really put a smile on my face :) Thanks!

Truly the Monty Python’s of board game reviews

Can't believe the gun that showed up on the wall in act 1 (0:37) fired in act 5

Great review and makes me want to play the game. As an aside, your 'elephant in the zoom' issue of pulling a lucky card to score big points is why I was unsatisfied with Isle of Cats, having scored 14 points for a complete fluke pull on my last turn in that game and seen other people do similar.

RIP Harambe

Tom and Matt doing reviews together is super Wholesome.

Ok the egg on the board triggered me to a new level!

Oh no, the game was impossible to get hold of before, nothing makes a game sell out than a SU&SD review :D

Big Egg has a strong presence in this review.

A true Kheckhov's gun sort of video! Kudos to you! Great vid. Not a game I think I'll play but was laughing out loud at the review!

I love that the egg was foreshadowed. I laughed a lot lol Tom you are a savage.

1990's Zoo Tycoon is a classic. So much fun.

playing it I felt the game with so many intertwined systems to keep track off would work better as a computer game. So agree with the Zoo tycoon reference. Also there is little player interaction, everyone focused on their own little engine, may as well have been on a computer. I like the social interaction of sitting down to play a board-game and felt this one suppressed that.

The "wow" part hurt so much 🤣

So glad that I could see the Saran Wrap over the game when Tom was eating the egg off the board. Stopped my board game anxiety

I kept expecting to see the worm costumes reappear 😄 Edit: nevermind, there it is!

is this the first canonical appearance of a gun in a susd review

Amazing Chekov's gun play. Didn't even clock it the first time 'round.

7:30 - I am surprisingly glad there was plastic involved for the egg-drop.

I was today years old when I realised you guys put clingwrap on the components for your famous "food shots". No doubt because of the disaster that was the "Eton Mess Incident".

And here I was thinking this was going to be a game about animills, when it was actually about aminals the whole time!

Great review. Thank you. On the theme, there is something naturally sinister about zoos anyway isn’t there? People especially, very young kids, walk around a zoo looking at the animals failing to really acknowledge the bars or the glass they are staring through. Or later we shake our heads disapprovingly of the bars and glass screens, while failing to acknowledge why some of the animals in the zoo are endangered in the first place (where is the bin so I can throw my Pringles pack away). My god a walk around Sea World gave me chills, and I would still class myself as semi ignorant!! But I admire the fact that the game tries to bring light to how a zoo can work for a positive purpose, having said that I like the idea of a future expansion that has you making difficult moral decisions. Overall I love the game, and respect the views in this video. Thanks again.

Much like the news today, that went from bizarre to incredibly sad and dark very quickly. Well done.

Goodnight, sweet Worm.

Idk who put that UB Funkeys song in here but damn

What a phenomenally comprehensive and entertaining review/analysis. Bravo!

Great Collab. I appreciate the transparent film under the egg. It would have hurt to watch otherwise.

Wait a minute. Hypnotic animals? Why did my zoologist friends never tell me they had to deal with hypnotism as an occupational hazard‽

Very impressed that Matt managed to not break down completely when the egg-consuming happened. Wonder how many takes, and eggs, it took

Gotta dispose of the slow worm to make room for the DUNE worm

They went through two dozen eggs trying to nail that one shot

i cringed whenever an egg was poured on top of a card lol

Omg the egg… I was laughing and freaking out a little at the same time…

Surprised you didn't mention how to end it, not taking your turn or ending a whole is something id like to see more of. Good idea.

11:30 watch Matt move the coffee marker backwards 😹 like those ads where people are holding controllers and definitely playing

2:04 Easter egg: the Lady in the "bird expert" picture is Elizabeth Hargrave, author of Wingspan.

Know that I hunger for real Zoo. Best line of the review. Oh Tom, tis you who I hunger for.

I love how unhinged this review got at parts, and I too hunger for real zoo

11:30 moving back on the break track... XD

As usual, you jump from absolute silliness to discussing something deep like the ethics surrounding environmental conservation projects in a seamless whim. And there is a worm and an egg, so absolute SU&SD branding there. 10/10.

I'm very happy to add "a bit naff" to my vernacular.

7:28 my new ringtone

OK...I have to know. How many egg takes were there?

Ok guys, you rediscovered your susd magic

Just watching this made me realize I'm very happy being in the camp of midweight gamer.

The accidental scoring sounds a lot like my experience with Takenoko and Seasons. Sometimes you draw cards that mesh with your system and sometimes the cards force you to work twice as hard to win

1:45 that was insane 😨

Not since The French Connection have we seen such a bold ending: gunshot - fade to black!

A small fix for the randomness in this game would be to have 3 face up animal cards at all times to choose from with set rules on when they can fully reset (like Wingspan).

I died a bit on the inside when the egg hit the card 😒

The gun near de door... 🤣

lol at the random gun

0:35 the gun in the corner gave me unnatural levels of anxiety

7:30 I saw the clearfoil on the table what a cop out

Agree that with some nice illustration work, this could have really popped visually. As it is, the photographs are "a bit naff". Some of the photographs are terribly chosen too. Eg, the frilled lizard doesn't even show it's aforementioned frill!

An excellent review and story in one.