The Ark of the Covenant

A Carcassonne-style tile game in an ancient desert, with oases, prophets, wolves and a movable Ark.

Designers: Ursula Stephan, Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
Published by: Diehl Medien
Editions by: Lautapelit.fi, Hans im Glück, Enigma (Bergsala Enigma), Überplay, Inspiration Games

Carcassonne goes to the desert. The Ark of the Covenant uses the same tile-and-follower engine: you lay tiles one by one to grow cities, roads, flocks and temples, then place followers to claim them and score. The changes are a clever bunch. Oases along a road add a point per oasis, each player gets a one-time prophet that doubles a finished city, fields are scored by sheep (plus two) and wolves (minus two), and temples score in their own new way. You can even skip placing a follower to move the Ark across the tiles and give a point to every follower it passes. Released in 2003 for two to five players, it plays in about 30 minutes.

Oases add a point to roadsOne-time prophet doubles a cityThe Ark can be moved for points instead of placing a follower

Who it's for

You like Carcassonne and want a variant with a few clever new scoring rules.

Not for you if…

You have never played Carcassonne and want the original first. This is the same engine with extra layers.

Vibe's take

Familiar and friendly if you know Carcassonne, with small twists to every scoring decision. The Ark adds a neat spiteful-but-polite move.