Lost Ruins of Arnak review: deck-building and worker placement in one box

Brief summary: The Lost Ruins of Arnak combines deck-building and worker placement into one cohesive whole: you send two archaeologists to the island, discover ruins, defeat guardians, and expand your card deck along the way. Beautifully designed, surprisingly accessible for all it does, and with enormous card variation, no two games play the same. Our conclusion: a deserved BGG favorite that lives up to the hype.

What is The Lost Ruins of Arnak and how does it work?

The Lost Ruins of Arnak is an adventurous strategy game where you lead a team of archaeologists exploring a newly discovered island. Your goal: to uncover as many ruins as possible, conduct research and – if all goes well – make it all the way to the temple.

The cleverness lies in the combination of two mechanisms. On the one hand, it's a deck-building game: you start with a standard deck of cards and gradually acquire new cards that help you advance. On the other hand, it's worker placement: you send your archaeologists to spots on the island to perform actions. These two constantly intertwine, making it quite a puzzle to play sometimes.

Options abound: discovering parts of the island, conducting research, defeating guardians, gathering resources, buying new cards… You almost always have too many things you want to do and too few moves to accomplish them all. Precisely this tension makes it truly enjoyable.

What makes Arnak so good?

Three things stood out for us:

• The mix works seamlessly. Deck-building and worker placement are often played separately, but here they reinforce each other. Your cards help determine where your archaeologists can go, and your actions, in turn, yield more cards.
• Beautiful game, not unnecessarily complex. It looks stunning without requiring you to digest a forty-page manual. The barrier to entry is surprisingly low for all that it offers.
• Enormous card variation. All cards are different, so every game feels new. Replayability is excellent. There's even a second game board & a solo variant.

And then there are the components. The objects representing diamonds, tablets, and arrowheads are a pleasure to hold — those kinds of details elevate a game just that little bit higher.

One caveat regarding gameplay: you only have two archaeologists you can send somewhere, and for some actions, you need hand cards to get there. Are your archaeologists placed and your cards used up? Then your turn is over, whether you like it or not. This limitation forces you to plan carefully — frustrating in a good way.

How difficult is Arnak — and is it language-dependent?

The big challenge is to reach the temple. At the beginning of the game, it seems downright impossible — a mountain you'll never conquer. But gradually, the pieces fall into place, and for us, ultimately 2 out of 4 players reached the top. In the later rounds, you discover many more additional actions to perform than at the beginning. "Oh wait, I can still do that" was uttered more than once!

Important to know: because all cards are different and contain text, the base game is language-dependent. We played the English version, which went fine, but keep that in mind if English isn't fluent in your group. In our webshop, we also have the Dutch version available.

Who is Arnak suitable for?

The Lost Ruins of Arnak is ideal for:

• Players who enjoy deck-building and worker placement and want to see the two combined
• Families and groups of friends looking for a beautiful, accessible strategy game without overly heavy rules
• BGG followers curious about a game with a deservedly high rating

Final verdict: Is Arnak worth it?

How did we come across Arnak?

The fun part about running a webshop: every now and then, the mail gets a bit wild and a slightly damaged box arrives. In this case, two at once. One has already been sold at a good price — be sure to check our second-hand items if you don't mind a minor imperfection — and the other, of course, became our demo!

Because of its high rating on BoardGameGeek, I wanted to try out Arnak anyway, and this was, of course, the perfect excuse. One board game afternoon later, the conclusion was unanimous: this one is coming back.

Order The Lost Ruins of Arnak at Bove Bove →

Similar games you might be interested in

• Do you enjoy Worker Placement games? → Critter Kitchen
• Prefer deck-building with a lot of tension? → Ages of War: Battle for the Bronze Age
• Looking for a beautiful engine-builder for the whole family? → Wyrmspan