You asked
How do I set up the zoo at the start?
Answered counted as answeredAsked with: Ark Novabg-342942-en-1e
To set up the zoo at the start, follow these steps: 1. Take a random zoo map and place it with that side up in front of you [1]. (Note: For advanced maps, take 2 random zoo maps and choose 1, or lay out player count +1 advanced maps and choose 1 each in reverse order of play; return unselected maps to the box) [1]. 2. Take one set of Action cards each (Build, Cards, Animals, Association, and Sponsors) [1]. 3. Place one card with side I up under each of the five card slots on your zoo map: place the Animals card under the slot furthest to the left showing the 1, and distribute the remaining cards randomly under the other 4 slots [1]. 4. Take 7 player tokens in your chosen color and place them on the designated spaces at the left edge of your zoo map; keep any remaining player tokens next to your zoo map for later use [2]. 5. Take the 4 association workers and place 1 on the notepad of your zoo map as the active worker, and place the remaining 3 lying down on the designated spaces below the notepad [2]. 6. Take 25 money from the supply and put it on the notepad of your zoo map [2]. 7. Draw 2 Final Scoring cards and place them next to your zoo map (keep them hidden from other players) [2]. 8. Draw 8 Zoo cards; choose 4 to keep as hand cards and discard the remaining 4 to a face-up discard pile on the board [2][3]. 9. At the beginning of the game, place a 3-space enclosure on the indicated spaces, with the side showing the number 3 (the empty side) up [4].
🔧 debug — where this ruling came from
- outcome
- ANSWERED — Answered
- corpus profile
- live
- answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only)
- gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
- timings
- search 247 ms · ask 10768 ms · total 11026 ms
- single-flight (PR-5)
- queued 0 ms · generation 11026 ms
- retrieval refs (raw)
- [{"page": 4, "score": 0.04918, "snippet": "For your personal setup, each of you takes the following steps: A Take a random Map A zoo map , and place it with that side up in front of you. Return the remaining zoo maps to the box. They are not used in this game. 4 of the 8 zoo maps have Map A on one side. All 4 copies of Map A are identical an", "headingPath": "Personal Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.047123, "snippet": "B 4 1 Place the game board in the center of the table. Take the Break token and place it on the start space of the Break track that corresponds to your player count. If there are three players, place the Break token on the space marked 3 . 2 3 Shuffle the Zoo cards to create a face-down deck on the ", "headingPath": "Other · Global Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 10, "score": 0.032258, "snippet": "Build exactly 1 building of your choice with a maximum size of on your zoo map. Pay 2 money per space. Available: Kiosk, pavilion, standard enclosure, and Petting Zoo. The size of a building is measured by the number of spaces it covers on your zoo map. In this action, you have the kiosk (size 1), p", "headingPath": "BUILD", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 6, "score": 0.031746, "snippet": "Your zoo (1) is established in the large area in the middle of your zoo map. This is where you place buildings such as enclosures (standard or special enclosures), kiosks, pavilions, or unique buildings. An overview of all enclosures shows their sizes and shapes (2) . You are not allowed to build on", "headingPath": "Your Zoo Map", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "3 Setup ................................................ 4 Gameplay ............................................. 6 • Your Zoo Map .................................... 6 • Zoo Cards ........................................ 7 → The Break Track ............................... 7 A Turn / The 5 Action C", "headingPath": "", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 11, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "If there are multiple simultaneous effects, you choose the order of execution (whether these effects are appeal, reputation, conservation points, or gained by the ability of the animal or from other cards). Fill empty enclosure : To play an Animal card and accommodate the animal in your zoo, you nee", "headingPath": "ANIMALS", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "The game board has a Break track to count down the time remaining until the next break. At the beginning of the game, and after each break, the Break token goes on the starting space corresponding to your player count (1) . Whenever you advance the Break token, move it the appropriate number of spac", "headingPath": "The Break Track", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 5, "score": 0.029644, "snippet": "F Draw 8 Zoo cards. Choose 4 of them to keep as hand cards and discard the remaining 4 cards to a face-up discard pile on the discard space on the board. Make sure to keep your hand cards hidden from the other players. A face-up discard pile is easier to distinguish from the other card piles. This p", "headingPath": "Personal Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}]
- citations (raw)
- [{"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Personal Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Personal Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Personal Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}, {"page": 6, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Your Zoo Map", "sharpsignalDocId": 247}]
- boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3)
-
no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 247 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 247 boosted
- answered-before recall
-
this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
- debug row retained until
- Nov 4, 2026 19:23
retrieval — what the search arm returned
score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.
per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.
token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.
| fused rank | document | heading | page | fused RRF score | snippet chars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Personal Setup | p.4 | 0.04918 (at the 3-arm ceiling (0.04918) — every arm ranked it #1) | 300 |
| #2 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Other · Global Setup | p.4 | 0.047123 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #3 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | BUILD | p.10 | 0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #4 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Your Zoo Map | p.6 | 0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #5 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | p.3 | 0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 | |
| #6 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | ANIMALS | p.11 | 0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #7 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | The Break Track | p.7 | 0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
| #8 | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Personal Setup | p.5 | 0.029644 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) | 300 |
chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited
token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.
| # | document | heading | page | quote chars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Personal Setup | p.4 | no quote on the wire |
| [2] | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Personal Setup | p.5 | no quote on the wire |
| [3] | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Personal Setup | p.5 | no quote on the wire |
| [4] | RULEBOOK Ark Nova — Rulebook (corpus doc 247) | Your Zoo Map | p.6 | no quote on the wire |
generation — timing and the path taken
- timing split
- retrieval 247 ms · first delta 8210 ms · total 11026 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
- full breakdown
- queued 0 ms · retrieval 247 ms · ask 10768 ms · gateway work 11026 ms · total 11026 ms
- tokens in (the prompt the answerer read)
- 3680
- tokens out (what the answerer generated)
- 380
- tok/sec
- 136.6 tok/sec — 380 output tokens in 2.781 s of generation
- live seat (read from the running child)
- answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 13s ago)
- stream path
- streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
- watchdog
- first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
- num_ctx · think posture
- both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.
disposition
- outcome
- ANSWERED — Answered
- abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered)
- answered — no abstain rationale applies
setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render
- decision
- NO_APPROVED_CHECKLIST — setup-shaped, but no approved setup checklist exists for this game
- pattern that matched
- SETUP — "setup" / "set up"
- matched words (in the normalized question)
-
set up
errata registry — what the gate above had to match against
this game registers NO errata cards (edition 173), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one
Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.