Ruling — New York Zoo

You asked

How do I set up the game?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: New York Zoobg-300877-en-1e

To set up the game, follow these steps: 1. Place the 8 Enclosure Tiles in the lightest green shade (4 spaces) in the middle slots of the action strip as indicated by the color code and distribute them randomly across the slots [1]. 2. Distribute the 15 Enclosure Tiles in the light green shade (5 spaces) randomly across all 15 slots of the action strip, placing them on top of the lightest green tiles [1]. 3. Distribute the 15 Enclosure Tiles in the dark green shade (6 spaces) randomly across the 15 slots of the action strip, placing them on top of the light green tiles [1]. 4. Distribute the 7 Enclosure Tiles in the darkest green shade (7 spaces) randomly across the slots near the ends of the action strip, placing them on top of the dark green tiles [1]. 5. For a 2-player game variant: Reduce the number of Enclosures in the slots of the action strip to only 2 by removing the topmost Enclosure Tile from each slot and putting it aside [2]. 6. For a 2-player game variant: Take the set-aside 7-space Enclosures (darkest green) and randomly allocate 3 to each player [2]. 7. For a 2-player game variant: Take the set-aside 6-space Enclosure Tiles (dark green) and randomly allocate them so each player receives a total of 6 Enclosures [2]. 8. For a 2-player game variant: Place these Enclosures simultaneously in your construction area according to normal puzzle rules, but add no animals to them [2]. 9. For a solo game: Place the zoo board for 1 player with the side of your choice faceup in front of you [2]. 10. For a solo game: Cover the slots of the action strip with only 2 instead of 3 Enclosures by removing the top tile from each slot and returning it to the box [2].

[1] RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook · p.4 · Tokens

[2] RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook · p.8 · Game end and winner · Short rules for 2 players · Additional game preparation · Additional gameplay

🔧 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 270 ms · ask 6267 ms · total 1935899 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 1929352 ms · generation 6547 ms
retrieval refs (raw): [{"page": 8, "score": 0.04918, "snippet": "The first player to cover each space on their construction area completely with tiles wins the game. (Often at the end of a game you are only missing a few small Attractions, for which you will have to dilligently collect animals to score Enclosures.) The game may end with the main action of the act", "headingPath": "Game end and winner · Short rules for 2 players · Additional game preparation · Additional gameplay", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 8, "score": 0.032258, "snippet": "You move the elephant with the range markers. With the 1-marker you have to move it exactly 1 space forward, with the 2 exactly 2 spaces, with the 3 exactly 3 spaces and with the 4+ at least 4 spaces. If the elephant would reach a space with an Enclosure that you cannot place on your zoo board, you ", "headingPath": "1. Moving the Elephant · 2. Main action and 3. Animal Breeding · Scoring · Winning · Losing", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 1, "score": 0.031746, "snippet": "In New York Zoo, you are designing an animal park. Build Enclosures, introduce new animals and raise their offspring. The first player to cover all the construction spaces of their zoo board with Enclosure Tiles and Attractions wins the game. The following overview can serve as a useful reminder for", "headingPath": "Turn overview · Golden rules", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.03125, "snippet": "Place the 8 Enclosure Tiles in the lightest green shade (4 spaces) in the middle slots of the action strip as indicated by the color code. Distribute them randomly across the slots. Distribute the 15 Enclosure Tiles in the light green shade (5 spaces) randomly across all 15 slots of the action strip", "headingPath": "Tokens", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 5, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "Your task is to completely fill the construction area (the brown spaces) on your zoo board with Enclosures and Attractions. (Unlike the Enclosures, the Attractions are also available in very small sizes. These small tiles are intended to close gaps.) You are allowed to rotate and turn puzzle pieces ", "headingPath": "Puzzle rules · The following rules apply to all puzzle pieces: · How to Play: Overview · 1. Moving the elephant · What is considered a space: · What is NOT considered spaces and are skipped during counting: · …", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 5, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "By moving the elephant, you sometimes cross one of the five Animal Breeding lines. If this is the case, your main action is followed by an Animal Breeding phase for each player . (More details below.) After Animal Breeding, all players check whether they have completely filled any Enclosures. If thi", "headingPath": "3. Animal Breeding", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "A player who crosses one of the five Animal Breeding lines with the elephant has to carry out a full main action first (placing an Enclosure Tile or Animal Acquisition) . Only then is an Animal Breeding announced, for all players. (Make sure all players are aware that an Animal Breeding takes place.", "headingPath": "Animal Breeding · Special rule 'Bonus Breeding' for the 2 or 3 player game", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 2, "score": 0.029412, "snippet": "Boards 8 double-sided zoo boards for various player counts 1 action strip with slots for Enclosure Tiles Enclosure Tiles (puzzle pieces) in four different shades of green 8 Enclosures in the lightest green (4 spaces) 15 Enclosures in dark green (6 spaces) 2 animal tiles of 3 per animal type ( use th", "headingPath": "Golden rules · Components · Animal Tiles · Tokens", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}]
citations (raw): [{"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Tokens", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}, {"page": 8, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Game end and winner · Short rules for 2 players · Additional game preparation · Additional gameplay", "sharpsignalDocId": 157}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3): no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 157 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 157 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 6, 2026 14:42

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 New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Game end and winner · Short rules for 2 players · Additional game preparation · Additional gameplay	p.8	0.04918 (at the 3-arm ceiling (0.04918) — every arm ranked it #1)	300
#2	RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	1. Moving the Elephant · 2. Main action and 3. Animal Breeding · Scoring · Winning · Losing	p.8	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
#3	RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Turn overview · Golden rules	p.1	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
#4	RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Tokens	p.4	0.03125 (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 New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Puzzle rules · The following rules apply to all puzzle pieces: · How to Play: Overview · 1. Moving the elephant · What is considered a space: · What is NOT considered spaces and are skipped during counting: · …	p.5	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 New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	3. Animal Breeding	p.5	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 New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Animal Breeding · Special rule 'Bonus Breeding' for the 2 or 3 player game	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 New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Golden rules · Components · Animal Tiles · Tokens	p.2	0.029412 (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

#	document	heading	page	quote chars
[1]	RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Tokens	p.4	no quote on the wire
[2]	RULEBOOK New York Zoo — Rulebook (corpus doc 157)	Game end and winner · Short rules for 2 players · Additional game preparation · Additional gameplay	p.8	no quote on the wire

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 270 ms · first delta 3349 ms · total 1935899 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 1929352 ms · retrieval 270 ms · ask 6267 ms · gateway work 6547 ms · total 1935899 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read): 3230
tokens out (what the answerer generated): 429
tok/sec: 136.7 tok/sec — 429 output tokens in 3.139 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 21s 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 79), 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.