How to play Lost Ruins of Arnak

How to play

Setup: Use the Bird Temple side of the board first. Put a face-up idol on each undiscovered site (level II sites also get a face-down one), stack temple and research bonus tiles on the research track, and deal 1 artifact left of the moon staff and 5 items right of it. With 3 players block 3 of the second dig spaces, with 2 players all 5. Each player takes a board, 2 archaeologists and a deck of 2 Funding, 2 Exploration and 2 Fear cards. Player 1 starts with 2 coins, player 2 a coin and a compass, player 3 two coins and a compass, player 4 a coin and two compasses.

Rounds: The game lasts 5 rounds. Each round, draw up to 5 cards, then take turns clockwise, each doing one main action plus any free actions, until everyone has passed.

Your cards: Use a card for its travel icon or its effect, never both; either way it goes to your play area. A plane pays any travel cost, any icon pays a boot, and 2 coins always buy a plane. Free-action effects don't use your turn; other effects are your main action.

Dig at a site: Pay the travel cost of an empty dig space, move an archaeologist there and take the site's reward. You have only two archaeologists.

Discover a new site: Pay the compass cost of a level I or II region plus the travel cost, and move an archaeologist to an undiscovered site there. Take its idols and use the face-up one's bonus, reveal a site tile and take its reward, then a guardian appears.

Guardians and idols: Guardians don't block digging, but anyone bringing an archaeologist home from a guarded site takes a Fear card. As a main action, with your archaeologist there, pay a guardian's cost to keep it: 5 points and a one-time boon. Each idol scores 3; as a free action you may slot one on your board for an effect, giving up the points printed on that slot.

Buy a card: Items cost coins and go to the bottom of your deck. Artifacts cost compasses and go to your play area, and you may use their effect at once for free; played from hand later, they cost a tablet.

Research: Pay the cost on the path to move your magnifying glass or notebook up a row, taking any bonus tile there and the row's effect. The notebook can never pass the glass, and its rows recruit and upgrade assistants, whose abilities refresh each round. A glass reaching the top finds the Lost Temple, scoring more the earlier it arrives; further research there buys temple tiles.

End of round: When all have passed, bring archaeologists home (with Fear from guarded sites), shuffle your play area onto the bottom of your deck, refresh assistants, exile the cards either side of the moon staff, move it right and refill the row. The start marker passes left.

Final scoring: After round V, score each research token's row, temple tiles, idols and empty idol slots, 5 per guardian, points on your cards, and −1 per Fear card. Ties go to whoever reached the Lost Temple first.

Strategy

Arnak rewards planning each round around a hand of only five cards while the island opens up around you. Research carries the score: Your two research tokens score by the row they reach, the Lost Temple pays more to whoever arrives first, and each temple stack holds only as many tiles as there are players. Notebook rows also bring assistants that work every round, so an early assistant keeps paying. Research costs tablets, arrowheads and jewels, so much of the rest of your turn is about producing them. Every card does one of two jobs: A card either pays a travel cost or gives its effect. Plan the round from your opening hand: which cards will carry archaeologists to sites and which will make resources. You have only two archaeologists, so choose where they go with care. Buy for next round: Items go to the bottom of your deck but sit above the cards you reshuffle at round end, so they usually arrive in your very next hand. Artifacts pay off at once, because their effect is free the turn you take them. The moon staff moves right each round, so the row offers more items early and more artifacts late; coins matter most early and compasses later. Thin the deck: Every Fear card and weak basic card takes one of your five draws. Exile effects are worth using, preferably on a card you have already used from your play area. Guardians and idols are trade-offs: Discovering a site brings idols, a new site to dig and a guardian. Overcoming it scores 5 points and a boon but costs a main action and resources that could go into research; the rulebook itself says not to feel obliged to overcome every guardian. An idol is 3 points either way, but slotting one gives up the points printed on that slot, so slot one when its one-time effect is worth more to you than those points. Watch the turn order: Once everyone else has passed you take several turns in a row, so saving free actions and a strong last card for that moment can pay off. The start marker simply passes left each round.

Tips

- Every card is either a travel icon or an effect, never both, so decide what each card in your hand is for before your first turn. - Two coins always buy a plane, which pays any travel cost. - You may dig at a site that still has a guardian; you just take a Fear card when your archaeologist comes home. - An artifact's effect is free on the turn you buy it; played from your hand later it costs a tablet. - Move your magnifying glass first: the notebook may share its row but never pass it. - Upgrading an assistant refreshes it, so use its silver side first and upgrade afterwards. - A slotted idol still scores 3, but you lose the points printed on that slot. - Cards left in hand at round end are rarely worth keeping, so use them before you pass.

Player count & time

1–4 players aged 12 and up, about 30 minutes per player. With four players every dig space is open; with three, 3 of the starting sites' second spaces are blocked, and with two all 5 are, so each starting site takes one archaeologist. The solo mode uses the two-player setup against a rival expedition driven by a stack of action tiles, and the rulebook points to a solo campaign at arnak.game. There is also a digital version on Steam.

Expansions

Expedition Leaders adds six leaders, each with their own abilities and starting deck, plus alternative research tracks and new items, artifacts, guardians, assistants and sites. The Missing Expedition is a six-chapter campaign for one player or two playing cooperatively, and its new research tracks, leaders and cards also work in standard games. Twisted Paths (2025) brings a larger double-sided map with two new research tracks; it comes in the Adventure Chest storage box and is also sold on its own. Upgraded metal coins and compasses are available separately.

Why it works so well

Deck building and worker placement feed each other: your cards move your archaeologists, and the sites they reach feed your research. With a hand of only five cards a round, every card decision matters, yet turns stay short. The island, the idols, the guardians and the shifting card row make each game unfold differently, and the race to the Lost Temple gives every game a clear arc.

Common beginner mistake

Leaving research until the last rounds. The Lost Temple pays more to whoever gets there first, temple tiles run out, and each step costs tablets, arrowheads or jewels that take turns to gather. Start moving your magnifying glass early, and let the resources you collect serve that climb rather than chasing every guardian you wake.