Comparison

Tabletopia vs Ark Nova

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Tabletopia

Play board games digitally with friends or solo. This platform offers a virtual table experience where players manually enforce rules, just like in real life. Explore a growing library of popular board games or create and share your own.

Highlights
  • Play board games digitally
  • Solo, hotseat, and online multiplayer
  • Create and share your own board games
  • Vast library of popular board games
  • Virtual table experience
Features
Read full description

Tabletopia is a digital online platform for playing board games just like in real life. There is no AI to enforce the rules. Read the rulebook, choose a seat at the virtual table, and let the game begin! Features: • Solo, Hotseat and Online Multiplayer modes • Create digital versions of your own board games to promote, playtest, and demonstrate them! • 80+ games are already available, such as: Champions of Midgard A hit worker placement game about Viking clans waging war against mythological Norse beasts by Grey Fox Games The Shipwreck Arcana Very clever cooperative deduction game by Meromorph Games Hansa Teutonica One of the best competitive eurogames about creating trade network in medieval Germany by Argentum Verlag Sub Terra Cooperative survival horror board game by Inside the Box Burgle Bros Cooperative stealth game about daring robbery by Fowers Games Tuscany New edition of very popular worker placement game about managing your own winery by Stonemaier Games. Explore our Featured catalog to find even more different games. We are constantly working on adapting more games from our extensive web catalog into mobile format.

About

Ark Nova

Design and manage a modern zoo to support global conservation efforts. Build enclosures, house animals, and utilize unique cards for special abilities. Compete to create the most successful zoological establishment.

Highlights
  • Plan and design a modern zoo
  • Build enclosures and accommodate animals
  • Support global conservation projects
  • Utilize 255 unique cards (animals, specialists, projects)
  • Upgrade action cards for gameplay
  • Increase zoo appeal and scientific reputation
Features
Read full description

Plan and build a modern, scientifically managed zoo to support conservation projects in an acclaimed strategy board game. In Ark Nova, you will plan and design a modern, scientifically managed zoo. With the ultimate goal of owning the most successful zoological establishment, you will build enclosures, accommodate animals, and support conservation projects all over the world. Specialists and unique buildings will help you in achieving this goal. At the heart of Ark Nova are 255 cards featuring animals, specialists, unique enclosures, and conservation projects, each with a particular ability. Use them to increase the appeal and scientific reputation of your zoo and to collect conservation points. Each player has a set of action cards, which you will use and upgrade to carry out your plans. Each player has a set of five action cards to manage their gameplay, and the power of an action is determined by the slot the card currently occupies. The cards are: BUILD: Allows you to build standard or special enclosures, kiosks, and pavilions. ANIMALS: Allows you to accommodate animals in your zoo. CARDS: Allows you to gain new zoo cards (animals, sponsors, and conservation project cards). ASSOCIATION: Allows your association workers to carry out different tasks. SPONSORS: Allows you to play a sponsor card in your zoo or to raise money. With high replayability and rich components, Ark Nova provides a remarkable gaming experience that will bring the game to the table again and again.

Screenshots

Tabletopia4 screens
Ark Nova4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Ark Nova at 73% against Tabletopia's 24%. Ark Nova also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.6) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). Tabletopia's advantage is price (Free vs $10.99). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Tabletopia is free to download; Ark Nova costs $10.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ark Nova holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ark Nova has 1.2K ratings behind it against 104, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 24% of Tabletopia's written reviews are positive against 73% of Ark Nova's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tabletopia ships an update every 3 months, Ark Nova fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Tabletopia versus Ark Nova: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTabletopiaArk Nova
PriceFree — better$10.99
Rating2.6 (104 ratings)4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews24.5% of reviews72.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1041.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#26 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size123 MB682 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperTableTopia, Inc.Dire Wolf Digital

Customer experience

Tabletopia

All ratings104 ratings
Positive35.6%
Neutral13.5%
Negative51.0%
Written reviews139 reviews
Positive24.5%
Neutral12.9%
Negative62.6%

Ark Nova

All ratings1,236 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews132 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral10.6%
Negative16.7%

User reviews

Tabletopia

From 104 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Good app
  • 🚀 Smooth gameplay
  • 💡 Variety of games
  • 🎮 Great simulator

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes frequently
  • 🔌 Connectivity issues
  • 🤯 Unintuitive controls
  • 💸 Expensive subscription

Ark Nova

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great implementation overall
  • 👍 Lots of fun
  • 👍 Good animations
  • 👍 Choice of modes
  • 👍 Clean, modern and enjoyable design

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Tile placement/rotation issues on iPad
  • 🐛 Building placement UI issues
  • 👎 Difficult to read board state on mobile
  • 👎 Lack of simultaneous view for key game info
  • 👎 Cumbersome to create games with friends

Bugs and requests

Tabletopia

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Infinite update loop
  • Game progress loss
  • Rules crash the app
  • Login and sync problems

Requested features

4 requests
  • Offline save state
  • Game filters and search
  • Multilingual support
  • Cross-platform play

Ark Nova

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • iPad Flash exit issue
  • Rewards screen being blocked by other UI elements

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to enable larger UI buttons for modal panels
  • Full screen mode
  • Option to reverse zoom direction
  • Improved card readability/zoom

In-app purchases

None

Tabletopia

No in-app purchases

None

Ark Nova

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tabletopia free?
Tabletopia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ark Nova free?
Ark Nova costs $10.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tabletopia or Ark Nova?
Ark Nova is rated higher. Tabletopia averages 2.6 out of 5 from 104 ratings, while Ark Nova averages 4.8 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Tabletopia or Ark Nova have ads?
Neither Tabletopia nor Ark Nova shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tabletopia or Ark Nova?
Tabletopia ships an update every 3 months, and Ark Nova fortnightly. Most recently, Tabletopia was updated on September 30, 2026 and Ark Nova on October 12, 2026.

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