Comparison

Ark Nova vs Puluc 3D

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

Head to head
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.

About

Puluc 3D

Experience a historical Mayan strategy game where players race and capture opponents' warriors. Strategic movement and prisoner management are key to victory in this ancient board game.

Highlights
  • Race and capture gameplay
  • Prisoner stacking and rescue mechanics
  • Corn kernel dice rolling for movement
  • Historical Mayan theme
  • 11-space board
  • Single-player and multiplayer options
Features
Read full description

Puluc is a game inspired by the Maya: a race-and-capture game of warriors, prisoners and rescue, may have been played for generations in the highlands of Guatemala and southern Belize. Two camps face each other across a stone road cut through the jungle. Five warriors to a side. Every turn is staked on a throw of four corn kernels. And here is the twist that makes it more than a race: taking a warrior prisoner is not the same as defeating him. Prisoners travel with their captor, stacked beneath him, and only by dragging them all the way home do you remove them from the game for good. So every prisoner you take is also a liability — you have to walk him back down the road, within reach of the enemy, to make the capture count. Your own captured warriors can be rescued the same way. Take the stack that holds them and they are freed and sent home. A GAME THE MAYA STILL PLAY Puluc — also called bul or buul — is a game of the Maya peoples of Belize and the Guatemalan highlands. The American ethnologist Stewart Culin described it in 1907, and it is still played today by Q'eqchi' and Mopan Maya communities. In the Maya languages the name bul means simply "to play with dice". Its deeper past is genuinely uncertain. Scholars debate whether it reaches back to the pre-Columbian Maya or took shape in the centuries after the Spanish conquest — no board has ever been found in the archaeological record. What is certain is that it was played across the Maya lowlands with these same four corn kernels, and that in some communities it carried the weight of ritual, played during the vigil before the maize sowing to strengthen the seed. This is not a museum piece. It is a game people still sit down and play. Boards vary from village to village — seven, nine or eleven spaces, always an odd number. This edition uses eleven. HOW IT PLAYS Throw the four kernels. Each is marked on one side; the number that land marked is how far you move. If none land marked, you move five. Zero becomes five — that is the old rule, not a mistake. Send a warrior up the road. Land on an enemy and you capture him, taking command of his entire stack: him, and everyone he was already carrying. Run a captive stack off the far end of the road and the reckoning comes due. Your own warriors who were taken are freed and go home. Your enemy's prisoners are eliminated for good. Eliminate all five of your opponent's warriors and the match is yours. WHAT MAKES IT WORTH PLAYING Rolled movement, real decisions. The corn decides your distance; you decide who moves, which way, and whether it is worth walking prisoners back through ground where they can be taken off you. Stacking cuts both ways. Prisoners ride beneath their captor and the whole stack moves as one — so a triumphant capture can become a catastrophic loss if the wrong side reaches it. Nothing is permanent until it is delivered. A lost position can be reversed by capturing the right stack, which keeps matches alive to the last throw. Short, sharp games. Finish one in a sitting; take a turn while you wait for something else. BUILT FOR THE PHONE - One board is the whole game — no menus, no lobbies, no screens to tap through. - One-handed portrait play: pick a warrior up, drag him, let go. - Your opponent is the computer, and it plays to win. - An in-game rules reference whenever you need it. - Turn indicator and roll value on screen while you play. - Looping theme music with a one-tap sound toggle. - Plays entirely offline. FREE AND QUIET No ads. No in-app purchases. No accounts, no sign-in. Nothing is collected and nothing leaves your device. One throw of the corn can turn a match. See if you can run the road.

Screenshots

Ark Nova4 screens
Puluc 3D2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Puluc 3D at Free against Ark Nova's $10.99. Puluc 3D also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Ark Nova's advantage is ratings volume (1.2K vs 1) and chart position (#36 vs unranked). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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

Puluc 3D 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

Puluc 3D holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ark Nova has 1.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ark Nova ships an update fortnightly, Puluc 3D every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Ark Nova versus Puluc 3D: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArk NovaPuluc 3D
Price$10.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.2K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#36 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size682 MB65 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDire Wolf DigitalRoger Boone

Customer experience

Ark Nova

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

Puluc 3D

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

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

Puluc 3D

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Ark Nova

No in-app purchases

None

Puluc 3D

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ark Nova free?
Ark Nova costs $10.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Puluc 3D free?
Puluc 3D is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ark Nova or Puluc 3D?
Puluc 3D is rated higher. Ark Nova averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Puluc 3D averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Ark Nova or Puluc 3D have ads?
Neither Ark Nova nor Puluc 3D shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ark Nova or Puluc 3D?
Ark Nova ships an update fortnightly, and Puluc 3D every 8 days. Most recently, Ark Nova was updated on October 16, 2026 and Puluc 3D on October 14, 2026.

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