The blueprint is one passage of Genesis
Gopher wood, rooms, pitch within and without, a window, a door in the side and three storeys, at the ark's real size. How you build it is up to you: the finished ark is judged on the result, on the text, its strength, and whether it keeps the water out.
Where the text is silent, the game says so. Every number is marked with where it comes from: the Bible's own words, the old writings, archaeology, a study, or the game's own estimate. The journal ↗ tells the research behind it, a page at a time.
Noah's family, and only by invitation
You play Noah, his wife, their three sons and the sons' wives. Players have no names, only their roles: the Bible doesn't name the wives, so the game doesn't either. Alone, you are Noah.
Some loads need more than one pair of hands. A long timber is carried at both ends, and the calls (Lift! Hold! Wait!) bring everyone in on the count.
Real work, real weight
Fell a cypress with a bronze or an iron axe: the notch, the back cut, the hinge. A log weighs what it really weighs, and moves by rope, roller and lever. Heavier timber needs two.
Decades, not minutes
God's word comes in Noah's 480th year, and the flood in his 600th. The game's calendar counts the real work done, not the hours you play, and the house grows as the family did: for its first decades it is Noah and his wife alone.
A house of eight takes about 79 to 87 years to build the ark. Noah alone would need about 458. Houses are ranked by how many years their ark took.
