Board Game Arena

I put a size 2 wombat in a size 5 enclosure planning to release the wombat the very next move. The computer program only allowed me to open a level 2 enclosure when I released my wombat. I remember in the real game when you released an animal the rules said it did not have to be from the enclosure you originally put the animal. In real games, I have released animals from wrong size enclosures, when that was the enclosure the animal was put in. Have I play wrong in the real games?

There's no memory of which animal goes with which enclosure. The manual says: "flip the smallest occupied standard enclosure that meets the animal’s requirements from the occupied side to the empty side", so it's always assumed that you placed the animal in the smallest possible enclosure.

Yes, you played wrong.

From the official FAQ:

„You must flip the smallest possible occupied enclosure that meets all of the enclosure requirements of the animal (including water and rock spaces). In the rare case there is no such enclosure, flip the smallest occupied enclosure that meets at least the animal’s enclosure size requirement. If there is no occupied enclosure at all that meets the animal‘s enclosure size requirement, do not flip any enclosure.“

source: https://capstone-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Ark-Nova-FAQ.pdf