It’s time to get crafty with ArchRavels from XYZ Game Labs! In this 2-4 player board game, players will take on the role of a crafter. There are four types of crafters in the game: yarn spinners, crafty shoppers, master crafters, and color specialists. These crafters will compete against one another to craft sweaters, mittens, scarves, and more, but will also need to fulfill orders and other special requests that come in to show off their abilities and earn a higher score. Interspersed between all of the crafting, supplies will need to be replenished with trips to the Yarn Bazaar so players will want to make sure they keep a close eye on their yarn stash if they want to be able to truly compete!

Archravels is a card drafting and set collection game that was created by Adam McCrimmon and Jordan Miller. McCrimmon previously designed Borderlands: Tiny Tina’s Robot Tea Party; a card game also published by XYZ Game Labs. The artwork for ArchRavels was provided by Rochelle Steder. To aid this foray into the world of crafting and fiber arts, designers consulted with several professionals, which we feel is an important contributing factor to the final product. The game appeared on Kickstarter in 2019, Krista backed it, and we are using her deluxe edition copy for this review.

To set up a game of ArchRavels, players will each receive a player board and token of their chosen color and persona, a yarn bowl containing one of each color yarn token, and one random tile for each of the three blank patterns at the bottom of their board. The Yarn Bazaar cards will be placed on the game board after having a number of special requests equal to twice the number of players shuffled into the upper half. It should be noted that each player’s board depicts a preferred request that the player can craft for even more points and those projects must be included in the mix for each crafter playing. A number of project cards based on the number of players are taken from those provided and placed below the shop cards in their designated space on the game board. All remaining cards are returned to the box and the token tray is set in reach of all players. The person who most recently crafted something will be the first player.

Gameplay consists of a series of rounds in which each player will complete the actions of their turn before progressing to the next in line. During their turn, a player will choose one action from their board and place their player token in its corresponding space. This is done to help remember what action the player took on their previous turn as the same choice can not be made consecutively. Each board is a bit different, but the icons will be universal with numbers showing the number of times the action can be performed. The “shop” action will allow a yarn card to be taken from the Yarn Bazaar for the number of yarn tokens that card depicts; “craft” will let a player spend those tokens in exchange for items to later use for order fulfillment or to create a special request item; “swap” lets three of any color token be exchanged for three of another, and two characters have unique actions allowing them modified versions of the previous options. The Yarn Bazaar is then restocked. Any revealed events are resolved immediately. If a request is placed, the active player instead decides if they will take it for themselves or give it to another player. This decision shouldn’t be made lightly as these projects come with pros and cons. For example, if left unfinished at the end of the game, they will be worth negative points! Blank spaces created during this restock step will count as a single yarn of any color if chosen during the next player’s shop action. The active player will then have the option to take one of several “restock actions” which include turning in crafted items to complete a project, trading a completed item back in for yarn, and a few others. It is then the next player’s turn and play will continue until an empty project space cannot be refilled. Each player will have the chance to craft one final item and points are then calculated as per the rules.

Personally, we felt that ArchRavels is a game that is what you make of it – much like real-like crafting! If players want to have a take-that, cutthroat type of game, ArchRavels can certainly provide that type of environment. However, it can also be a very laid-back, friendly game for players who prefer a more calm interaction. ArchRavels is also a game that works for both entry-level gamers and experienced gamers alike due to its easy adaptability. For example, after a few standard games, we decided to play around with the rules a little bit and added in more Special Request cards. This didn’t make the game harder but provided more crafting interactions and interesting play. While this theme is certainly not going to appeal to everyone, the game itself is solid and easy to learn. The crafting mechanics played well into the crafting theme and will certainly appease the audience it attracts. It is also nice to have something different on the game shelf for when we are in the mood for something outside the usual niche. Another thing that we loved about ArchRavels is the variety in both the special requests cards and the characters themselves. During the Kickstarter campaign, several sets of fandom based items were added to the game including a few easily recognizable sweaters from television shows and movies and even a nod at a famous wizarding world!

All photos of XYZ Game Labs product were taken and edited by Krista.