Nine Arches: Game of the Year?

What do you get when you cross a New York Times best-selling author, a veteran game designer and producer behind Fortnite and Doom, and two years of pandemic lockdown, isolation and frustration? 

Answer: an entirely new kind of game.

‟Crises are good at triggering innovation,” says Geoffrey Gray, the founder of Nine Arches, the card game that took Kickstarter by storm last year, raising over $200K in three weeks, and designed to get players off their screens, out of their basements and back into the real world.



A GAME LIKE NO OTHER

Sick of Monopoly monotony? Clueless at Cluedo? Nine Arches is a revolution in gaming we at the Coolector believe because it takes the game play outside. Your game board is the world. To succeed, you need to do real things. The buzz surrounding Nine Arches is somewhat gargantuan – think Cards Against Humanity – but likely less obscene. Cards for Humanity, it has been called. Your mission is to combine quest cards to create your own unique and surreal experiences. Let’s say you pick the High Ground, Chef and Surprise card, you might head to the mountains, cook a special cake, and surprise your hiking friend with your treat. Or whatever you dream up…

No game is the same, and the challenge is to become as creative and daring as possible. Each box comes with the all-important deck of quest cards, a handsome collector’s tin to keep them safe and warm, and an elegant guide to inspire your journey. Spanning over 200 pages, the first edition of the Archer’s Guide unveils the deeper meanings of each of the cards in your deck. You’ll find a rhyming poem to introduce each card, over a dozen modes of play, and actionable wisdom from the ancients to modern masters. 

Another key component of the Nine Arches game is the Destiny Dice. These can be used to determine the time frame to complete your deal of adventure cards. You can also keep track of your quest in your new handsome journal, which is perfect for collecting new memories and charting growth as you pass through the Nine Arches. 

It’s not hard to see why we at The Coolector think Nine Arches could be the Game of the Year once it hits retail later this fall because, quite frankly, it’s quite unlike anything else out there and the adventure possibilities are endless. 

What sets 9A apart is that only you can control the fate of your adventure, and all the action happens in real-life,” say Gray, the New York Times bestselling author, who started designing the game with Grank Shonkwiler, a veteran game designer and producer who worked on Fortnite, Doom and countless other titles.  

The thing that really sets Nine Arches apart is the fact you’re not sitting around a coffee table playing this one. You’re out in the big wide world making new memories and stories that you’ll tell long after you’ve rolled the last dice on your Nine Arches adventure. Looking for a new, exciting game to play in 2022? This will definitely tick all of the right boxes.

Images: Maria Levitov

Leo Davie
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