Knitting Circle, designed by Emily Vincent and illustrated by Beth Sobel, is the newest in the long-running series of tile-laying puzzle games from Flatout Games. Players compete as knitters creating the coziest, most beautiful assortment of garments.
Knitting Circle lives in the Calico (Colorblind Games review) universe, bringing the same charming art, graphic design, and similar gameplay. Calico fans will enjoy Knitting Circle, for sure. But even those who found Calico too limiting or crunchy should try this new game. Like later Flatout Games such as Cascadia (CBG review) and Verdant (CBG review), Knitting Circle offers a nice blend of breezy and brain-burny, inside Calico’s cat-in-lap theme.
Gameplay
Each round has two phases. First, players take turns collecting yarn from the central basket rondel. Then, they knit their newly acquired yard into garments (mittens, socks, hats, scarves, sweaters, and long johns) while making specific color combinations and patterns. Victory points are gained by knitting specific items, matching certain colors, and creating patterns like stripes and color blocks.
Player interaction in Knitting Circle is limited to the drafting phase, which offers enough opportunities to thwart opponents’ plans. I especially enjoy the simultaneous knitting phase, which reduces down time like the quick play of Fantastic Factories (CBG review).
Knitting Table for One. I’ve experienced most Flatout Games’ solo modes as acceptable but unremarkable, partially due to the conveyor belt-style upkeep required each turn. Knitting Circle’s solo play was a significant upgrade. The AI opponent used four coin flips to pick yarn tiles during the collection phase, and I only refilled the market five times (once between each round). I completed solo games in about 30 minutes.
Solo scoring is “beat your own score,” which is not my preferred method, but the designers provide a robust set of challenges for solo players to add variety to each gaming session.
Accessibility Review
Color Vision Accessibility
Knitting Circle uses the same color scheme and double-coding icons as Calico, which I found comforting. I particularly enjoy “logical symbols” for color vision iconography, like the water droplet for light blue and the leaf for green. (For more on this, see my recent essay, Universal Colorblind Code?)
As shown below, Knitting Circle adds a second set of icons for the garments; each matches one of the yarn colors and icons, maintaining just six colors I need to navigate.
Bonus scoring buttons are in three shapes – circles, squares, and triangles – and the other tokens (knitting needles, grabby paws, ugly garment buttons) are clear and easy to see.
The two sides of the yarn tiles, knit and purl, are clearly distinguished by pattern. I squinted a little at first with the lighter-color tiles since the white-on-color contrast was lower, but I had no problems during gameplay.
Player tokens. Knitting Circle took a page out of The Isle of Cats (CBG review), using a combination of color palette and shape to make the four pieces easily distinguishable. The choice of black and white as two of the four colors makes a big difference, as shown below in a greyscale photo of the tokens.
Low Vision Accessibility
Focusing on gamers with low-vision or partial blindness, one minor issue I experienced was difficulty reading the information at the bottom of the player board. The combination of font size and style, low contrast with the darker background, and the board’s texture resulted in my inability to use this player aid.
This was only a minor inconvenience. I relied on the rulebook for my initial plays, and the rules were simple enough that I didn’t need a player aid after that.
All other icons and text were large enough to read and had high contrast. I expect players who experience low vision will be able to play Knitting Circle, even solo, without difficulty.
Conclusion
Knitting Circle continues the cozy theme of Calico and the “thinky puzzleness” of the past several years of Flatout Games. It is also the first game from this publisher I can wholeheartedly recommend for solo play.
Knitting Circle is currently available to back on Kickstarter. For more information and to purchase after the campaign, see the Flatout Games website.
Disclaimer: Colorblind Games received a complementary pre-production copy of Knitting Circle for this preview. Components and final art may change in the published version.
Image Credits: Box cover images by Beth Sobel and Flatout Games. All photos by Brian Chandler.
Colorblind Games 