How to get the Shell Arch in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Ava Thompson-Powell
How to get the Shell Arch Animal Crossing

Create a standout island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with unique craftable items such as the Shell Arch and various shell-based decorations, perfect for enhancing your beach areas in the game.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the shell arch is a cute piece of movable houseware furniture. It’s included in the Shell Series. The area below the shell arch is accessible for players to cross. It also provides an extra 0.5 development points toward the island rating as an outside item.

We’ve put together this handy guide to help you craft one of what is arguably one of the game’s cutest items available: the Shell Arch.

Contents

How to get the Shell Arch

Animal Crossing Shell Arch
The Shell Arch looks perfect on any beach setup, or even in a home!

The Shell Arch in Animal Crossing is obtainable in a few different ways:

  1. Lazy Villagers can gift the recipe to you (Beau, Claude, Dizzy, Erik, Punchy, Stu, and Zucker, to name a few).
  2. Obtained through a message in a bottle.

Unlike some items in the game, however, this item needs to be crafted before you can place it down on your Island or sell it.

The item itself can make you a pretty penny, or Bell, too. Selling it at Nook’s Cranny can nab you 12,360 Bells, though YouTubers such as SpookyFairy have also noted that the selling price can increase if the Shell Arch is a Hot Item.

How to craft the Shell Arch in Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing Shell Arch
The Shell Arch has 6 variations for you to craft.

Once you’ve got the recipe in your inventory, to craft the Shell Arch, you’ll need a few items. These can all be found dotted around the beaches of your island (especially when in the early stages of the game):

  • Sea Snail 3x
  • Venus Comb 3x
  • Sand Dollar 3x
  • Coral 3x
  • Giant Clam 3x
  • Cowrie 3x

Shell Arch variations

If you’re planning on customizing your Shell Arch, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got 7 customization kits handy.

None of these colors require any extra items to craft, so feel free to choose your favorite. The variations available are:

Color Sprite
White Shell Arch Animal Crossing White
Brown Shell Arch Animal Crossing Brown
Pink Shell Arch Animal Crossing Pink
Yellow Shell Arch Animal Crossing Yellow
Purple Shell Arch Animal Crossing Purple
Pearl Shell Arch Pearl

About The Author

Ava was formerly Dexerto's Evergreen Editor, based in England. With a BA (Hons) in Media and Communications, and a passion for RPGs, The Sims, Pokemon, and Dead by Daylight, she primarily covered tips, guides, and reviews.