Designed by: John Yianni
Hive is a strategy game for 2 players, and although the pieces are insect-themed and there is no board, it has its antecedents in games such as chess.
Both players are given a set of hexagonal pieces which are identical save for the colour. There are ants, grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, and a bee. One player starts by placing a piece on the table, and the other puts a piece of his or her own joining it. After that play continues with players either adding pieces to the board (which must now go adjacent to only their own colour) or moving a piece on the board. This collection of growing pieces makes up the hive.
Your goal is to surround your opponents’ queen – what colour pieces surround it don’t matter, but as soon as one bee is surrounded that player loses. All the pieces move in different ways – the spider three spaces, the bee itself one space, the ant as far as it can around the edge of the hive, the grasshopper can jump (but only in a straight line and over other pieces, not spaces) and the beetle can move one space, but unlike the others can climb up and over the hive. Any piece underneath it is trapped and can’t move!
The other important thing about movement is that no one piece can ‘break’ the hive by moving – at all times all pieces make up one ‘mass’ – an unbroken set of hexagons. And finally each player must place their bee in the first four turns of the game.
Hive is very simple in terms of rules, and the beautiful pieces will also appeal to children. But winning is certainly not child’s play.
It's a game of combat.
Turns can occasionally take a slight lull as players look for a way out of tricky spot.
Early game there is very little, although it increases. Different ages can play it different ways.
Hive can be over in minutes, or it can be over in a few more minutes. There is no randomness as such, but like chess the possibilities of moves are vast.
2-2
Players
8+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
Hive's beautiful, tactile pieces elevate the game. Despite appealing to almost any age with it's chess-like battle and simple rules, I wouldn't say the game is 'fun' in the sense of many other games on here - while playing, you won't be talking much, and the interaction between players is purely through the pieces on the table. But fun comes in many guises for many people, and having spent some of my younger days enjoying chess, this scratches a similar itch.