







Have you ever been playing chess and thought, "You know what this needs? Bugs!"? Have you ever wished you could break beyond the bounds of the board and preset positions and do things your own way? Well, Hive *may* be just the game you're looking for!





Here we see a defeated black queen bee

The Basics

Hive is a 2-player abstract strategy game, both players starting off with the same selection of pieces. Each piece is a six-sided tile with different movement patterns, as identified by the bug etched into the top. Per player, there is 1 queen bee, 3 soldier ants, 3 grasshoppers, 2 spiders, and 2 beetles, and expansions that add 1 ladybug and 1 mosquito (included in the pocket edition). Your objective is to completely surround the other player's queen with any combination of tiles.





The "board" (any flat area you can place tiles) begins empty. After the first player is determined, play starts by placing any bug of your choice, followed by your opponent doing the same (these first two bugs are the only ones allowed to touch the opposing color when entering the board). By or before turn 4, each player must have placed their queen bee, after which play continues back and forth by either placing a new tile from your remaining pool of bugs or moving an already placed bug. Whoever can surround the opposing queen first wins!





Difficulty

Hive, like chess, is composed of memorizing the movement patterns of a handful of different pieces:





Queens move only 1 space, the most defenseless piece

Soldier Ants can move practically anywhere around the perimeter of the hive, provided they can slide into place between other tiles

Grasshoppers jump over at least one tile, into the next open space

Spiders move 3 spaces, no more, no less

Beetles move only one space at a time, but can climb on top of the hive, immobilizing the bug underneath





Beyond remembering what each bug does, the difficulty is solely based upon the strategies employed by yourself and your opponent. Often you will need to keep track of what both players have on the table, what is still available to play, and attempt to anticipate what the hive will look like two moves ahead.





Fluff/Flavor

Hive is a completely abstract game. The only purpose served by the bug images is to differentiate which tiles move in which patterns and (in some cases) give a sort of visual hint/reminder of that pattern. Why are all these different bugs, some who would naturally eat each other, working together to protect a queen bee? Who cares! All I know is my united bug federation is about to send a grasshopper jumping over the hive to surround your queen and declare victory!





Recommendation

First off, I strongly recommend against getting Hive to play with your non-gamer wife on a long, cramped, tiring overseas flight.... she probably won't appreciate it (don't ask how I know). That being said, I went on to play with a few others who enjoyed it, as well as my brother (who is very much into chess), and he insisted on game after game.... luckily each game takes an average of about 10 minutes, 5 if you're not the best abstract strategist (I am not, shown by my win/loss record).





Ladybug and mosquito expansions included in Hive Pocket

There are also a few editions of Hive out there to choose from. They all play the same, the appearance is just slightly different between each one. The tiles for the original are about 1.5 to 2 inches across, white vs. black, with different colored bugs etched on the tops. This version does not include the expansions (ladybug, mosquito, and now pill bug, which I have yet to find anywhere). The next edition is Hive Pocket, and it is the one I personally own. It has exactly the same appearance as the original, except the tiles are about one-half to one-third the size (good for easy transportation on a trip), and the ladybug and mosquito expansions are included. The final edition is called Hive Carbon, which is the size of the original, but the color scheme is all carbon/grayscale, for those looking for a less colorful copy. No matter which one you get, they are all made out of the same high quality bakelite material that gives each piece a comfortable "stay put" weight and nice "clacky" sound when tapped together.





Overall, if you're into abstract strategy games like chess and are looking for something a little more out of the box, Hive may be the game for you to try. It's short, so it works well as a filler, and if you pick up the pocket edition like I did, you can take it with you pretty much anywhere there's at least an airplane meal-tray's worth of flat space to play.





---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



