Hive (game)

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Hive is a bug-themed tile-based tabletop game, designed by John Yianni and published in 2001 by Gen Four Two. Players try to capture the opponent's queen bee, while avoiding the capture of their own queen. Although the game is based around bugs, this theme is incidental and Hive is an abstract strategy game.

The game uses hexagonal tiles to represent the various contents of the hive. The original edition used wooden tiles with blue and silver stickers to represent the units, but a newer edition has been published using black and white bakelite tiles with painted etchings.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The game uses five "units" with different properties: queen bees, soldier ants, beetles, grasshoppers and spiders. Each turn, players must either place a unit into play from the supply, or move an existing unit. The Queen Bee must be placed within the initial 4 turns of the game, and must be in play before a player can move a unit. The initial units placed by each player must be placed adjacent to one another, and additional units must be placed adjacent to the player's own units but may not be placed adjacent to the opponent's units.

No unit can be moved if the movement would disconnect the contiguous "hive" at any time during the movement, and no unit can be moved into or out of a hex unless its route is clear; however, beetles may climb onto adjacent units (and back down), and grasshoppers may jump over pieces.

The game ends when a Queen Bee is captured by surrounding it on all 6 sides by either player's pieces, and the player whose Queen Bee is surrounded is the loser. The game is a draw if a move results in the simultaneous capture of both Queen Bees, or in a situation where no player can win the game (this situation is known as stalemate).

[edit] Openings

There are any number of possible opening strategies, but there seems to be two that have become rather accepted. They are reproduced below in order of placement:

1. spider - bee - ant (in a V formation with the spider at the point)

2. bee - spider - spider (in a V formation with the bee at the point)

One thing to consider in choosing your starting piece is that, more than likely, you will be unable to move it for the duration of the game. Thus, starting with an ant (a very valuable piece) would not be particularly wise. Likewise, since beetles can be very useful when they climb up on the hive, it would be unwise to start with them either.

[edit] Expansion

In 2007 a promotional expansion was announced that consists of one new piece for each player, namely a mosquito. This game piece can be added to each player's supply before the game begins. Once played, the mosquito takes on the characteristics of any other piece it touches at the time, so that its movement and abilities change during the course of the game. The only exception to this rule is that if it is moved on top of the hive (as a beetle moves), it retains the abilities of a beetle until it moves down off of the hive again.

[edit] External links

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