Elf Creek Games | Honey Buzz | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 1-4 Players | 45-90 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

The bees have discovered economics. The queens believe that if they sell honey to the bears, badgers, and woodland creatures, they will find peace and prosperity. Spring has arrived and it's time to build the hive, find nectar, make honey, and, for the first time ever, set up shop. Forage– Move your bee token in the field and, if possible, collect the nectar token and place it in your hive. The gameplay in Honey Buzz revolves around your personal hive which you create from hexagonal tiles. Each tile has two hexagons and every player starts the game with the same tiles arranged in the same shape. There is also a field where different types of nectar are laid out in a grid. Each player has one bee token that can move around and collect nectar throughout the game.

What there is though is a lot of strategy. And most of that comes from the interaction between your tiles and the actions you can take. The bulk of the game is centered around creating empty cells and filling them with nectar, but there is a lot to consider when doing so as the tiles you choose will dictate your actions later in the game. What I really like about Honey Buzz is how the actions work. It’s a worker placement game in that you are placing your worker-beeples to get tiles, but the actual actions you get from this might not be immediate. This can either be great allowing for super combos, or tortuous as you watch your opponent beat you to the action you want to take. This delayed action mechanic reminds me a bit of Tzolk’in, a worker placement game where the player’s actions happen when they remove their workers. This comparison is a compliment to Salomon’s design. I really enjoy when designers take a concept we are familiar with and find a new way to implement it. In Honey Buzz, points and coins are one and the same. The main way that players will be receiving coins throughout the game is with the Market action. Another way to get coins is through the Queen’s Contest. At the beginning of the game, three contest cards will be placed on the Hive Board. These contests will either be speed contests or final contests. A speed contest will reward the first player (and potentially second and third, depending on player count) to achieve a certain goal, such as having every type of nectar. A final contest will reward players at the end of the game based on certain conditions, like having the most nectar. When you take a production action, you place your fan marker and then generate honey on any nectar it touchesWhat it definitely isn’t is a cute little game about adorable bees making delicious honey. I mean, it is, except for, you know, the cutthroat capitalism. The bees have discovered economics. The queens believe that if they sell honey to the bears, badgers, and woodland creatures, they will find peace and prosperity. Spring has arrived and it’s time to build the hive, find nectar, make honey, and, for the first time ever, set up shop. Each player begins with a player aid, board, 4 starting hive tokens, 10 beeples, a forage and fan token. Beeples and coins are assigned based on starting player.

Produce. Here you will place your fan token on any space in your hive and all nectar tiles that it touches will produce one honey token. The honey stays on that spot, so until you are able to spend the honey those nectar tiles will not produce more. The game scales very well. I have played at a two and four player count, and have found myself having enough downtime between turns without being bored. There is also a solo variant to the game, which has different levels of difficulty, increasing the replayability.

As you continually expand your hive, you’ll forage for nectar and pollen, make honey, sell different varieties at the bear market, host honey tastings, and attend to the queen and her court. There’s only so much nectar to go around, and finding it won’t be easy. Players will have to scout out the nectar field and pay attention to other players searches to try to deduce the location of the nectar they need for themselves Decree: This is a wild and allows you to do any of the other actions, however, you have to pay to take decree tile from the Hive Board.