Hive

Good evening, in an effort to catch up on our backlog, Amanda, Hector and I decided to play through 3 smaller games so that we only need to do 1 per day for the remainder of the year. The first one I’ll be taking a look at tonight is Hive. Hive is one of the first games I was introduced to when I went to my first boardgame meetup in the city, and if it were the only one, I probably wouldn’t have gone to another.

First, the components. I own the pocket edition of hive, but the components for the other two versions are identical apart from the size and color of the hex tokens, so they’re all comparable. The tokens are a very nice bakelite or similar material, and clearly marked. The rulebook is a fold out sheet instead of a book, which I don’t care for, but it’s otherwise functional and has good illustrations of how the pieces work. The bag it comes in is a nice bag, and has not worn despite me owning this game for over a decade. Being a pocket game, that’s all there is to it.

As far as the gameplay goes, players begin by placing out various insect tokens, each represented by a hexagon, on the table. Once their queen is placed, they can then choose to either move tokens or continue placing more out. Each token has a unique movement mechanic and the goal is to completely surround the opponent’s queen.

I do not like this game very much, in fact it is one of the few games that I own which I actively dislike, and the reason is, it’s too much like chess. Hive, like chess, isn’t a game anymore than running on a treadmill is a game, it’s a mental exercise. Now I’m not opposed to the concept of chess, I played a lot of it in elementary school, but due to it’s deterministic nature, I do not find chess to be the slightest bit fun.

To become good at a game with no luck involved (apart from choosing the first player) one must memorize a list of practical moves and their appropriate counters or else sit there and stew in analysis paralysis as you attempt to account for your opponent’s current and future moves, which can be a decent mental exercise, but is not a good value for my time. With that being said I don’t think it’s a bad game, just not the type I care for.

Why then keep the game? Largely because it’s cheap and doesn’t have any meaningful resale or trade value, and it takes very little shelf space. I also find it a useful gateway game for those who have played things like chess or checkers, as it’s much more relatable than dice chucking or card play if you aren’t used to those things. Not recommended to anyone except those who really like similar games to chess, in which case, this is probably the game for you.

Note: Hopefully this won’t remain in our collection much longer. Did not remember how to play the game before we went over the instructions. Did not find it particularly enjoyable. Do not want to play again. Although quite simple, also very quick. I don’t recommend.

The Teal Dear

Game: Hive
Designer: John Yianni
Price: $22 (pocket edition)
Players: 2
2 player Scaling: 2 player only
Playtime: 10 – 60 minutes depending on how AP prone players are
Estimated Lifespan: Will stay in collection
Average Play Frequency: Hopefully never again
Complexity: 5
Components: 5
Bang for Buck: 3
Value for Time: -1
Fun Factor: 1
Overall: 2