Designer: Paul Salomon (Genotype: A Mendelian Genetics Game, Periodic: A Game of the Elements, Virulence: An Infectious Card Game)

Artists: Anne Heidsieck (Majesty: For the Realm, Welcome To…, When I Dream), Jason D. Kingsley (Dead Men Tell No Tales, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Machi Koro, Wasteland Express Delivery Service, World’s Fair 1893)

Publisher: Elf Creek Games (Atlantis Rising Second Edition, End of the Trail)

Genre/Mechanisms: deduction, economic, memory, pattern building, tile placement, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Honey Buzz is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total 5x the initial funding goal with 6 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

What It’s About: Honey Buzz is a ‘worker bee’ placement game where you’ll expand your own beehive, forage for nectar and pollen, make different varieties of honey, and sell your honey at the bear market.”

How It Works:  Honey Buzz is played over a series of player turns, beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise. On their turn, players must choose to either Assign Workers or Recall Workers.

When Assigning Workers, players first Make a Beeline, assigning one or more of their workers to the hive box of their choice on the game board, stacking them together to make a Beeline. If the hive box is already occupied by other Beelines, the active player must create a Beeline of at least one more worker than the tallest Beeline already present at that hive box to take the action. Then the active player Expands the Hive, taking a hive tile from the associated hive box, placing it inside the player’s hive so that it touches one or more existing hive tiles, edge to edge. The active player may also spend five coins to take a Decree hive tile. Finally, the player takes Hive Actions. If the new hive tile has been placed into an empty space completely surrounded by hive tiles, the player triggers all hive action icons on the spaces adjacent to the empty cell, taking the actions in the order of their choice, but taking them all if possible. If the player creates multiple empty cells, it’s possible they may be able to take the same hive action multiple times, once for each adjacent empty space.

When Recalling Workers the player first Retrieves Workers from every hive box on the game board, returning them to their player board, and then Scouts the Fields, choosing one nectar tile from any field, picking it up, and secretly viewing the front side before returning it to its place.

There are six different Hive Actions a player may be able to trigger during their turn: Hatch, Decree, Accounting Income, Forage, Produce, and Market. Hatch allows a player to take one of their remaining workers from the supply and move it to the space for new workers in the Hatch hive box; they’ll be able to collect that worker the next time the player Retrieves Workers. Decree allows the player to take one of the other 5 Hive Actions. Accounting Income gains the player 5 coins from the supply. Forage has the player performing the same tile-checking action as during Scout the Fields, except that if the player has an empty cell in their hive for the type of nectar pictures on the nectar tile, the player can take the tile and place it face-up in that empty cell. Otherwise the player returns the tile where they found it and instead claims one pollen from the supply. When a player Produces they place their fan token on one space in their hive, gaining one honey of the matching type from the supply for any nectar tile adjacent to the honey-producing space. When the action is complete, they remove their fan token. Finally, the Market action allows the player to perform one transaction, either Selling to the Market or Completing an Order. When Selling to the Market, players can choose between either a pollen or a type of honey, gaining coins from the supply equal to that resource’s value, then lowering the value of the associated resource by one after their transaction is complete. When Completing an Order, the player returns the associated resources of the Order to the supply and gains points for the Order Card during end-game scoring.

The end of the game is triggered when at least one of the following conditions is met: values of 4 of the 5 resources have bottomed out, or two of the three order stacks have been completed. When either of these conditions occurs, play continues until all players have had an equal number of turns, meaning the player last in turn order will take the final turn of the game.

During final scoring, players earn one point for each coin, honey, and pollen left in their hive; the indicated points for the player’s place in each final contest; and the indicated points for each completed order. A note on final contests: three contest cards are available each game. Speed Contests offer a payout of coins based on how quickly a player finishes the contest in comparison with their opponents. Final Contests award end-game points based on player ranking in fulfillment of the contest in comparison with their opponents.

The player with the highest score is the winner, with ties broken by the player with the most completed orders, then by the player with the most workers.

Comparisons:   For some other popular bee-themed games, check out the abstract Hive, worker placement Waggle Dance, area majority Hornet, or action dexterity Beeeees!

What Should I Pledge?:
$39 Honey Buzz – Standard Edition: a copy of the standard edition of the game, with all relevant stretch goals.
$59 Honey Buzz – Deluxe Edition: a copy of the deluxe edition of the game, with all relevant deluxe stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$20 Premium Wooden Coin Upgrade Pack
$40 Holiday Package: includes an art print card, and an additional copy of Honey Buzz – Standard Edition sent to the person of your choosing.
$60 Holiday Package: includes an art print card, and an additional copy of Honey Buzz – Deluxe Edition sent to the person of your choosing.

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $59 for the Deluxe Edition pledge, $20 for the Premium Wooden Coin Upgrade Pack, and $5 in shipping for a total of $84.

Honey Buzz completes its Kickstarter on Wednesday, November 27th and tentatively ships in July 2020.