Smart Zone Games Hive Pocket

If you love chess, go or checkers, this is the game for you. The game is simple but is full of strategic possibilities. The object of the game is to completely surround your opponents queen with their or your pieces. The fun part is that each insect in the game moves differently. If you get this version it has the ladybug and mosquito expansion, but not the pill bug expansion. If you can afford it, get all the expansions and the new edition of the regular Hive with the colored pieces(not the Carbon version). I say this because I played with the original at a board game event and I like the feel and size of the original game.

Interesting, easy to learn, no set-up time, the pocket size is perfect, our favorite quick strategy game.

Good!

Super approachable game that goes beyond the appearance of bugs. Similar to chess, this abstract game pushes you to think about the unique movement that each piece brings to the gameplay. However, dissimilar to chess, there are no limits to how the game could end up looking as you play it right on your table - forming a hexagonal hive of various color and opportunity. This game is a fantastic that deserves its place in your game collection!

One major problem with Hive Pocket, that I have not seen mentioned here, is that it is really too small for young people to play without knocking the tiles out of orientation. One has to have pretty adroit fingers to be able to keep the tiles in their proper places throughout the game. If you are on a bumpy ride or playing with a youngster, this size of Hive may be a little frustrating. Wouldnt be a big deal but the way some of the pieces move and cant move is dictated by being able to see a straight orientation of pieces. My wife and I play this version with no problem, whatsoever (and I have never had a problem playing this with other adults). However, when I introduce younger kids to this (I work at the Boys and Girls Club), some of them are a little frustrated with the delicacy that is required to keep things straight. The larger version just doesnt have this issue. Any person of reasonable age could play the original version. As a whole, excellent game, beautifully wrought, a truly elegant design.

Bought this for my son and nephew and they loved it. It’s like chess with bugs, there is strategy to it and any age can play. Clever take on an old game!

Bought the full size version for my nephew, and I enjoyed playing it enough that I bought the travel size for myself. (The full sized game was no longer available, plus the travel game came with two expansion tiles.) Hive is like Mancala or Othello or chess...easy to learn the basic moves, but takes a while to master the strategy. One spider tile didnt receive a full application of color, which bothers my Monk gene, but other than that its a great set and a fun game!

Is quick fun game, great for couples, doesnt take to long for a round but isnt to short on average takes us about 15-18 min per game

This game has little hexes with different insects on them, and each type moves differently (like how chess pieces each move differently). This Pocket version still has pieces that are plenty big enough for play on any table, etc. I cant imagine needing the full-sized version, especially since the hive can sometimes sprawl a little bit. Plus this Pocket version includes the ladybug and mosquito expansions, which are arent cheap to buy separately for the original version of the game. The object of the game is to surround your opponents queen before your opponent surrounds yours -- and the hive can never split, so all pieces must touch each other in a contiguous mass (with gaps). Pieces move like this: Queen: Slide-moves one space any direction while staying connected to the hive. Grasshopper: Hops over pieces to the next open space in that direction. Spider: Slide-moves exactly 3 spaces without backtracking. Ant: Slide-moves to any position you can slide it to (but not into holes that would require insertion from above). Beetle: Moves one space per turn, but can slide or move on TOP of other pieces. Ladybug (included expansion): Must move 3 spaces such that the first 2 are on top of the hive, and the 3rd brings it back down to table level. Mosquito (included expansion): Can take the movement characteristics of any creature it is touching at the beginning of the turn, so if it is beside a spider and a grasshopper, the mosquito can jump to the next open space like the grasshopper, or can slide 3 spaces like the spider. If the mosquito is acting like a beetle and moves on TOP of the hive, it plays as a beetle until it comes back to table level. We found it helpful to play without the expansions the first couple times, and then add the expansions one at a time. Its fun to see how strategies develop experimentally when you arent taught strategies to begin with, so a strategy that works in the first game or two might cease to work quickly. Im sure that as we play more, eventually well end up with some more robust strategies. Our first couple games went a little slowly while we referenced the rules frequently and tried to guess how moves would impact the game. It seems like 20 minutes will probably be the average game duration. If this type of creatively simplified chess mechanic sounds interesting to you, I certainly recommend you check it out!

I didnt like this game at all. Great quality product, but not something I enjoyed