Apiary review: "Puts novel twists on the worker placement genre"

GamesRadar+ Verdict GamesRadar+ Verdict TODAY’S BEST DEALS$74.95at Amazon TODAY’S BEST DEALS$74.95at Amazon TODAY’S BEST DEALS$74.95at Amazon TODAY’S BEST DEALS $74.95at Amazon $74.95at Amazon $74.95at Amazon Pros+Well-made pieces that fit neatly in the box+High replayability+Avoids some of the pitfalls of worker placement games+Cute theme based on bee behaviors Well-made pieces that fit neatly in the box High replayability Avoids some of the pitfalls of worker placement games Cute theme based on bee behaviors Cons-Complexity might deter some players-Can feel a bit too much like multiple games fused together Complexity might deter some players Can feel a bit too much like multiple games fused together Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy. Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy. Jump to:Features & designGameplayShould you buyHow we tested Jump to:Features & designGameplayShould you buyHow we tested Apiary is off to a good start before you even open the box. Bees are an ideal creature to build a worker placement game around since they are notoriously industrious and spend their time gathering resources, building structures, and dealing with a complex hierarchy. Designer Connie Vogelmann adds the extra twist here of the social insects doing all that in space, with competing factions of highly evolved sentient honeybees finding new planets to gather resources and expand their hives. The flavor and mechanics of Apiary are a bit of a hodgepodge; it mashes up the cozy nature-based themes found in many Euro games (like Wingspan) with an exploration system reminiscent of Expeditions and the space-based tile laying of Planet Unknown. While Apiary doesn’t excel in any one area as much as some of the games it draws from, the combination creates a highly complex and replayable experience best for veteran players. Apiary features & design Swipe to scroll horizontallyPrice$69 / £69Ages14+Players1 - 5ComplexityHighGenreStrategyLasts60 - 90minsDesignersConnie VogelmannPublisherStonemaier GamesPlay if you likeExpeditions, Viticulture, Bees Swipe to scroll horizontally Price$69 / £69Ages14+Players1 - 5ComplexityHighGenreStrategyLasts60 - 90minsDesignersConnie VogelmannPublisherStonemaier GamesPlay if you likeExpeditions, Viticulture, Bees What follows is a snowball effect. While each faction’s map starts with a few spots where they can stash resources, you’ll need to quickly build more farms for extra storage space and consider investing in other upgrade tiles that can give you powerful immediate benefits or allow you to build up an engine to make future actions more efficient. Weak bees can only pick up the first of a spread of tiles, while more powerful ones give you access to more options. (Image credit: Samantha Nelson) Leveling up those bees requires planning. When all your bees are on the board, you need to take an action to retrieve them. But that round off is a time for the hive to grow, harvesting resources from your farms while also powering up the returning bees to their next level. When a level four bee would return to the hive, it instead hibernates. This lets you place a special token on the board to gain an immediate reward and compete for an end of game bonus. The game ends once a player has placed all of their hibernation tokens, so while it can feel like a blow to lose your most powerful workers, the churn is important. Some actions can’t even be taken unless your bee is at full power either, so you need to think very carefully about the best way to use them before they hibernate. In terms of looks, the game pieces are simple but evocative, with wooden tokens representing pots of honey, drops of water, or pollen-filled flowers. Everything also fits neatly back in the box, which has conveniently shaped containers for the different tiles to make it easy to set up next time. Apiary gameplay (Image credit: Samantha Nelson) The way other players interact with occupied spaces is very different in Apiary compared to typical worker placement games. Spaces are never truly blocked since another player can always bump your bee. This can send it back to your hive, where it would be powered up and save you the action of needing to retrieve it, or bound it further down a shared tree. Players can benefit from each other’s strength, a dynamic that means you’ll really want to pay attention to what other players are up to. However, some actions feel like traps — teaching a dance to build a custom resources conversion tile rarely feels worth it considering it requires a maxed out bee to do and the benefits you receive when other players use your dance are fairly minor. The final frontier(Image credit: Samantha Nelson)Exploration follows a very similar model to the Expeditions board game, with players opting to land on an unknown planet and take an exploration token that provides an immediate reward (like a resource or queen’s favor) and then flip a planet tile or visit one that has already been revealed and gather its resources. You’ll have to plan carefully ahead to decide what resources you want to gather, since storage space starts at such a premium and you need to spend basic resources to get more storage. The final frontier (Image credit: Samantha Nelson)Exploration follows a very similar model to the Expeditions board game, with players opting to land on an unknown planet and take an exploration token that provides an immediate reward (like a resource or queen’s favor) and then flip a planet tile or visit one that has already been revealed and gather its resources. You’ll have to plan carefully ahead to decide what resources you want to gather, since storage space starts at such a premium and you need to spend basic resources to get more storage. (Image credit: Samantha Nelson) Exploration follows a very similar model to the Expeditions board game, with players opting to land on an unknown planet and take an exploration token that provides an immediate reward (like a resource or queen’s favor) and then flip a planet tile or visit one that has already been revealed and gather its resources. You’ll have to plan carefully ahead to decide what resources you want to gather, since storage space starts at such a premium and you need to spend basic resources to get more storage. Speaking of other players, Apiary has a two-sided board to ensure a balanced experience based on player count. The automated AI for a solo game is too random to provide much of a challenge unless you’re using a higher difficulty to give them more points for all their actions. Still, it’s a fine way to get to see more cards and test a few strategies between multiplayer rounds. (Image credit: Samantha Nelson) Should you buy Apiary? (Image credit: Samantha Nelson) If you’re an experienced board game player who enjoys the worker placement genre, Apiary is a great addition to your collection. Its twist on the core mechanics creates an experience that is more collaborative than focused on blocking other players and transforms the way you think about the game. Beyond the core elements of worker placement, Apiary also brings in aspects of several other popular board game genres, providing the tactile satisfaction of tile laying and the push your luck strategies of exploration. The resource conversion aspect isn’t as well developed as in other games, but there’s enough going on for Apiary to entertain groups of veteran players across multiple games. Buy it if… ✅You love worker placement board gamesApiary takes the popular genre and puts a novel twist on it that removes some of its biggest weaknesses and requires a new way of thinking about managing your resources ✅You love worker placement board gamesApiary takes the popular genre and puts a novel twist on it that removes some of its biggest weaknesses and requires a new way of thinking about managing your resources ✅You love worker placement board gamesApiary takes the popular genre and puts a novel twist on it that removes some of its biggest weaknesses and requires a new way of thinking about managing your resources ✅You love worker placement board gamesApiary takes the popular genre and puts a novel twist on it that removes some of its biggest weaknesses and requires a new way of thinking about managing your resources ✅You love worker placement board gamesApiary takes the popular genre and puts a novel twist on it that removes some of its biggest weaknesses and requires a new way of thinking about managing your resources ✅You love worker placement board gamesApiary takes the popular genre and puts a novel twist on it that removes some of its biggest weaknesses and requires a new way of thinking about managing your resources ✅You like testing new strategiesThere are so many ways to gain points in Apiary that it’s hard to figure out the best goals to pursue until you’ve played a few times with different factions and end of game objectives ✅You like testing new strategiesThere are so many ways to gain points in Apiary that it’s hard to figure out the best goals to pursue until you’ve played a few times with different factions and end of game objectives ✅You like testing new strategiesThere are so many ways to gain points in Apiary that it’s hard to figure out the best goals to pursue until you’ve played a few times with different factions and end of game objectives ✅You like testing new strategiesThere are so many ways to gain points in Apiary that it’s hard to figure out the best goals to pursue until you’ve played a few times with different factions and end of game objectives ✅You like testing new strategiesThere are so many ways to gain points in Apiary that it’s hard to figure out the best goals to pursue until you’ve played a few times with different factions and end of game objectives ✅You like testing new strategiesThere are so many ways to gain points in Apiary that it’s hard to figure out the best goals to pursue until you’ve played a few times with different factions and end of game objectives Don’t buy it if… ❌You don’t like beesAllergic to bees? Hate honey? Then the theme probably won’t appeal to you. ❌You don’t like beesAllergic to bees? Hate honey? Then the theme probably won’t appeal to you. ❌You don’t like beesAllergic to bees? Hate honey? Then the theme probably won’t appeal to you. ❌You don’t like beesAllergic to bees? Hate honey? Then the theme probably won’t appeal to you. ❌You don’t like beesAllergic to bees? Hate honey? Then the theme probably won’t appeal to you. ❌You don’t like beesAllergic to bees? Hate honey? Then the theme probably won’t appeal to you. How we tested Apiary Disclaimer Our reviewer played multiple in-person sessions of Apiary with different player counts to get a better sense of how the experience differed each time. They also directly compared it to competing games. For more recommendations, be sure to check out our guide to thebest cooperative board gamesand must-have2-player board games. Apiary: Price Comparison $74.95View $74.95View $74.95View $74.95View $74.95 $74.95 We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices CATEGORIESBoard GamesGames CATEGORIES Latest26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time"Squid Game season 3: Everything we know about the Netflix show’s final seasonSquid Game season 2 post-credits scene explained: Does episode 7 have a post-credits scene?See more latest► Latest26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time"Squid Game season 3: Everything we know about the Netflix show’s final seasonSquid Game season 2 post-credits scene explained: Does episode 7 have a post-credits scene?See more latest► Latest26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time"Squid Game season 3: Everything we know about the Netflix show’s final seasonSquid Game season 2 post-credits scene explained: Does episode 7 have a post-credits scene?See more latest► Latest 26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time"Squid Game season 3: Everything we know about the Netflix show’s final seasonSquid Game season 2 post-credits scene explained: Does episode 7 have a post-credits scene? 26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time” 26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time” Squid Game season 3: Everything we know about the Netflix show’s final season Squid Game season 3: Everything we know about the Netflix show’s final season Squid Game season 2 post-credits scene explained: Does episode 7 have a post-credits scene? 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Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure” 3 Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure” 4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years” 4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years” 4 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years” 5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 5 Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim 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the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 4 The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 5 Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 1Squid Game season 2 review: “Secures its place as one of the best shows on television right now” 1Squid Game season 2 review: “Secures its place as one of the best shows on television right now” 1 Squid Game season 2 review: “Secures its place as one of the best shows on television right now” 2Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat” 2Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat” 2 Doctor Who 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Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”