Designer: Connie Vogelmann

Artist: Kwanchai Moriya

Publisher: Stonemeier Games

Stonemeier Games: First the birds, then the bees

Stonemaier Games usually generates a strong buzz with each new release. The company has a well-deserved reputation for producing titles with outstanding production values. I have to tip my hat to their PR machine; their marketing feels organic and starts at the grassroots level via word of mouth. They are likely one of the most profitable board game companies out there. Despite all the positivity, I’m not one of their fanboys. I’ve played three of their titles, with Apiary being the fourth, and I haven’t been particularly impressed. I wasn’t a fan of Viticulture or Wyrmspan, and I only consider Wingspan to be a fair game.

As the title suggests, Apiary is all about bees—bees in space, to be more specific. The game’s backstory describes a world where humans became extinct long ago, and a species of hyper-intelligent bees evolved to fill the void. These bees eventually develop spacefaring technology, allowing them to travel to the far corners of the galaxy. I found the theme intriguing but felt it didn’t help unify the game’s mechanisms. While the narrative is neat, it’s neutral in the context of learning the game. I believe a good narrative should make the game’s concepts more intuitive, thereby enhancing the learning process. In this case, the backstory is cool but doesn’t really help you digest the rules. You could easily substitute bees with any other creature, and the game would function the same way. The only element that genuinely reflects the theme is the hexagonal tiles, which resemble a hive when assembled on the player board.

Worker Placement, Reimagined

Apiary uses a variation of the worker placement mechanism for action selection. Most worker placement games have a “first-come, first-serve” vibe, where occupying a worker slot first gives a significant advantage. In its most basic form, action slots are limited; once filled, no one else can perform that action. Competition for slots can be brutal, depending on the action’s importance and the available options. This can lead to real frustration if players are constantly locked out of certain actions. As a result, variations of the worker placement mechanism have flourished over the years, with tweaks designed to soften competition and make selections more forgiving.

In a way, Apiary takes this design to an extreme by implementing a non-competitive system where action slots are never contested. Worker bees can go anywhere on the board, even if a slot is already occupied. The new bee simply “bumps off” the older bee, which is then returned to its owner. There is no competition for slots, and players can plan their actions freely without fear of being squeezed out. This is a major departure from other worker placement systems, where tension is generated by the race for limited actions. Without this tension, it’s fair to question whether Apiary is truly a worker placement game.

The key innovation: Returning worker bees

The key innovation in Apiary isn’t where workers are placed, but what happens to the bees that are bumped off their slots. Displaced bees return to their player mats and are placed in either the active pool or the landing zone. If placed in the active pool, the bee is immediately upgraded by one rank and becomes available for future placement in the same round. If a bee is placed in the landing zone, it becomes inactive until a “retrieve” action is taken, which then promotes it one rank and returns it to the active pool.

All bees eventually get promoted by one rank after being deployed and recalled; the difference is whether the promotion is immediate or delayed. The benefit of immediate promotion is clear: the bee can be deployed again in the same round. The benefit of placing bees in the landing zone is slightly less obvious. If a player takes a “retrieve” action instead of a regular placement, all bees in their landing zone are recalled, along with any stranded on the main board. They are all promoted one rank and placed back in the active pool. During this process, every recalled or reactivated bee triggers a harvest from one of the farm tiles in the hive. This harvest is the main compensation for retrieval.

Each player has four bees, though not all are active at the same time. Their ranks are inscribed on the sides of the rectangular prism-shaped bees, and they are “flipped” to indicate promotion. As a bee’s rank increases, the actions it can trigger become more powerful. A rank-4 bee is considered the wisest and strongest member of the hive. Placing a rank-4 bee on the board will usually trigger a powerful bonus that is not available to lower-ranked bees.

When a rank-4 bee is bumped off, it goes into hibernation which the rulebook humorously calls this process “Dearth.” The displaced bee is reborn as a rank-1 baby bee and is set aside to be reintroduced later. In the meantime, its consciousness is preserved in hibernation pods, which earn immediate benefits and serve as markers for end-of-game area majority scoring. Filling up the pods also acts as a game timer; once all clusters are occupied, the final round is triggered.

Game Actions

The main board is divided into seven quadrants and a hibernation zone, with each quadrant representing an action. Worker bees placed in a quadrant perform a corresponding action based on their rank. The seven actions are:

• Explore: Players explore the galaxy to earn resources. A bee’s rank determines how far the mothership travels to discover planets. The first player to land on a planet gains a bonus token, while subsequent visitors only gain the resources. Sending a rank-4 bee to the outer reaches of space can be rewarded with a potent, planet-specific bonus.
• Advance: Players build their hives by picking up hexagonal tiles (Farms, Recruits, and Development). A bee’s rank determines which tiles are available. Farms serve as storage for basic and advanced resources. Recruit tiles are assigned to other actions to amplify their effects or provide an additional bonus. Development tiles confer a one-time reward. All tiles build up the hive and score end-of-game points.
• Grow: This straightforward action allows a player to introduce new rank-1 rookie bees or expand their hive by adding new frameworks. A rank-4 bee can also upgrade a player’s faction tile.
• Research: Players draw multipurpose seed cards that can be used as power cards or end-of-game scoring cards. To use a seed card for scoring, it must be “planted,” which is often done by playing a rank-4 bee.
• Carve: This action is exclusive to rank-4 bees. Players can acquire end-of-game scoring tiles here. Since there is a limited number of these, the competition to promote bees to this area and grab the best tile can be intense.
• Convert: This action allows players to convert basic resources into advanced ones like wax or honey. Wax is needed to purchase Development tiles, while honey is required for carvings. Placing a rank-4 bee here allows a player to teach a “dance,” which is a custom resource conversion.

Impressions

It is most appropriate that Stonemaier Games published Apiary. The company focuses on designing feel-good, medium-heavy Euro-style games, and Apiary fits their portfolio perfectly. It is a multiplayer-solitaire worker placement game that promotes individual agendas without injecting a lot of player conflict. The mechanism is brilliant because it allows players to craft their own approach without the stress of being excluded from specific action slots. Players can focus on optimizing their moves to maximize their scores. While there’s a race element for valuable pieces like carving tiles, resource acquisition is relatively loose with many pathways to get what you need. In short, the system allows everyone to feel good about their progress, which is reflected in the final scoring.

However, the loss of tension from the lack of jostling for position makes the game less interactive, which may be a negative for those who want more competition over a shared space. In my plays at 1, 2, and 4 players, the game unfolds in an identical manner. The only difference is the pace. With more players, bees are promoted and retired faster, which pushes players to focus on narrower scoring paths. The faster the pace of the game, the fewer number of actions available for each player.

Unfortunately, there was some controversy regarding the balance of special abilities between different factions, which was later rectified in an expansion. I found that certain faction abilities and player mats are clearly stronger than others. For instance, factions that can upgrade a worker bee outside of the normal rules are incredibly potent. Similarly, hive mats (e.g. Langstroth) that confer discounts on hive building are slightly more useful throughout the game. While a player with these abilities won’t always win, victory seems easier, especially for an experienced gamer. So care must be taken to equalize opportunities.

I will end by stating a few missed opportunities in Apiary. The retrieval action feels a bit underpowered. It seems to function as an escape hatch for players who are stuck without bees in their active pool. While compensation is given, the benefits—basic resources, victory points, or queen bee track points—often don’t justify missing a turn. Players typically seek to maximize the potential of their workers by upgrading them quickly to get the most powerful actions and send them to the hibernation cove. The retrieval action is a poor substitute and should be used sparingly. I wonder why more effort wasn’t made to enhance this action. It could have been transformed into a viable scoring strategy that complements or rivals traditional scoring. This would expand the strategic scope of the game and introduce a different approach to victory.

Overall, I have a positive impression of the game. I recognize that Apiary was not designed with me in mind, as I prefer games with more direct player interaction. Still, I can recognize a quality design, and I am most impressed by the novelty of the worker placement system, which feels fresh. It is a brilliant variant of a time-tested mechanism that succeeds in minimizing conflict. By forgoing the fight for actions, players can shift their focus toward their scoring objectives as quickly and efficiently as possible. The taste of worker placement is still there, even though the main ingredients have been replaced. I think that in itself is an achievement.

Final thoughts

Good. The designer of Apiary succeeded in what she set out to do: use a novel worker placement mechanism as a framework for a low-conflict action selection system that promotes individual achievements. This seems to be a central thesis for many modern board games. I had fun when I played Apiary and would play it again if asked. But I don’t think I am the target audience for this game, and after about half a dozen plays, I think I have seen enough. However, for fans of Stonemaier Games or for those who like to “do your own thing” in board games, there is plenty to like in Apiary, starting with a really clever worker placement variant. I can appreciate a good quality design when I see one, even if I may not be looking to play it.