Hive Pocket

I bought this pocket game for my adult daughter who had played it with another group of adults. The game is extremely portable and contained within a fabric draw string pouch. The pieces are either black or white and maintain an engraving of sorts of various insects along with the main piece being a 'bee'. In some regards the game is like playing chess as each 'insect' has a designated amount of movement allowing pieces to jump others as both sides try to surround the opposition's 'bee'. Very immersive, thought provoking definitely value for money. The pieces and the pouch are of good quality and whilst it may take a little time understanding each of the pieces, it is worth that time as gradually one gets better and better. Excellent purchase.

I was hesitant whether to buy classic/carbon or pocket at first and ultimately went with pocket for the size, the weight, and the price. I did not regret.Pocket is super portable, especially size-wise. It's the kind of size that fills a gap in your bag/luggage perfectly. (Not saying classic/carbon aren't, but I've never seen them in real life.) However, it's also surprisingly weighty, but in a good way! AS in it's satisfying to hold the pieces in your hand. The individual pieces are also just the right size, such that the whole "board", as you play, fits perfectly on the tiny pull-down table on a train! I didn't like the colour-coding of the bugs before buying, but it really helps a beginner read the board and familiarise with the different pieces. I'd still say though, the colours could have ben better, just personally not a fan of the muted, whitish colours and prefer richer ones. Same goes for the carrier pouch, it's perfect function-wise, but why do they have to use this repulsive faded red-orange colour??Now, the gameplay, if you have never played it. Hive is really fun (despite my sore loser moments). The way you'd plan ahead and strategise feels very chess-like, but it's simpler to learn, faster to play, and more flexible. As it's hexagonal and boardless, the geometry has endless possibilities. It is like the funner, artsier younger sibling of chess.

Absolutely adore this game. The game itself is decently complex and is a fantastic strategy game. The pieces are also really nice and high quality. The only issue is that the Pillbug doesn't come with the other expansions but in all honesty, it doesn't lower my score of the game. I just ordered it separately

Hive is an enigma. It is a 2 player game that is simultaneously dead easy and intricately complex. A bit like a crossword puzzle designed for 5 year olds, written in Latin. The most similar game to Hive out at the moment, and for the last thousand years actually, is Chess. You each take turns to move (or place) one of the game pieces according to their individual movement rules in an effort to surround your opponents bee, (check mate, if you will) while preventing your opponent doing the same to you. Hive differs from Chess not in complexity, but duration. While a game of chess can be like 90 minutes wading through treacle with an ice pick lodged in your pre-frontal cortex, a game of Hive lasts aound 5 minutes. And because of this, it doesn't matter if you lose! You just play again. You can experiment with different strategies without fear of wasting an hour in the process. Speaking of strategies, this is where Hive really shows its strength. You are required to place your bee tile down in your first 4 turns, but on which turn you decide to do it makes a MASSIVE difference to the rest of the game. Do you wait until turn 4? You get to put out more pieces potentially setting yourself up better for the rest of the game, but you're not allowed to move any of your other pieces until you've placed your bee, potentially allowing your opponent to pin you in early. The short length of the average game means you can experiment and find what works for you, and there's no wrong way to do it (except putting your bee down on turn one, that's just mad).Decent two player games are very hard to come by. Patchwork is fun but a little on the 'luck driven' side of things. Dominion is good but people that have played lots of card games before will have a clear edge. Netrunner is magnificent but unless you have someone to teach you, is harder to learn than braille.Hive is easy to learn but impossible to master. It's cheap (in the world of games anyway), and you can easily play it in the pub, airport terminal, back seat, 5 star restaurant, lift, portaloo etc. This is as close to the perfect game as it's possible to get without making a deal with the Devil.(disclaimer - I accept no responsibility for lost game tiles while participating in portaloo gaming. Game responsibly)

This is a great game which, once the basic moves have been grasped, can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. I have had success with a 5-year-old, although it's probably more appropriate from around age 7 or 8. The pictures and colours are lovely, and the tiles have a nice, quality feel to them.You probably wouldn't want to play it for hours, but one of its advantages is that each game is very quick - as little as five minutes. It's also super easy to set up (unlike chess, you place the pieces as you play), comes in a handy bag so you can take it anywhere, and doesn't take up very much table space. The flip-side of this is that the tiles are quite small (I think another reviewer has posted photos comparing them with the full-size ones), which unfortunately does make it slightly easier accidentally to jog them out of place. For this reason I recommend the non-travel version above this one, but both are very good.