
2023 · Science Fiction
Apiary
Players command evolved honeybee factions that have built a spacefaring civilization from the ruins of humanity. Each faction starts with a hive, workers, and resources and uses worker placement to explore planets, gather resources, research technologies, and expand the hive over a single game-year called the Flow. Players also produce carvings and other achievements that score victory points while managing a looming Dearth that limits the number of actions before workers must hibernate.
- Players
- 1–5 best 3
- Playing time
- 60–90 min
- Age
- 14+
- Complexity
- 3 / 5
About the game
- Design
- Publisher
Expansions
See them in LudoyaPhotos from Ludoya tables
All photos in LudoyaWhere to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 211
- Plays logged
- 320
- Players
- 1h 56m
- Average play
- 69
- In collections
- 36
- On wishlists
7.8/10
from 33 Ludoya reviews
- Base -
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
If I place a worker where someone stronger is, what happens to the worker that was there?
Action spaces are never blocked — placing a worker bumps the existing worker back to its owner; if bumped worker is strength 1–3 the owner may either increase it +1 and place it in their active pool or keep its strength and place it in the landing area, while a strength-4 worker must immediately hibernate (discard and place a hibernation token). (Rulebook pp.7–8)
When I take a retrieve turn, do all my workers gain strength and come back to my active pool?
When you retrieve you collect ALL your workers from the board and landing area: strength 1–3 workers each give income from different farm tiles, then gain +1 strength and return to your active pool, but strength-4 workers must immediately hibernate and do not return. (Rulebook p.8)
On Advance, which tiles can I take and what do I pay and do with the market afterwards?
Sum the two workers’ strengths (add 1 if the bottommost space is empty) to see which market columns are available, pay the resource cost printed on the chosen tile, build it on an empty adjacent hex, then slide remaining tiles of that type left and refill the rightmost spot from the stack at the end of your turn. (Rulebook p.10)
When I Grow and gain a frame, where exactly do I place it and what does it do?
Each frame costs any 2 basic resources and requires 2 strength; it must be placed with at least one hex adjacent to your hive or another frame and not overlapping tiles, provides four extra build hexes (two of which grant a seed card when you build there), and completed frames score 8 VP at game end while the first two frames unlock seed-planting locations. (Rulebook p.11)
How does Hibernation Comb sector scoring work — what happens on ties?
Each sector awards victory points to the most (and sometimes second-most) hibernation tokens; ties for first share the sector’s total points (rounded down) and eliminate the second-place award, while ties for second share the second-place points (rounded down). (Rulebook p.16)
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Play Apiary with Ludoya
- Keep it in your collectionTrack your copy and its expansions, lend it to friends, or put it on your wishlist and get told when the price drops.Add it to your collection
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.
















