Build a hive by adding cards from your hand that match on 2 or more sides with the current hive. Win by playing all your cards. 

Should be a cinch, right? 

Well, not exactly…

This kaleidoscope beauty is as fun to play as it is satisfying to look at. Once again a deck of cards, this time hexagon shaped, proves that you don’t have to be a big box board game to pack a strong strategy punch. Exactly what you’d expect from the creators of the pirate trick taking card game Skull King!

What’s all the buzz about? 

The Bears and the Bees is a strategy card game where the goal is to be the first player to eliminate all the honeycomb-shaped cards from your hand. 

You may play a card if it matches two or more sides connecting to the beehive on the table. 

With every card played, the beehive grows larger, sometimes giving players more options to place cards, and other times making it more difficult as players will have to match 3, 4 or more sides in order to place a card.

To start the game, the queen bee is placed in the center of the table. She has six, honey colored sides. In this game, honey is wild and any color may be played next to it. Then one honeycomb card from the deck will be placed next to the queen to start the beehive. 

On their first turn, players may place 1 card onto the hive as long as it matches 2 sides. On all subsequent turns, players may place 2 cards on their turn as long as each card matches at least 2 or more sides to the hive, and that the second card played is touching the first card played. 

Players may score bonus plays however. 

Match a card with three sides and you’ve earned another play anywhere on the hive! Four sides matched? You get 2 bonus plays! Five? You guessed it, 3 bonus plays! 

Did you match all six sides of your card?? Well throw down the rest of your hand, smartypants! You win instantly and retain bragging rights for all future games!

If you can’t play a card on your turn, you may draw a card or discard a card and draw two cards.

The Cards

There are 104 unique cards in the deck. While the majority of these cards are honeycomb cards, some honeycomb cards feature bees on them. These can help the player in a couple of ways.

Drone bees are honeycomb cards with a singular bee on them. These are half honey (wild) and half one color. 

Then there are Worker Bees. These cards feature three bees on them and feature one side of each color along with one honey side. When played with 2 sides matching, these cards force an opponent of the player’s choosing to draw a card. If you match 3 sides: 2 cards, 4 sides: 3 cards and so on and so forth.

Other cards feature flowers. Flower cards are all one color and force all other players to draw when played on the hive. Much like the worker bees, if you match 3 sides, instead of drawing one card, everyone will have to draw 2 cards, etc, etc. 

And finally, the Bears make an appearance. Bears are in search of honey, so while they have no color on their sides, when played, at least one of the two sides touching the hive must be touching honey. Playing a bear ends your turn. But going forward, no other cards may be placed that touch the bear, not even another bear.

It sounds pretty easy to me…

A game where you just need to match colors on cards and eliminate your hand sounds pretty simple right? This game is anything but when it comes to actual play. 

I was surprised by just how tricky it gets to get rid of the cards in your hand. Truly! It’s tough!

With every turn of the cards in your hand new playable options are found, and with every card played on the hive, playable options are taken away. You’d think it would be easy to just simply find a way to match two sides of your card somewhere, but as the hive grows it becomes more and more difficult. 

You’ll need to employ some wise strategy about when and how to play your cards, whether their honeycomb, bees, flowers, or bears, so that you can eliminate your hand. 

This is what I really love about this game, the concept is really quite simple: play cards to eliminate your hand. But in practice it can be really difficult and the more you play the game, the more your strategy to winning will change and evolve. You’ll start to look at the cards differently and know which ones to play quickly, and which ones to hold onto so you can chain bonus plays and go out.

If players become a little overwhelmed with analysis paralysis as they look through all their options, the rules suggest players just start buzzing at them to let them know they’re taking a bit too long and need to draw a card. Hilarious!

What’s the play experience like? 

The Bears and the Bees is completely satisfying to play. 

The game looks so good on the table as the round progresses and the hive gets bigger and bigger. It creates a pretty kaleidoscope effect as the colors all start matching up. Each card is completely unique, not one pattern is duplicated! I had the pleasure to chat with the designer of the game, Jeff Beck, and he told me how he designed each card by hand! It took him two years! Completely impressive!

His handwork pays off big in this game. Not only do the unique cards create a challenging puzzle for the players, but no matter the outcome of the game, it is always fun to take a step back and look at the beehive everyone created. 

While there are instructions for how to score the game from round to round (it suggests playing three rounds) we have yet to score our rounds. Instead, we just congratulate the winner of each round and play as many rounds as we’d like. We usually play about 3-4 rounds depending on time. Some rounds will go quicker than others. 

This is a fun game to play with almost any age. I really appreciate that they included in the rules ways to modify the game for easier play. If you are playing this with younger players these modifiers can be helpful. They have the age set at 8+ and that feels about right. However, this is another great game that you can play with the little ones in your lap, learning how to play and helping place cards around the hive. 

What do we think?

I’ve said it before, but I truly believe that every game shelf should have some quality card games on it. 

Board games can be a bit intimidating, especially for those not used to learning and playing them. But card games oftentimes are familiar. Many people grow up playing cards around the table with their family. It’s what I credit to pushing me into the board gaming hobby in general. 

The Bears and the Bees is perfect for those looking for a great card game to play with their family and friends. Whats even better: the puzzle aspect and calming mechanics make this a game that is really fun to play without getting too competitive even with all of the great player interactions. It stays light and fun and everybody has a great time. We’ve also played this with a few different player counts and it’s as fun with 2 as it is with 4.

This is another great game from Grandpa Beck’s Games and one we definitely recommend checking out. If you’re a fan of strategy puzzles, games with captivating table presence, or just really like honey, then you’ll love this sweet little game!

Game Stats:
The Bears and The Bees
Ages 8+ Price: $14.99
Published: 2018
Publisher: Grandpa Beck’s Games
Designer: Jeff Beck
Artist: Apryl Scott

Thank you so much to Grandpa Beck’s Games for providing us a copy of The Bears and The Bees.
– Grab a copy of this game for your table HERE.
– You can find out more about Grandpa Beck’s Games and their amazing family company HERE.
– Read our review of Skull King by Grandpa Beck’s Games HERE.
As always, our reviews, thoughts, and opinions are our own.

* This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. To read my full disclosure policy click here.*