Hive Mind review

The last entry in the first run of Calliope’s Titans (following Menu Masters and Running with the Bulls) is perhaps the most prominent, coming from the brain of extolled Magic: The Gathering, King of Tokyo and Netrunner creator Richard Garfield. Given Garfield’s eminence, Hive Mind may also be the most surprising, offering a simplistic party game spin on the Family Fortunes trivia format.

The thematic setup is hilarious, plonking players in the yellow and black bodies of bees trying to impress their queen – or risk getting booted out of the hive, which features a cinema, gym and band practice area (all complete with plenty of bee puns and celebrity parodies).

To convince their queen they deserve to stay, the competing bees respond to question cards by writing down lists of answers. For every answer they match with another player they gain a point, while the bee that fails to think along the same lines as their fellows gets demoted in the hive by the number of levels denoted by the current space on the board's ring of flowers, with the queen moved each turn by a simple die roll.

The components are barebones, the mechanics one-note and the gameplay repetitive, but there remains a back-to-basics pleasure in attempting to predict what your fellow players will answer to each question, with the cards offering a satisfying range of head-scratching prompts. Perhaps honey is the ideal comparison: a sweet, simple treat best enjoyed in moderation.

MATT JARVIS

Buy your copy here.

Publisher: Calliope Games

Price: £29.99

Genre: Party trivia

Players: 3-12

Time: 30-90 mins

Age: 8+

Website: calliopegames.com

This review originally appeared in the April/May 2017 issue of Tabletop Gaming. Pick up the latest issue of the UK's fastest-growing gaming magazine in print or digital here – or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.

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