Team Components Hive Carbon

Hive Carbon: 2 Players, Ages 9+, Average Play Time = 20 MinutesIt's easy to see why this game has won so many awards, the Mensa Select award being among them. Hive is very easy to play but surprisingly has a lot of depth. It reminds me a little of Chess, except that it is more freeform. Like Chess, players are encouraged to think ahead and plan their moves.I was a bit overwhelmed in my first game...that is...I had no idea what was considered a good move and what was considered a bad move. I found myself experimenting with the pieces, moving them around the hive, trying to see how to best use their abilities. For example, I realized that the grasshopper was an excellent way to fill a surrounded space that I needed to occupy and eventually branch out from. I also recognized the grasshopper as a deadly sniper that could jump across the hive and surround the enemy queen bee in one foul swoop. It became obvious to me however that I still have a lot of learning to do.I particularly liked the travel case that came with the game, which allows players to pick up and go without carrying around a clunky box. The pieces themselves where solid and thick and it was fairly easy to pick out one insect from another. Kudos on the component quality.My son and I played the game without the expansion pieces, just to get our feet wet. At first, we both had to get used to moving pieces around without causing other pieces to become separated from the hive. I was clumsily moving pieces back and forth, trying to find ways around his pieces to get to his queen bee...it was comparable to my first slow dance in grade school, minus the zits and cracking voice. The game only lasted about fifteen minutes, if that, with my son pulling ahead to victory. I was so engrossed in bringing my beetles over to his queen that I totally ignored the soldier ants that he brought around the outside, engulfing my queen bee one space at a time. All I needed was a few more moves, but he was quicker.All in all, Hive Carbon turned out to be an excellent two player game...one that will keep me busy for a good while. I'm really looking forward to inventing (or reinventing) strategies that will improve my game. I'm sure there are player guides out there that tell players how best to use their pieces, but I look forward to unlocking those secrets myself through trial and error. If you enjoy two player games like Chess but don't have a lot of time, then Hive Carbon will fit the bill nicely. It's quick and easy to play, but will keep players engrossed from beginning to end.

My six-year-old's favorite game! (Other favorites include King Domino and Santorini). I haven't played other editions, but I'm very happy with my choice.Stylish: aesthetically, I prefer black and white over colorExpansions: include mosquito and ladybut, but not pill bug (original/base game includes neither)Piece size: comfortable to handle for adult and child handsPortable: comes with a convenient bag, not too heavy; need ~2' square to play (sometimes the board becomes longer and narrower, sometimes rounder)Readable: for me, black and white is much easier to "read" the state of the board than each piece being colored (I find that visually noisy); for some folks, color might read better

Finally a Hive box that I can carry around. I hate the original color variant box with all the plastic display. It looks good on the shop shelf but once you open it .. It's tricky to put the pieces back. But this version is a normal box with ample storage space and a high quality zippered carry bag. High quality pieces. And I love playing with this black and white version over color.

In this game, you have tiles that have different bugs imprinted on them that are used for playing pieces like in the game of chess. Your turn consists of drawing or placing a tile in the "hive". Each bug has it's own special movement. The player wins when they can surround their opponents queen bee. There is no board per se; the hive consists of the pieces that touch each other.The pieces are of the highest quality I've ever seen in a game (think high priced dominoes). Very smooth to the touch, a real pleasure to handle. The game comes with a pouch to put them in, and since there is no board, this is a very portable game.One reviewer commented that you should get the color set instead of the Carbon (black & white) set. However, I have vision issues, and the stark contrast of the black & white makes it easier for me to see what pieces I'm playing. Also, at this time, when you buy the Carbon version, in addition to the base set, you also get two expansion pieces, the Ladybug and the Mosquito.I would like to throw in that this game won a Mensa award. If you like chess or similar abstract strategy games, you will enjoy this.

Bought this for my husband for his birthday and he loves it. The carbon colored one is so much nicer than the colored ones in my opinion. It has a cute carrying case inside as well. The only downside was our instructions were in French but luckily we already know how to play it.

High quality pieces including expansion pieces (mosquito and ladybug). The only reason for not getting five stars is that the instructions are only in French. They are easy to find online but wouldn't have been easy to include a multilingual instruction set?

Un juego sencillo, fichas robustas y muy resistentes, fácil de jugar pero con infinidad de estrategias, tiene un aire a jugar ajedrez pero a su vez es único, recomendado para jugar en familia o amigos.