Apiary

Frequently Asked Questions

menu
When does the game end?
See the following rule(s) to find an answer to this question.
How does the Automa / solo game change the rules?
See the following rule(s) to find an answer to this question.
Is there a solo mode in Apiary?
Yes
Related Rule(s)
Are players limited to 4 total workers?
Yes
Yes, players are limited to 4 workers at a time. Players have cardboard hibernation tokens that they place into hibernation (not actual worker meeples).
Can I rearrange resources?
You can rearrange resources as you wish. The one thing you can’t do is choose to sacrifice resources for which you actually have capacity.
Related Rule(s)
Convert action, can I convert wax or honey into its constituent basic resources?
None of the basic conversions at the Convert action involve paying wax or honey.
Can I place tiles on frames before your hive mat is full?
Yes
Yes, you can place tiles on frames even if your hive mat isn’t full.
How does the game scale to different player counts (1-5)?
Apiary includes a double-sided board (1-3 players and 4-5) players, with the side for lower player counts featuring: (1) Fewer planets to explore (and thus fewer available explore tokens) (2) Fewer hibernation comb spots (2P has 8, 3P has 12, and 4-5P has 15) (3) Fewer worker placement spots (so bumping is very relevant across all player counts!); and (4) Fewer end-game carvings For solo play, there is a special solo mode to simulate the experience of playing against an easy-to-operate "intelligent" opponent.
What's the icon with the red X on some spaces on the hibernation comb?
That icon means that you must refresh all face-up tiles of that type on the Advance action.
Why would you place a bumped worker in your landing area instead of your active pool?
You can’t control when an opponent bumps one of your workers off the board. Usually you’re happy for this to happen, as the worker gains strength, and this saves you a retrieve turn. However, you don’t gain income from farms when workers are bumped–only when you take a retrieve turn (and only 1 farm per retrieved worker). The landing area reserves bumped workers for those times when you’re counting on them for income during a retrieve turn.
What does the Ria faction "move" mean on the faction tile?
The Ria faction gives you and an opponent 1 Queen’s Favor whenever they bump your worker. This is stated as “moves” on the faction tile, but the meaning is “bumps”.
Does the Faction tile adjacency benefit affect the whole tile?
No
The adjacency is to that specific hex of the faction tile, not the entire 3-hex starting tile.
What happens when you have no workers at all?
In the rare case you gain one strength-1 worker for free and proceed with your turn.
Related Rule(s)
How many victory points (VP) does each player start with?
The board is correct–1 VP for the first player, 2 VP for the second, and so on. (The rules incorrectly say 0 VP, then 1 VP, etc.)
Related Rule(s)
What do the icons mean in the tiles?
See the following rule(s) to find an answer to this question.
Related Rule(s)