Honeycomb Hustle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Play
• Game Play (continued)
• Game End
• Placing Tokens
• Tokens and Flower Points
• Notes
• Quick Reference

Components

• A. 99 Honey tokens
• B. 54 Nectar tokens
• C. 22 Helper bee tokens
• D. 40 Blue tokens
• E. 33 Purple tokens
• F. 22 Red tokens
• G. 11 Orange tokens
• H. 11 Gray tokens
• I. 16 Restart cubes
• J. 1 Start token
• K. 8 Draw bags
• L. 1 Drafting bag

Setup

A. Give every player a draw bag and 6 starting tokens: 3 honey tokens, 2 blue one-point tokens, and 1 purple zero-point token. Players will place their 6 starting tokens in their bag. If playing with less than 8 players set aside the additional starting tokens, they will not be used in the game. Give every player 2 restart cubes.

B. Make a honey pile containing 7 honey tokens per player in the center of the table. Set aside the extra honey tokens. They will be available for purchase at the end of the game once the honey pile has been depleted.

C. Place all the nectar tokens in a pile in the center of the table.

D. Place all the helper bee tokens in a pile in the center of the table.

F. Choose a random player, or the player who most recently ate honey and give that player the start token. The player with the start token will be the starting player.

Place the remaining tokens in the drafting bag. No honey, nectar, or helper bee tokens should be placed in the drafting bag.

If playing with less than 8 players do not put the extra starting tokens in the drafting bag. It may help to store the start tokens for each player in each of the 8 draw bags.

Game Play

The game is played in rounds. Each round will start with players drawing tokens from their own bag to build their own honeycomb.

To build a honeycomb you will draw one token from your bag and place it on the table in front of you. This token along with the others placed adjacent it will represent your honeycomb.

If the first token drawn is a honey token return it to the bag and draw again. A honey token cannot begin the honeycomb.

You will continue drawing tokens one at a time attempting to connect them to your existing honeycomb.

New tokens must be added to the honeycomb by joining the black connector marks along the edges. Pay attention to the connector marks to leave them open for future tokens. See Placing Tokens (page 5).

Once you are unable to connect a token to your honeycomb, you must return it to your bag and stop building your honeycomb.

You must also stop building your honeycomb if you run out of tokens in your bag.

Every player begins the game with 2 restart cubes. After beginning your honeycomb, you may choose to spend 1 of your restart cubes to restart your honeycomb for that round. You must return all the tokens you have drafted to your bag and restart your honeycomb again.

After all players have finished building their honeycombs, they count the flower points earned from their honeycomb. See Tokens and Flower Points (page 6).

The player with the most points is given the start token. That player will draft and purchase first. If there is a tie for highest flower points the player who is closest in clockwise order to the previous starting player receives or keeps the start token.

Game Play (continued)

Now players will take turns drafting and purchasing tokens.

The starting player will draw tokens from the drafting bag equal to the number of players plus 1 to create a drafting pool. The drafting pool should be placed in the center of the table for all players to see.

Beginning with the starting player and in descending flower point order, you will take turns performing the following actions. In case of a tie for flower points, the tied players will take turns in clockwise order beginning from the start token.

1. Return each group of 3 nectar tokens in your honeycomb to the nectar pile and collect 1 honey token for each group.

2. Return any helper bee tokens played in your honeycomb to the helper bee pile.

3. Draft 1 new token from the available drafting pool.

4. Use flower points to purchase as many honey and nectar tokens as you desire. Flower points do not carry forward to subsequent rounds. Honey tokens will determine the winner of the game. Nectar tokens will convert to honey tokens in groups of three. Their costs are shown below.

   • Honey token: 5 flower points
   • Nectar token: 3 flower points

The last player to draft, and only the last player to draft, will take 1 helper bee token for every 3 flower points they trail behind the leader of the current round, up to a max of 3 helper bee tokens.

For example: if Lincoln has the fewest flower points: 2 and Kate has the most flower points: 10, Lincoln would take 2 helper bees.

The last player may only take 3 helper bee tokens in a round – even if they trail the leader of that round by 12 or more points.

Return the extra token that was not drafted to the drafting bag.

After all players have taken their turns, all players must set aside any trade tokens played in their own honeycomb and place their remaining tokens in their bag.

In clockwise order beginning with the starting player, players with one or more trade tokens will steal 1 random token from the bag of any opponent. The player stealing immediately places the stolen token in their own bag and the trade token in the bag of the opponent they stole from. This is repeated for every trade token. Trading is not optional.

Game End

The game will end after purchasing in the round when the honey pile runs out or when there are not enough tokens to form a drafting pool. In either case, add the extra honey tokens that were set aside at the beginning of the game to the honey pile and allow everyone to finish purchasing honey and nectar for that round. Drafting remaining tokens is skipped.

In the unlikely case all honey tokens are taken, players should keep track of any honey tokens they would have been able to purchase.

Helper bees will not be taken by the last player and trading will not occur at the end of this last round.

Players will then empty their draw bags and count the total number of honey tokens they have collected. The player with the most wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most nectar tokens wins. If still tied they share the victory.

Placing Tokens

Tokens may be placed adjacent to each other connected by at least 1 edge that shares a black connector mark. Tokens must share at least one connector mark with an adjacent token.

A connection may become blocked and be unusable. Players should plan carefully to avoid this scenario.

Cover up tokens are placed on top of honey tokens instead of adjacent to other tokens. If a cover up token is drawn before there is a honey token to cover up, set it aside until the next honey token is placed, then immediately cover the honey token with the cover up token. If a cover up token is unused at the end of a round it may be placed following the normal placement rules. If it still cannot be placed it will not earn its flower point that round.

Tokens and Flower Points

Honey Tokens: Honey tokens cost 5 flower points. The player with the most honey tokens, including honey tokens in their bag and honeycomb, at the end of the game is the winner. Honey tokens do not contribute toward flower points.

Nectar Tokens: These tokens can be purchased for 3 flower points. Every group of 3 nectar tokens in a player's honeycomb will be traded in for 1 honey token during a player's turn. Nectar tokens do not contribute toward flower points.

Helper Bee Tokens: These tokens are single-use. If a helper bee token is placed into a honeycomb it will be returned to the helper bee pile during the player's turn. Each helper bee is worth 3 flower points.

Blue Tokens: These tokens are worth 1 or 2 flower points as indicated. They will double their points when they are adjacent to another blue token. They are considered adjacent if they share any edge.

Purple Tokens: These tokens are worth 0, 3, or 5 flower points as indicated on their face. The zero point token has 3 connectors while the five point token has only 1 connector.

Red Tokens: Red tokens earn flower points as a group. Count the number of red tokens in the honeycomb and multiply that number by itself. They do not need to be adjacent to each other.

The group of 3 red tokens shown here is worth 9 flower points (3×3=9).

Blue tokens do not need to share a connector to double - only an edge. (The diagram for this note labels its blue tokens 1 pt, 2 pts, 2 pts and 4 pts.)

Trade Tokens: A trade token will allow you to steal a random token from another player at the end of the round. Each trade token is worth 1 flower point.

Cover Up Tokens: These tokens may be placed on top of a honey token, potentially giving the opportunity to extend the honeycomb. Cover up tokens have 2 connectors instead of the 1 connector that honey tokens have. When placed on top of a honey token, one of the cover up connectors must align with the connector of the honey token below it. If no honey tokens have been placed set it aside for later. Cover up tokens are worth 1 flower point.

The connector on the cover up token must align with the connector of the honey token below it.

Notes

• Both restart cubes can be used in the same round.
• There is no bonus for unused restart cubes.
• If a player wants to make their decision to use a restart cube based on the decision of another player, all players must decide in clockwise order starting with the player that has the start token.
• If the nectar token pile runs out, players cannot buy more nectar tokens. Remember that nectar tokens must be exchanged for honey tokens when 3 are present.
• If the helper bee tokens pile runs out, the last player will not earn any additional helper bees. Remember that helper bee tokens must be returned to the helper bee pile once they have been used in a honeycomb.
• Please follow the link below for more clarifications. (The printed link is a QR code to the publisher's online clarifications and is not transcribed.)

Quick Reference

Round reference: All players build their honeycombs by drawing tokens from their bag. Count flower points and assign start token to player with highest total. Players then take turns in descending flower point order. Draw tokens from drafting bag equal to number of players plus 1.

Turn actions:

1. Exchange every group of 3 nectar tokens in your honeycomb for 1 honey token.
2. Return any helper bee tokens you played to the helper bee pile.
3. Draft 1 new token from the available drafting pool.
4. Purchase as many honey and nectar tokens as you desire.

Last player only: Gain 1 helper bee token for every 3 points behind the start player, max 3.

Players with trade tokens: Take a token from opponent.

Play until honey pile runs out. Player with most honey tokens wins.