Radioactive Bees Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Multiplayer Game Set Up
• Gameplay
• Tile Placement Rules
• Radioactive Rings
• Scoring
• End of the Game
• Action Tiles
  • How to Use
• Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • Radioactive Rings and Scoring
  • End of the Game

Contents

• 1 Game board
• 57 Construction tiles
• 4 Action tiles
• 120 Radioactive rings (48-36-24-12)
• 1 Ring holder
• 4 Score markers
• 1 Bag

Multiplayer Game Set Up

There are 3 types of construction tiles. They have different forms and numbers of bees: Triangle, Angle and Line.

Each player chooses a bee color. Tiles are then dealt depending on the number of players:

• 2 players: 3 triangles, 6 angles and 9 lines.
• 3 players: 2 triangles, 4 angles and 6 lines.
• 4 players: 2 triangles, 3 angles and 4 lines.

Gameplay

Choose who plays first. Beginning with the start player, each player takes a turn in clockwise order. During each turn, players position one of their tiles on the board, keeping within the hive's pattern (fig 1). The tiles may be placed in any direction or position.

When you cannot cover any more spaces on the board, the game continues ON TOP of the tiles already in play.

Tile Placement Rules

1. Each new tile must be placed so that it covers part of at least TWO unique tiles from the layer below (fig 2). A tile may not be used to completely cover up a tile of the same shape from the layer below.
2. No part of a new tile may be placed with a blank spot underneath it (fig 3).
3. All tile placement options must be exhausted before starting a new layer (fig 4). If a player still has a tile that fits in a layer, they must place that tile regardless of whether an opponent has started a new layer.
4. Players may not skip a turn, unless none of their tiles can be placed or they have run out of pieces. In such cases, opponents continue playing until they run out of possible moves, thus ending the round.
5. At the end of a round, players mark each of their uncovered bees with a ring (fig 5). Bees can earn up to three rings and one radioactive marker. Uncovered tile spots without bees don't count for marking and scoring (fig 6).
6. Finally, players remove all their tiles from the board and start a new round. The player to the left of the player who started the previous round will begin the new round.

(Rule numbering is as printed in the rulebook, which skips 6.)

Fig. 4 note: In the example, the seven spaces left blank cannot be used for the rest of the round as no tiles may be placed over blank spots.

Fig. 5: There are 7 black bees and 10 white bees to mark with the outer ring.

Fig. 6: Red highlighted spaces don't count for marking and scoring.

Radioactive Rings

Only one ring can be added to a bee per round. The outer ring must be placed first and the last one is the radioactive marker.

The rings acquired at the end of a round remain on their corresponding tiles for the rest of the game, even if those tiles are covered in future rounds.

The more rings a bee has, the more points it is worth. Points earned depend on the level of radioactivity (number of rings) as follows:

• 1 point: bee with no rings (value 1)
• 2 points: bee with 1 ring (value 2)
• 3 points: bee with 2 rings (value 3)
• 5 points: mutant queen (bee with 3 rings and the radioactive marker)

Scoring

There are two ways to accumulate points:

1. During each round when a player's bees get covered by an opponent's tile.

   If one or more of a player's bees are covered by an opponent's tile, the targeted bee's current value is immediately added to the player's score. If players cover up their own bees, they don't get any points.

   Players calculate their score by adding 1 point (bee's inherent value) to the targeted bee's number of rings. Therefore, the score of a bee without rings is 1, a bee with one ring is 2, and so on.

2. At the end of the game, by adding up the value of the rings acquired on their bees.

   Players calculate their score by adding up the value of each bee's rings to their total score. In this case, only the ring's value is taken into account: bees without rings don't score any points, bees with one ring score 1 point, and so on.

End of the Game

The game ends when, at the end of a round, one or more bees have earned enough radioactive rings to receive radioactive markers and emerge as mutant queens.

When the score for the final round is calculated, the player with the most points wins the game.

Action Tiles

These are wild tiles that allow players to perform actions and gain an advantage over the opponents during a round. The use of the action tiles is optional.

How to Use

Before the round begins, players take one action tile at random and keep it hidden from opponents. It can be used at any moment during the round and instead of one regular tile. When the round ends, they are put aside and the process is repeated for the next round.

Action tiles don't accumulate rings and don't earn points to any player when covered.

There are four action tiles with different powers, as follows:

• The freezer allows the player to cover bees without adding the score to opponents.
• The thief allows the player to steal opponent's covered bees' points and add them to their own.
• The uploader allows the player to add one ring to the covered bees. It doesn't score points to targeted bees' owners.
• The downloader allows the player to take one ring out of the covered bees. It doesn't score points to targeted bees' owners.

Solo Mode

In this mode, the player must place tiles and add radioactive rings until a mutant queen emerges, while avoiding losing points. This can only be achieved by covering as few bees as possible.

Setup

You can choose any arrangement of colors used for multiplayer mode (2, 3 or 4 colors), keeping in mind that the level of difficulty increases as the number of colors decreases.

Gameplay

All multiplayer tile placement rules apply in solo mode, except for the color placement order, which can be random.

Radioactive Rings and Scoring

Unlike the multiplayer mode, you start with a fixed amount of points and you lose points every time you cover a bee: once if the color of the targeted bee and the covering tile are different, and twice if they are the same. In this mode, the final rings' value isn't taken into account.

Depending on your playing skill, you can set up the initial score (80 points will be the maximum). As you improve your skills, you can lower the initial score.

End of the Game

The game ends when you lose all your points (you have failed) or when a mutant queen emerges (you have succeeded).