Overview

Hive is a movement-capture game like chess, but has no board and uses hexagonal stones. The goal is to surround the opponent's queen bee with six stones. (The stones do not all have to be of your color.)

Game Start

The first player chooses one stone to put on the board. The second does the same, but must touch the other player's stone. This is the only time a player can place a new stone that touches their opponent's.

You cannot move stones until the Queen Bee is placed. Each player can play up to three stones before placing the Queen Bee. After three turns, if a player has not placed the Queen Bee, they are required to on their fourth turn.

In a tournament-style opening, the player cannot place the Queen Bee first.

Player's turn

Each turn, a player may do one of two actions:

• Place a stone
• Move a stone

If a player cannot move a stone or place a new stone, their turn is skipped.

Placing a New Stone

A player takes one stone from their reserve and places it so that it 1) touches at least one of its own color 2) does not touch any of the opponent's stones.

Note: A stone with a beetle on it is the color of the beetle. A stone is considered to be the color of the topmost stone.

Moving a Stone

Each stone moves differently based on its pictured bug, but there is only one rule: the hive cannot ever be disconnected. The stones must always form a contiguous group. Any moved stone must remain part of that group. This is known as the One Hive rule.

Adjacent stones always share a complete side, never part of a side or touching a corner. Imagine a hexagonal grid; each stone occupies one such space on the grid. To move a stone, it must be able to physically move, or "slide", to its destination. A stone cannot move through a gap that is too narrow to pass through. This also applies to stones on other stones. This is the Freedom of Movement rule.

Pieces

Name	Icon	Quantity	Movement
Queen		1	Exactly 1 space in any direction
Beetle		2	Exactly 1 space in any direction; Can climb over other stones and the stone underneath is immobilized
Grasshopper		3	Jumps over a line of stones. Cannot go over gaps. Grasshopper movement
Spider		2	Moves exactly 3 spaces around the hive. No more and no less.
Ant		3	Can move as far as it likes around the other stones
Bonus Optional Stones
Ladybug		1	Moves three spaces--two on top of the hive and one off.
Pillbug		1	Moves a single space (like the Queen Bee). Can also move an adjacent stone to a different space, as long as the One Hive rule is observed. It does this by rolling the stone on top of it and putting it back down somewhere.
Mosquito		1	Copies the movement of any stone it's touching.

Notes

A Beetle can climb on top of other Beetles. It's possible to have a stack five stones high (1 base stone and 4 Beetles). With the Mosquito, it's possible to have a stack seven stones high.

A Beetle cannot climb onto a stack that is higher than itself.

The Grasshopper can jump over stacks.

If a Mosquito copies a Beetle and moves on top of the hive, it remains a Beetle until it moves to ground level. A Mosquito cannot move if it is only adjacent to another Mosquito. If a beetle is on top of an adjacent stone, the Mosquito copies the Beetle, not the stone underneath.

If a Pillbug moves another stone, that stone cannot be moved next turn. The Pillbug cannot move a stone that is part of a stack.

Game End

The game ends when a queen bee is surrounded on all six sides by stones of either color. The owner of the surrounded Queen Bee loses.

If both Queen Bees are surrounded at the same time, the game is a draw. Players may agree to a draw if neither player can move or only make the same moves over and over.