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Beesness

Beesness is a competitive / cooperative game for 2+ players that simulates a capitalist market economy.

A beesness is a business for bees.

Not your usual bees. In this game, bees have learned how to do business from us humans: they can trade flowers for honey and honey for more bees, they can extort honey from other beesnesses and even employ cheap labour.

You play the director of one beesness. You compete against other players over flowers (resources) and honey (money).

To win, your beesness must end the game with more honey than any other beesness.

Your beesness operates in the garden of Commons. If all flowers are taken from the garden, at any point during the game, everybody loses immediately! To avoid this tragedy, you can cooperate with the other players to replant flowers.

Will you manage to maximise your honey profits while avoiding drone strikes and a collective beesaster?

How to beegin ^setup

1. Place the beesness cards 1 face up, stacked by bee type.

2. Stack all the honey 2 in two piles. That will be the bank.

   Each player takes 12 honey to start with and then rolls the die 5 to get some extra honey. This could bring your starting capital to 18 honey! 🎲

3. How many of you are playing? Take the price chart 3 for the current number of players and put it next to the bank.

4. The calendar cards 4 help you keep track of the rounds. Place them next to the price chart.

5. Put the die 5 over the first month.

6. The garden of Commons 6 grows at the centre of the table. Plant 6 flower tokens for each player.

   For example: if there are 4 players, plant 24 flowers.

   Flower tokens could be anything (beads, beens, chocolate chips, wood discs etc.) and it doesn't matter which colour they are.

7. Keep the rest of the flowers aside in the unplanted flowers pile 7.

You are now ready to play!

How to beehave ^gameplay

Players take turns, going clockwise around the table. ⏰

Rotate the starting player. If you started this round, the player to your left will start the next.

Phase 1 - Your turn

At the beginning of your turn you can buy beesness cards (1a) to grow your beesness. Then you can use your cards to execute your beesness plan (1b).

(1a) Buy beesness cards!

If you have enough honey and want to expand your beesness, you can buy one or more beesness cards.

Pay the bank the price for each card in honey and add the card(s) to your beesness. If you have a queen you can buy cards at half price.

You keep the cards you bought throughout the game and can re-use them all at every round.

(1b) Execute your beesness plan!

Every beesness card has a skill. Use as many of your cards as you like.

You can use new bees immediately, there's no need to wait for the next round.

For example: you have 2 workers, 1 drone and 1 queen. You could use your queen to buy an extra drone at half price. Then use your 2 workers to pick 2 flowers (1 flower each) and steal up to 6 honey from other beesnesses with your drones.

Phase 2 - End of the round

When all players have executed their beesness plans, the bank opens the stalk exchange and you have 1 minute to trade your flowers for honey (2a). Then you will replant the garden (2b) and move to the next round (2c).

(2a) Trade flowers on the stalk exchange!

You have 1 minute to decide how many of your flowers to put on the stalk exchange. Everybody does this at the same time.

You could get between 1 and 3 honey for each flower you trade. Their price will depend on how many flowers are traded on the stalk exchange by all players. The more flowers, the less they are worth (a.k.a. supply&demand).

Put the flowers you want to trade (from none to all) in your hand. Without revealing them, place your closed fist at the centre of the table. When everyone is ready, open your hands to show how many flowers you are trading.

Check the price chart to determine the price of one flower.

You get paid in honey, from the bank, for the flowers you are trading.

For example: if you are trading 2 flowers and their individual price is 3 honey, you get 6 honey from the bank.

Your flowers are now sold. Put them back onto the unplanted flowers pile.

(2b) Replant the garden!

Count the flowers left in the garden of Commons. There are two scenarios:

1. Beesness as usual

   If there are more flowers than players, replant one flower per player: take flowers from the pile of unplanted flowers and add them to the garden.

   For example: if there are 4 players and 6 flowers left, add 4 flowers from the pile of unplanted flowers to the garden.

2. Beesaster

   If the flowers left are equal or less than the players, the game enters beesaster mode.

   Remember, if the garden runs out of flowers, at any point during the game, everybody loses immediately. To avoid this, every player decides if they are willing to donate any of their bees in exchange for new flowers.

   Each beesness card can get you 1 flower.

   Reveal your choice at the same time as everyone else, using your hand in a rock-paper-scissors style: closed fist means you are unwilling to donate bees, 1 means willing to donate 1, 2 means 2 etc.

   • If everyone is willing to donate at least one bee, then you can replant as many flowers as the number of donated bees. Put the cards you are donating onto their stack next to the bank, and add new flowers to the garden.

   • Otherwise, no flowers are replanted this month.

(2c) Move the die to the next space on the calendar to keep track of the rounds.

Meet the bees

Type	Price	Skills
Worker	6 honey	Pick 1 flower per month from the garden.
Drone	12 honey	Steal up to 3 honey per month from other beesnesses in any combination, eg: 3 honey from 1 beesness, 1 honey from 3 different beesnesses, 2 from 1 beesness and 1 from another, etc.
Queen	18 honey	Buy other beesness cards at half their normal price.

Anatomy of a beesness card

How to win

At the end of the last month (12), the player with the most honey wins!

How not to lose

If the garden runs out of flowers, at any point during the game, everybody loses immediately.

To avoid this beesaster, you can decide all together to donate some of your bees in exchange for new flowers.

Each beesness card can get you 1 flower.

Reveal your choice at the same time as everyone else, using your hand in a rock-paper-scissors style: closed fist means you are unwilling to donate bees, 1 means willing to donate 1, 2 means 2 etc.

• If everyone is willing to donate at least one bee, then you can replant as many flowers as the number of donated bees. Put the cards you are donating onto their stack next to the bank, and add new flowers to the garden.

• Otherwise, no flowers are replanted this round.

Sticky situations ^FAQs

1. Can I sell bees?

   No. You are not allowed to sell your bees back to the bank. You can however trade bees with other players: see if anyone is interested in your bees and negotiate a price.

2. Do my bees count at the end of the game?

   No. It's just the honey you have (that is, your profits) and not the overall valuation of your beesness.

3. Can I make alliances with other players?

   Sure, why not? The terms of your trade agreements are up to you.

4. What if I use my drone(s) against a beesness that has not enough honey?

   You can force them to use one or more of their beesnesses cards as payment (eg: put a worker bee back to the stack, get 6 honey from the bank and pay you).

5. Can I use a drone and buy more beesness cards with the loot?

   Not during the same turn. You'll have to wait your next turn to invest your loot into new beesness cards.

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License