Hive is played by 2 players without a board; the tiles themselves form the playing area. White moves first. Surround the opposing queen in a growing hive with no fixed board.
Hive is a two-player strategy game played with hexagonal insect tiles instead of a board. The goal is to surround the opposing queen. Each side has a queen bee, two beetles, two spiders, three grasshoppers and three ants. Players place or move tiles while keeping the hive connected, and each queen must be placed by its owner's fourth turn. A queen surrounded on all six sides loses. This guide covers Hive. Check the movement, capture and game-ending rules below before applying rules from another variant.
Game illustration. Follow the setup instructions to prepare a new game.
Each side has 11 tiles: one queen, two beetles, two spiders, three grasshoppers and three ants. ChessPlayX uses the tournament opening rule: neither player may place the queen as their first tile.
Board
no fixed board
Players
2
First move
White moves first.
Rules used here
Hive
02Moves and captures
Legal moves
Place a reserve tile or move a tile already in the hive. New tiles must touch your own colour without touching the opponent, except for each side's first tile. Place your queen by your fourth turn and before moving any tile. If you can neither place nor move a tile, you must pass and your opponent moves again.
Using the board
Choose a reserve tile or a movable top tile, then a marked hex. Zoom and pan when the hive spreads.
03Special rules
The hive must always stay connected.
Queens move one sliding step, spiders exactly three sliding steps, ants any sliding distance, grasshoppers jump straight over tiles, and beetles move one step and may climb stacks.
Expansions are disabled.
04Winning and draws
Surround the opposing queen on all six sides to win, regardless of the colours surrounding it.
If both queens become surrounded together, the game is drawn.
Three occurrences of the same position within the last 32 individual turns also draw.
