Queenz: Review

Queenz: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Pattern Building, Set Collection, Drafting
Player Age: 8+ 

Player Count: 2 - 4 Players

Time to Play: 30 Minutes 
Game Designer: Bruno Cathala, Johannes Goupy
Game Artist: Vincent Dutrait

Publisher: Mandoo Games, Rio Grande Games

Expandable: Mini Expansion in the box

Year Published: 2019

BGG Weight: 2.5
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

You are a famous beekeeper and your goal is to produce the best orchids to attract the most bees. This is achieved within the game by creating connected sets of the same coloured orchids and having bees next to your hives.

Game Anatomy:

Score Board:

This is the board that will track the points that each player will gain from the placement of their orchids.

Player Board:

Each player board has six available places for orchids to be placed, as well as five available places for the honey pots.

Farmer:

The farmer is a meeple that will move around the garden once the active player takes their chosen orchids, the movement will be equal to the amount of orchids that player takes. The next active player can only take orchids from whichever row or column that the farmer is facing after he has moved.

Garden:

The garden consists of a six by six grid that will be filled with orchids at the start of the game which will slowly decrease. This aims to make players choices more and more limited as the game continues. Forethought is certainly a requirement in the early stages of the game so that the late stages can be used as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. This garden is refilled with orchards once the farmer passes the red arrow with his movements around the border.

Field Tiles:

These are the tiles that you will place your  orchids and hives on. There will be five fields revealed at the start of the game and this will not refresh until all five are taken or the farmer passes the red arrow on the main board.

Honey Pots and Diversified Production Tokens:

If you produce honey by creating a path of two or more of the same orchids in the  fields then you will gain a honeypot.

 You can only gain each coloured honey pot once which will correspond to the orchid colours. Once you gain a honey pot you will take the top diversified production token from the pile and gain these points at the end of the game. These points range from 10, 6, 5 and 4 where the later you score, the lower the points. So, if you take your time achieving this then you will score less points.

Orchids Tokens:

There are five colours of orchids in the base game: yellow, white, blue, red, and pink. These are what you will be using to create patterns on the fields. Some orchids have one, two or three bees on them. These bee holding orchids will help you score additional points at the end of the game when they are surrounding hives. The orchids with single bees on them have a special ability when they are taken from the main board; the player has an opportunity to swap this orchid with an already fielded orchid. This helps to gain, continue colour sets or maybe surround a hive, but they will not score points for this at this time.

Black Orchid:

These are special orchids that are included as a mini expansion to the game. When taking orchids you can take a single black orchid and draw three orchids from the draw pile. From these three, you select one or two to place on your player board.

Hives:

The hives can be placed in the fields like the orchids but will score one point for each bee in the surrounding eight places. Each player begins the game with three hives, so place the hives and bees carefully to enhance your scoring possibilities.

Setup:

- Shuffle all orchids (only add the black orchids if you want to use the micro expansion).
- Fill the garden with one face up orchid per square to total 36 orchids.
- Give each player a player board, one set of five uniquely coloured honey pots (Not placed on your player board, you have to earn that) and three hives.
- Shuffle all field tiles and place five next to the garden.
- Place each scoring token on the zero space of the scoring board.
- Form a pile of diversified production tokens with the top token being 1p, followed by 6, 5 and 4.
- Determine a first player. The game does not suggest a method to do this but you could always determine by who most recently saw a bee.
- The player to the right of the first player will determine on what row or column the farmer will start.

How to Play:

On your turn you will either take one or more orchid token(s) or fill a field tile.

Take one or more orchids:

Based on the row or column that the farmer is facing you can either take one, two or three orchids.
When taking one orchid it can be either a black orchid, an orchid with one or more bees or any one basic orchid. The black orchids and bee orchids can only be taken when you collect only one orchid.
When taking two orchids it can be any two basic orchids,

and when taking three orchids it must be a unique colour for each orchid taken.

When the orchid(s) are taken they will be placed on that players board (the player cannot take more orchids than what will fit on the board) and the farmer will move clockwise equal to the amount of orchids taken.

Fill a Field:

Instead of taking any orchids, the player can take any of the available fields and fill it completely by using either orchids on their player board, or by using hives. If this is your first field, it can go anywhere in front of you but if it isn't your first then it must be placed adjacent to one of your existing fields.
If you just created or enlarged an area of two or more connected orchids of the same colour then you have just produced honey, congratulations! You will score one point for each of these orchids. If this is the first time honey has been created for that particular colour then you will gain a honey pot of the same colour. Honey can be created multiple times within a turn.

Refreshing:

Whenever orchids or fields are taken, they do not automatically refresh. There are several possibilities that will cause a refresh to occur:
- If the gardener stops in front of an empty row or column, the player that moved the gardener here will score one point and then refresh the row or column with new orchids.
- If a player takes the last available field then they will score one point and refresh the available fields back to five.
- If the gardener moves past the red arrow on the board, all fields and orchids will be refreshed and the player who moved the gardener will score one point.

Scoring:

The game will begin ending once one player has created five fields. Once this occurs, each other player will gain one last turn. If they create a field on their last turn then they no longer have to adhere to the rule of filling the field completely. Once the game has finished, add any points that were gained from the diversified production token and score the amount of bees in the eight spaces around every hive (one point per bee).

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Unique method of drafting.
- Fun Tetris optimisation.
- The drafting is very interactive as the farmer moves based on what times the players take.
- Quick playtime with easy rules to explain.
- Hidden depth.

Cons:
- The end of the game can feel abrupt.
- For more advanced players the drafting can feel more cutthroat if they are trying to block you.

'Queenz' successfully creates a tetris-feeling game while still maintaining an approachable status through easy rules and quick game play. The drafting feels very unique as you must consider which orchids will suit your needs. However, since the orchids don't refill immediately,  you must also consider if you can effectively block the following player and whether or not you should. Every time you place fields you should consider whether you are focusing more on the bees for end game scoring, trying to create a large grouping of a single coloured orchid, or if you are trying to diversify your orchids. There is plenty of strategy and depth within the game which is hidden in a welcoming package. It would ‘bee’ regretful to not award this game a Go To Golden Seal.

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