Summary
đź‘Ą A game for 1 to 4 players
⏳ Playing time is 15 to 30 minutes
🏢 Publisher is AEG
Introduction
In Propolis, you step into the world of medieval bee colonies competing for glory, power, and the honor of their queen. Gather pollen, build impressive hives, and make sure your colony becomes the most glorious in the land!
Let’s get it on the table
Difficulty: 2.00 / 5
Replayability: 7
Our score: 7.5 out of 10 dice
Propolis is a worker placement, engine building, area control, and tableau building game. In Propolis, you take on the role of a rival bee colony. On your turn, you deploy worker bees to gather resources, strengthen your territory, and expand your hive to satisfy your queen and become the most renowned colony in the land.
During your turn, you can choose from several possible actions, such as deploying worker bees, strengthening them, or withdrawing them.
Action 1: Deploy worker bees
If you choose to deploy your worker bees, you may place them on an empty landscape card in one of the rows, on any available spaces of your choice. For each worker bee you place, you gain the resource or reward shown on that space. If you place a worker bee on the last remaining landscape card in a row, you receive 1 wildcard resource.
Action 2: Strengthen
If you choose to strengthen, you may turn 2 of your worker bees sideways on 2 different spaces of your choice. You gain the reward again, and their value is doubled during majority scoring.
Action 3: Withdraw
If you choose to withdraw, you remove any number of your worker bees from landscape cards and return them to your personal supply.
Action 4: Build a building
If you have collected enough resources, you may build a building from the market. Choose an available card and pay the required resources and/or worker bees. Then place the card in your personal play area. Some cards provide permanent resources that you can use later to purchase other buildings.
Action 5: Build the Queen’s Palace
As a final action, which you may only perform once per game, you may build the Queen’s Palace. Pay the required worker bees from your personal supply and ensure you have the necessary permanent resources. If so, place the building in your personal play area.
After choosing one of the five actions above, check whether any landscape row is completely filled with at least one worker bee on each card. If so, check for majority. If not, your turn ends and the next player takes their turn.
To determine majority, count the worker bees of each player present in that row. A standing worker bee counts as 1 point, and a sideways worker bee counts as 2 points. If one player has the majority, that player takes back all their worker bees from that row and returns them to their personal supply. If this player was not the active player, they also receive 1 wildcard resource. If it was the active player, they receive no additional reward.
After resolving majority, discard the rightmost free card in that row. All remaining cards shift to the right, and a new landscape card is added.
Propolis ends once a player has built 10 buildings. The current round is then completed so that all players have had an equal number of turns, followed by final scoring.
You score points based on the building cards, as indicated on the cards themselves, as well as for sets of resources or guild symbols. Count your remaining resources, divide that number by 5, and score that many additional points. Finally, add any points shown directly on your building cards. The player with the most points wins.
Propolis combines several different game mechanisms into one. While that may initially seem overwhelming, appearances can be deceiving. The game does not feel overly complex in play. A game of Propolis flows quickly, yet still offers a fair amount of replayability and challenge.
The game can start a bit slowly, as you need to work to gather resources. You also need a bit of luck with the available building and resource cards, though there are ways to adapt to what appears. Propolis is very colorful, making it a joy to put on the table.
For solo players, Propolis also offers 20 different achievements to unlock. We have seen this feature more often in games by White Goblin Games, such as Cascadia.
🙏 Thanks to AEG for providing this review copy and the opportunity to write about it.
