Apiary

Place the double-sided game board in the center, face up for your player count (1-3 or 4-5 players). Mix explorer tokens face down, then randomly place one face up into each space of the planet grid; return extras to the box. Place the QueenShip on its starting space. Shuffle planet tiles into a face-down stack next to the planet grid. Separate, shuffle face down, and stack the four types of hexagon tiles (Farms, Recruits, Developments, Carvings) in their designated areas on the board, dealing three face-up from each of the Farm, Recruit, and Development stacks. Deal one Carving tile face-up into each of its spaces. Randomly place two face-up Dance tiles in the Convert area. Place Dance tokens on their designated spot. Shuffle Seed cards into a face-down deck in the Research area. Create a general supply of Frames, Pollen, Fiber, Water, Wax, and Honey. Each player receives a docking mat, three cubes, four workers, and seven hibernation tokens in their chosen color. Place hibernation tokens and one cube on the docking mat. Place one cube on the '0' space of the Queen's Favor track. Randomly deal one Hive Mat to each player. Deal two Faction Tiles to each player (or one with a green star for a first game); players choose one, placing it on their Hive Mat, and return the other. Place workers from the Faction Tile onto the Active Pool spaces of the docking mat, set to their indicated strength. Place remaining workers to the left of the main board. The first player places their remaining cube on the '1st Player' space of the score track, and subsequent players place theirs on the next highest spaces.

Players lead factions of space bees on a quest to create the most successful hive in the galaxy. This is achieved by earning the most victory points by the end of the game. Points are gained through various actions, including exploring planets for resources, expanding their hive with new tiles, recruiting new workers, developing new technologies, and carving special tiles. Players must also manage their workers' strength and hibernation cycles to optimize their actions and maximize their final score.

On your turn, you must choose to either place a single worker from your active pool onto an action space on the main board or retrieve all your workers from the board and your landing area. When placing a worker, you must choose an action space that allows you to use at least part of its effect. If the space is already occupied, you 'bump' the existing worker, which triggers a special effect for its owner. Most action areas have a single space, but some have two; if so, you always place your worker in the space with an arrow. After placing, you resolve the action's effects. You can also play any number of Seed cards from your hand before and/or after resolving your chosen action. If you start your turn with no active workers, you gain a strength-1 worker for free and immediately take a place turn with it.

Victory points are accumulated throughout the game and at the end. During the game, you earn points by advancing on the Queen's Favor track. At the end of the game, you add points from several sources: the highest valued victory point space you reached or passed on the Queen's Favor track, points from planted Seed cards, points from the left edge of Farm, Recruit, and Development tiles in your hive, points from meeting conditions on Carving tiles, points from your Faction Tile's endgame ability, and points for having the most hibernation tokens in each sector of the Hibernation Comb.

The game ends immediately when either all spaces in the Hibernation Comb are filled with hibernation tokens (for your player count), or a single player has placed their last hibernation token into the Hibernation Comb. Once either of these conditions is met, each player, including the one who triggered the end of the game, gets one final turn. After all players have taken their final turn, final scoring is performed to determine the winner.