Honeycombs

A matching game in which the bees, for once, are on your side.

Honeycombs is a box of 52 chunky hexagon tiles, each edge marked with a symbol, designed by Dave Clarke. The idea fits in one sentence: put tiles next to each other so the symbols where they touch match, and score for every match. The honeybee is wild and will match anything, which is exactly as useful as it sounds.

What makes it last is that there are three ways to play in the one box. Worker Bee is a race, everyone building their own honeycomb at once until someone finishes first. One Big Honeycomb is calmer: you take turns adding to a single shared comb, with a few special tiles that let you steal turns. And the Honeycombs Puzzle drops the scoring entirely, so it works as a solo puzzle or a quiet family build. It is light, quick to teach and over in about half an hour.

Perfect for: Families with a wide age gap at the table, where the seven-year-old wants a race and the grandparents would prefer a nice puzzle. Here they can have both, on alternate nights.

1–8 players | 15–30 minutes | Age 7+

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📖 New to the genre? What Is a Tile-Laying Game? — how tile-layers work, and where to start.