Honey Buzz: Fall Flavors

Honey Buzz has the kind of dangerously cute appearance that, after a Tuesday at work, makes you expect something feather-light. Then the bees get to work. There is real substance underneath, plenty of replayability too, and Fall Flavors makes the whole thing richer without changing what it is.

The game still turns around its hives and the systems they create: you read what is developing in front of you, then make your choices fit the structure taking shape on the table. It has a proper little brain-burn, but not the sort that leaves you staring at the pieces as though they ought to explain themselves.

Fall Flavors brings five modules, to be mixed in as you please; once a group has played the base game two or three times, I would use all five. The player interaction does not suddenly become a quarrel, but the shared table gains more to watch and more systems to get hold of, while the game’s clear flow remains intact.

The production is lovely, in the useful way: the hives look right on the table rather than merely doing a job. More importantly, the game can ask you to think without abandoning anyone who has not yet grasped every last part of its machinery.

For people who already like Honey Buzz, Fall Flavors is a quietly excellent upgrade: fuller, prettier, and very easy to recommend.