Apidaia is a light to medium 2-6 player asymmetric world exploring, worker placement, resource management, engine builder. Each player takes control of a unique bee species and chooses a unique hive location to build upon. They will play through three seasons acting as the queen bee to harvest nectar and pollen, lay and mature larva, explore the world, and build their hive.

Each round begins with a pollen reward based on the season that players are in and the hexes that players have built into their hives. Pollen is the currency that players take to do their actions. Starting with the starting player which rotates each round, each player will take 1 action per turn until a player either passes or runs out of pollen. Once that happens no additional pollen can be awarded through pollen rewards that round. A round ends when all players have passed or run out of pollen.

Players can move their bees to uncover hive hexes from the field which allows them to decide on receiving a one time pollen reward for that hex or pay its cost to purchase immediately before any other player. They may also move to bee quests which grant end-game victory points, to the waggle dance track which gives players access to their own exclusive field with special abilities, to their hive bank where all pollen and nectar is stored, or to the hive hexes where larva is layed and matured. Field hexes also contain random seasonal challenges which when explored will cause trouble based on the season.

Other than moving, players may choose to harvest nectar from the field which is used to mature larva based on the color of flowers purchased into the hive, they may lay larva, buy hexes based on the seasonal chart and the location of their bees, and they may mature larva as actions on their turn. As players build their hive they will unlock permanent upgrades to their abilities.

The game ends when someone has completed their hive or when the end of the season track is reached.

Victory points are calculated based on the number of flowers on the hexes purchased into their hive, the number of worker bees they have alive, the pollen in their hive bank, and any completed quests.

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