All the buzz
PROPOLIS
Designers: Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Shawn Stankewich | Publisher: Flatout Games
Sometimes, a simple play on words is all it takes to endear you to a game. In the case of Propolis, a worker placement and engine building game, where players oversee medieval bee colonies, a simple act of turning meeples into beeples perfectly sets the scene. It’s cute, catchy and leaves you wondering, “How has no one thought of this yet?”
Taking a well-established concept and putting a gentle, fresh spin on it is what Propolis does a lot. Its theme, for example, has medieval tones that are somewhat overused in board games. But by adding the bee element, it fully embraces a calming pastel colour-scheme that is reinforced with illustrations of beehive-inspired architecture. When the card tableau is laid on the table, it is easy to imagine it as a field full of spring flowers with your beeples jumping between the spots, busy collecting pollen.