Honeycombs Game Review: A Competitive or Coooperative Kids Game for People Who Love Puzzles

A fun, simple, tile-matching game which is wonderful for young kids, but also great for mindfulness in older kids and adults.

If you like puzzles, or Dominos/Triominos, Honeycombs is a fun kids game which you will love.

One thing I love about this game is that often kids who struggle with the more traditional academic subjects, such as reading and writing, tend to love this game. Their minds often work in such a clever way that they can find patterns, problem solve, and come up with solutions that others wouldn’t think of. Watching these kids play a game like Honeycombs - it’s like watching magic happen.

There’s multiple ways to play, including a competitive option, a cooperative option, and even a mindfulness option! All easy to learn, set up, and ready to play within about a minute.

My favourite COMPETITIVE way to play Honeycombs, is the “Worker Bee” option.

In this version, the tiles are divided evenly between each player, and everyone races to build their own honeycomb before their opponents build theirs. To build a honeycomb, you place your tiles next to each other - just like in dominos - making sure you match the pictures on the sides of your tiles, so the connecting sides match. As you can imagine with the pieces of a honeycomb, there are up to six connections you can make, and the more sides you connect, the more points you earn. It’s a game with no down time, as everyone builds their honeycombs at the same time - meaning little ones won’t get bored waiting for their turn. Once a player has used all their tiles to complete their honeycomb, all other players must stop building immediately. However, finishing first doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve won, because another player may have made more matches than you and therefore have more points! In a nutshell, players are racing to finish their honeycomb first but also to make the most matches.

Another option for this beautiful game is to play COOPERATIVELY, and use the honeycomb pieces as one large puzzle, working together like bees to match and connect as many tiles as possible, making one big honeycomb. Like a traditional puzzle, there is no time limit or taking turns; everyone works together simultaneously. Unlike a traditional puzzle, tiles can be moved from one position to another at any time, by any player. You’re finished when all the tiles are connected to everyone’s satisfaction. Every time you play, the honeycomb puzzle is unique, challenging and fun.

And as always, I hear you asking “is there any other educational value to this game?”. The answer is of course yes. Honeycombs also cleverly teaches maths, as players have to add up their score at the end of each round. 1 point for every match, minus one point for every unused tile, minus two points if you mismatch a tile. Easy, fun maths, without the kids even realising. 😜

The aesthetics of this game are also beautiful. Large, easy to hold tiles. Beautiful illustrations of honeycomb themed pictures on each tile. All stored in a drawstring bag which looks like a beehive.

A simple, wholesome, beautiful, puzzle-like game, which will be thought of in a fond way by many kids as they grow up.

1–4 Players

15–30 Min Playing Time

Age: 6+

(Honeycombs is also available to be purchased in store from our brick and mortar store if you're lucky enough to be local to Bunbury, Western Australia!)

Would you like more in depth instructions on how to play? Here's a wonderful video tutorial with detailed instructions on how to play Honeycombs!