Apiary - Overview & Our Thoughts

[@shortydancer]

RIP humans. We had our chance. Also, is this a sponsored video?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

It's not sponsored. We always add the tag and verbally mention it in the video if it is. Plus, we don't review sponsored content.

[@shortydancer]

@@BeforeYouPlay understood, but did you guys get the copy free from the publisher?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

@@shortydancer Yes, anyone who has a copy of Apiary currently was sent an advanced review copy from the publisher. This is written in the video description.

[@windyhillbomber]

Geez shorty, what’s your point?

[@shortydancer]

@@windyhillbomber just a question.

[@bkwestman22]

I would love to see a play-through of this one! Thanks for the overview!

[@JMEPatterson]

Yours was the first Apiary I decided to watch and I would love to see a playthrough if you can squeeze one in without messing up the schedule for the next Anachrony video 😉

[@A72Challenger]

A play through would be awesome to see.

[@bookaddict777]

I would love to see a 2-player playthrough of Apiary as that is the way that I will be playing it. Thanks for the video!

[@HexStarDragon]

Thank you as always for taking the time to review and share your thoughts with everyone! Obviously, I'd be interested to see a playthrough. Aside from the personal connection, I think the game is so variable, as you mention, that I really want to see more gameplay and more examples of different combinations and strategies!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Monique!! That sweater is everything. Fantastic overview as well thanks so much for the thoughts on the game!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Haha thanks guys! Finally a moment in So Cal to bust this thing out 🥵.

[@dranawor]

Great video. I loved hearing your thoughts and would definitely enjoy a full playthrough!

[@FrankMinogue]

Ordered it, largely because of your video. Thank you so much!!!!

[@chunb]

That's a really nice t-shirt, Monique! Lovely review by you both as always!

[@crosscutgames]

Very good review! I feel like I understand how this plays and what to expect! Well done!

[@stormquiver]

always love your playthroughs. looking forward to it

[@jackiethomas325]

So exciting, would love to see a play through from you guys on this one. Can’t wait for the Septima play through, my copy should be arriving fingers crossed in the next 10 days with any luck.

[@TuanSon611]

oh, I think they already had the playthru on the channel. You can check it out :D

[@jessactor]

@@TuanSon611 They'll be doing another playthrough because the rules have changed relatively significantly since the last playthough.

[@TuanSon611]

@@jessactor Oh I see, thanks

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We will be launching the How-To-Play video first in a few days and will be doing our playthrough in a couple of weeks. ☺️

[@Kankui3]

Like others, playthrough would be awesome to have! I’m on the fence for this one and I came to you guys first. Thanks for your honest feedback

[@Gigantor18]

Thanks guys, would love to see a playthrough at some point!

[@trashpanda4231]

I love the gameplay videos that you all do, and would love to see one for this!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you!

[@matt7912-j9p]

The worker system is very similar to Teotihucan, my all time favorite game. Looking forward to this one and painting that bumble bee

[@GKEK]

Yes! Love your reviews. Playthrough please! ^__^

[@TheBrokenSeal]

I would love to see y'all play this game!

[@Axel_Vrarimor]

Please do a olaythrough this looks very intriguing and would love to see you tackle it in its full glory!

[@matthewatherton6537]

Great video, I am more excited for this game. Your channel is wonderful!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you!

[@JeffKoper]

I would also like to see a playthrough. Great review.

[@bluefire700]

Ooohhhh I was waiting for this one!!! :D

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks for checking out our video!

[@richardd8679]

Definitely would love to see you play through this one

[@MrKeller13]

I would really love a Stonemaier games Series since you have finished the Uwe series!

[@papabrice7818]

Merci pour la video, vous m'avez convaincu et je viens de le pré-commander. Je vais maintenant regarder votre partie 😊

[@taylorflowers8987]

I'm simply Buzzing to see a playthrough of Apiary! 🤓

[@drvinnyboombatz9094]

Yes, a play through video would be great!! 👏👏👍🏻

[@coltonbeadz3002]

Thanks for the review and I would love to see a play through.

[@andymcguire237]

This is one I will likely buy. (Also, really looking forward to your Septima video as I await my copy!)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks, Andy!

[@stephenshein4600]

seems fun, thanks for the video!

[@jeffhiatt1682]

great review....and a p;laythrough would be great if you have the time. already ordered my copy and am looking forward to getting it to the table.

[@shantelalbert7151]

Would love to see a playthrough!

[@riado4351]

I'm surprised no one here had previously asked it, but please make a playthrough!

[@melissahayes250]

Yes, please do a full playthrough!

[@JCrowe]

Would love if you do a full playthrough of this game please if you can! thanks

[@kimklisiak6421]

Great video! I'm excited to try this one!

[@CATPLANET24]

Very helpful video!

[@onepingonly1941]

I thought I wanted it although leery of the Stonemaier experience. Now I really feel I want it. Great presentation.

[@honeylady108]

Me too JME, watched last night and ordering the game tomorrow. I'm a beekeeper, I MUST have this game! Love the video thanks Before You Play! And a playthrough would be great 🐝

[@ericfrancis7816]

Would love a playthrough! Signed, a sci-fi loving, beekeeping board gamer.

[@strixt]

Definitely would enjoy a playthrough

[@irvinrules]

mmm, it was weird to hear your thoughts at the end, without watching a playthrough. The overview was very good 👍🏽.

[@zoepppppreston]

Yes please do a full playthrough!!

[@zacharythorp6095]

I've played the game twice, and it game me a nagging feeling of familiarity. You called it out: Euphoria. I've enjoyed the color and design elements of both games a lot. Good review!

[@ethanbarton]

Your playthroughs are better than anyone else's

[@TheRekabNivek]

One thing I love about the theme is that it's about worker life-cycles, which feels very appropriate to a bee themed game! 🐝

[@Marroway]

As everyone else I would love to see a playthrough as it ot would help a lot on making a decision on the game!

[@4jhowel]

Would love to see a play through :)

[@cherylhoward9177]

Would love to see you play this game so I can wrap my head around all the different strategies offered by this game.

[@jcontino8889]

Would love to see a playthrough! Great review and thanks so much for always putting out such wonderful content!

[@chrisdixon4793]

I would like to see a pop play through. I feel like you guys always teach very well.

[@sherd7234]

I would love to see a play through of Apiary!

[@macngames100]

I think you may have convinced me to preorder Apiary! Would love to see a play through of it. What did you think about the 2-player count?

[@samkrause9504]

I'd love a playthrough! Worker placement is a hit or miss with me. This one has hit potential!

[@李潛艇]

Please do a playthrough! It looks so interesting!

[@jayf4859]

This game seems really cool! Theme and asymmetry all over the way, almost feels like Gaia Project, but with bees! :) Thank you both for another excellent review, tho!

[@ronsilva7394]

Good job !

[@davidgodfrey880]

definitely would like to watch a play-through...

[@Malakai2004]

Please do a playthrough. I use tons of your videos to help to decide on what to get

[@wsuvak]

Yep. Consider this a vote for a play-through before it arrives! 👍

[@CharlesSuarez-n3p]

I think that a playthru would be great.

[@WesterBronxBoy]

How well does Apiary play at 5 players? Thanks for the overview and thoughts

[@davidvelazquez677]

Spooky month is here! Any chance the 'How to Play' video for Septima comes out this week?? So excited when Mindclash shared that you guys were doing it. Always a first class teach from you two

[@Wylie288]

haven't they already done that?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi there, yes the Official How To Play video will be launching in a few days!!! Thank you so much for your kind words! ☺️

[@jamesmorgan1967]

Would love to see a playthrough, perhaps with Michael? Nice review, guys!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks, James!

[@Oaklestat]

I would really like to see you guys do a play through. I'm having a hard time deciding if I wanted or not.

[@MohamadSobh]

Yes please! (Regarding a playthrough)

[@JoshN614]

Great overview/review video and would be interested in a playthrough. I know there are lots of differences - but how would you compare this to Andromeda’s Edge which also involves the worker placement, tableau building, and worker recall - also set in space.

[@torstenkock7265]

Thanks for this video. Seems that this a game I would love to play. I will wait for the German Version by Feuerland and I will paint the queen for sure ;-)

[@DiegoDeschain]

This one seems very interesting to me. I feel, from what I've seen and what you guys talked about, that this will be that type of game, like say...Terra Mystica, where it's not a "perfect" game (whatever that may subjectively mean to a lot of different people), but it's a game where the people who end up liking it, REALLY like it, and they just play again, and again, and again, until they're all up to speed on every faction and whatnot, to the point where they start helping the designers balance the game with updates etc. I mean, SM did that with Tapestry, I think if it comes to that they would certainly release updated rules to balance some things out if necessary.

[@MarlinVoltaire-zx6zh]

Thank you for the video! I would love to see an Apiary playthrough from you. :-) Also: What kind of table are you using? The felt (?) looks nice!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi there! We are using a table sent to us by a company called Bandpass Designs, but the covering we use to film is a wool blanket we purchased on Amazon!

[@MarlinVoltaire-zx6zh]

Thanks for the info! How does it stay so flat on the table? @@BeforeYouPlay

[@theonemarlowe9117]

A playthrough, absolutely.

[@YeahRight-s2q]

Ok. Fine. You talked me into it.

[@mariuszkania9947]

Crowd is waiting for more Anachrony 😀 Please consider solo playthrough with some expansions.

[@walterscase359]

Expedition vs Apiary. Which would you table first?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Apiary!

[@joycel9801]

Please please please do a playthrough of Apiary! I’m usually better able to grasp the flow of the game better with playthroughs as compared to overviews and straight rules teaches.

[@yaelakimronzonmorell254]

Hi!!! Will you record a playthrough video? 😁

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi there, we likely will. We are currently traveling internationally so we don’t have a specific timeline.

[@RobbeSteens]

Have you any idea when the full playtrough will be online?

[@JacobPorterLadder]

I know fairly different games, but for a mid weight worker placement Euro, would you grab this or Bot Factory off the shelf. I know you're all Lacerda fans lol

[@oscararias6052]

Please do the playthrough for this game

[@Sorroris]

+1 for a playthrough

[@JeffPeterson82]

Definitely want to see a playthrough video, your playthrough videos are as good as there is. I really appreciated hearing your thoughts on the game, most of the things you listed as negatives (not having any idea of who is winning, everyone doing their own thing, lots of variability with luck playing more of a role as a result) are things that don't bother me and all of the positives are things that make me excited about the game. I've watched a fair number of reviews (was saving yours for last of the reviewers to get early copies) and the thoughts on the theme seem to be mixed. From what I've seen and from reading the design diaries, it seems like the theme is there in a lot of ways but that it is subtle and can easily be missed (for example, the waggle dance being based on actual bee behavior, bees visiting a planet and making it better mirroring what real bees do as pollinators, hibernation being because they have advanced beyond the short lifespan of current bees but are still limited by their physiology). I haven't looked at the tiles that closely but it seems like there is a decent amount of theme hidden in there, similar to how there are a fair number of birds in Wingspan with thematic powers that a lot of people who aren't into birding don't even notice.

[@lukepickles5099]

I’d love to see a playthrough - I’ve liked a play of Euphoria but it’s not really for me. So I’m wondering how differently this plays.

[@Pookiebear]

Id be interested in seeing a playthru of this one. Im a little on the fence because worker placement is such a saturated game type, I already have a handful of them so Im not sure if this would be something I needed to add to my collection but it looks intriguing and asymmetry is always good for replay value. Also, Monique I really like your sweater :)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

I think we will be doing a playthrough after all, it may be a few weeks before it’s posted. It’s been fairly hot, but this filming day was on the cooler side, so she naturally pulled out her sweater haha.

[@rachelandryan]

Worker Placement is just a mechanism, like dice throwing. Between placing a marker and taking an action, and throwing a dice and letting that dictate the action, I prefer the former most of the time.

[@DarthLandry]

I'd love a full playthrough. Rhado did well but didn't go to the end.

[@fiddlefox]

I'm going to have to watch this again... 😵‍💫

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Haha, hope the rules teach made sense in the end!

[@fiddlefox]

@@BeforeYouPlay I think I struggled to follow along on this one because I lacked the goal of the game up front. I might have missed it. "The goal of the game is to...." gives me context to build around.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

@@fiddlefoxyeah I think we just briefly mentioned that in the intro. We’re trying to build up our hives and score the most amount of points at the end of the game. That’s primarily it, you find points on most things including the hive tiles and end-game seed cards as well as the queens favor track. If it’s still confusing, a playthrough might be best to watch.

[@MattyWarbucks]

I enjoyed your review. I appreciate you mentioning the unbalanced tokens and cards. There is no reason to have one token that does the same thing as another but two times better (unless it is to simulate a different stage in a game). This makes it seem like the mechanism is there just for variety and should have been scrapped or expanded upon. I imagine that swingy or unbalanced cards are much harder to balance but in the end it lowers my enjoyment of a euro game just after a few plays.

[@HexStarDragon]

To take the explore token example, one of the reasons to have them be unequal is to create competing priorities and tension in player decisions. If one explore token gives one of each resource, and one only gives water, you have to decide if getting the better explore token is a priority for you to grab, this turn, before others, compared to grabbing a tile you might be competing for with another player, or simply sequencing your own actions in a way that you'd prefer (e.g. picking up a recruit tile that makes Explore stronger first, before exploring). If all the explore tokens were equal, you don't care if anyone else explores before you do - you get to it whenever you feel like it, and it doesn't make a difference. There are definitely some players who will dislike that type of variance - but it's not accurate to say there is "no reason" to have unequal rewards.

[@SparkyHelper]

🎉❤

[@brentdeatrick7340]

Can you please try to get a copy of Zoo Tycoon, from the maker of Ark Nova? :)

[@ethanbarton]

I love asymmetry but i love double asymmetry more :D

[@JeFreeze]

I'm curious to see more. My first impression is that it seems to compete with a lot of my favourite games as an asymmetrical worker placement with engine building, but it doesn't quite grab me enough to really compete with them without seeing more. Also a bit disappointed with the graphic design/art, it's not bad but again doesn't grab me like I hoped a sci-fi bee themed game would. Still interested in seeing how a full game plays out though.

[@Boardgametherapist]

This is by far one of the more interesting and unique theme and mechanics stonemaier has attempted in a while. Looking forward to trying it out

[@TheCalonso]

Could you do a play thru but skip the rule explanation? That might help with you getting it done in time. It would be nice to see it and it sounds like the type game you would feature!

[@aingealstone8457]

4 of us tried to play this last night. It was the first time for 3 of us with one trying to teach it. After 2 hours we bailed. For me there was just too much going on and I didn't understand the purpose of most of the actions. I am open to trying it again once the teacher understands it better and can transfer that info to me. But any game that takes longer than 2 hours is generally a bore for me.

[@akshayagarwala8991]

Did someone say, mini painter? 👀

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Haha

[@4ngeIwing]

Really like your review videos! Both of you provide insight that I very much appreciate way more than most other channels. I would much prefer it if you guys can include reviews in your sponsored teach videos if possible or just post more reviews in general(i feel like you guys will be able to provide a pretty fair review even if you were sponsored to teach it but as long as you add a disclaimer to preface the review section I think that should be able to appease the sjws) Regarding teaches, you guys and watch it played are still the best at teaching the rules in a comprehensive way. I just got my hands on dwellings of eldervale and watched all the rules videos available on youtube but still found myself having to re-read the rulebook in its entirety so you might want to consider making a better one for that game!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Aw thank you so much! We really appreciate your kind words. We wish we could give our thoughts on all of the games but it’s very complicated, unfortunately. Dwellings of Eldervale is a game that we’ve both only been able to play once, actually! We really enjoyed it but it’s been a few years haha and we don’t own a copy. Maybe we can revisit it when we have the opportunity.

[@clintthomas3530]

Playthrough please.

[@stephenwyda2568]

Is this a paid preview/review?

[@jamesjacobthomson6198]

Don't think so. They probably just got an early review copy.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

This is not paid. We don't make paid reviews and whenever content is sponsored, we add a tag and verbally say it in the video. We made this video purely in our own free time.

[@ludwigmises]

Note to self: an apiary isn’t an ape enclosure.

[@ericyeung5296]

Yes have a 3p with Michael