Flatout Games has a serious shelf of trophies, including Cascadia, which won the 2022 Spiel des Jahres, the hobby's biggest prize. So a new game from that team is worth a look, even when it asks you to play a bear in a trench coat. Honeypot is a quick bluffing game of spy bears scrabbling for the best intel, and it is reaching wider retail this September through AEG.
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Find events near youIt runs on an "I stack, you choose" idea. On your turn you sort cards into tempting little piles and pass them to a rival, who has to pick one, never quite sure whether you have handed them a treasure trove or a trap. Read your opponents right and you scoop up the supplies you need while palming off the duds. Read them wrong and you are the one getting stung. It plays 1 to 6, takes about 15 to 30 minutes, suits ages 10 and up, and is designed by Joseph Z. Chen. Expect to pay around £15 ($19).
Flatout, the studio also behind Calico and Point Salad, has built its name on tidy, clever games that teach in a minute and reward a second look. Honeypot leans more towards bluff and table-reading than the studio's puzzly tile-layers, which makes it a different beast to Cascadia despite the shared DNA. It is one of four titles AEG is showcasing at its Big Game Night event ahead of the wider release.
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Set up your group for freeThis is the kind of filler that earns its keep at the start or end of a session, when nobody fancies setting up an epic. If you are after a quick, mean little game to slot into your next meet-up, keep an eye out for it this autumn, and round up a group to put it through its paces.
Sources: Flatout Games | Spiel des Jahres | BoardGameGeek | Alderac Entertainment Group
