Collection Status
Your Rating
Description
Propolis is a worker-placement, engine-building, area-control, and tableau-building game for 1-4 players. Players take on the role of competing medieval bee colonies and take turns deploying worker bees to collect pollen, fortify their positions, and construct their hives to appease their queen and become the most glorious in the land!
As bees compete over the realm's floral landscapes, they will be collecting pollen to create the propolis they need to build their hives. Attaining dominance in different realms provides additional glory and building materials. As hives expand, new structures provide additional resources, new scoring opportunities, and the prerequisites to construct a glorious palace for the queen. The player who dominates the realm and builds the most prestigious home wins.
From the team that brought you Calico, Cascadia, and Point Salad, this small box worker placement game is the perfect introduction to new gamers, but has enough strategic depth to be challenging for everyone!
—description from the publisher
Year Published
2025
Featured Videos
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 8
This page: 8
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 3 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–8 of 8
Video bS8TBmbczmQ
Let's Table It game_review at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 61846 · mention_pk 154491
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Surprisingly deep and strategic for a small-box game
- Clever combination of worker placement, area majority, and tableau building
- High-quality, colorful, and adorable components
- Clear iconography and readable landscape cards
- Compact design that avoids box bloat
Cons
- Art style may be underwhelming for some
- Area majority did not strongly influence decisions in two-player play
- Would have benefited from a player aid to remember options
Thematic elements
- Resource management, area majority, and tableau building in a bee ecosystem
- Beehive management in a compact board game
- Analytical, enthusiastic, and descriptive
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority — At the end of turns, majority in a row can yield resources and points.
- Card cycling / landscape card management — Rightmost empty landscape cards are removed and replaced each round to form new options.
- Scoring and end-game trigger — Game ends when a player reaches 10 buildings; points come from cards and conditions.
- tableau building — Players construct a tableau of buildings for scoring and abilities.
- worker placement — Players place workers to collect resources and activate actions.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Propolis is a new small box game from Flatout but don't be fooled into thinking a small box equals a small experience.
- This game offers a lot in a small package.
- There is so much going on from worker placement to area majority to Tableau building; it's a great mix of mechanisms.
- The components are high quality, colorful and adorable.
- Without box bloat.
- I could have used a player aid to help me remember what options I had during a turn.
- The art style was a little bit underwhelming for us.
- This little game truly packs a big punch with its clever mechanisms and strategic depth.
- If you're into small box games with plenty of gameplay to offer, this one's worth a spot on your shelf.
- Check out Propolis live now on Kickstarter.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video fQ61la2sgRc
Board Game Garden preview at 14:47 sentiment: positive
video_pk 41148 · mention_pk 124845
Click to watch at 14:47 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Rich mix of worker placement, engine building, and area control
- Clear path to permanent resources via tableau
- Solid solo mode via dedicated cards
Cons
- Rules can feel dense for new players
- Setup and tableau management may be fiddly for some
Thematic elements
- worker placement, engine building, and area control via bee placement
- Medieval bee colonies in a competitive tableau
- themely thematic with bees and palaces
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority / area control — Fortify bees to gain majority in rows for wild resources and bonuses.
- engine building — Acquire structure cards to create permanent resources and ongoing bonuses.
- engine building / tableau building — Acquire structure cards to create permanent resources and ongoing bonuses.
- Queen's Palace (one-time build) — Construct the Queen's Palace as a unique, game-long ability.
- Resource management — Resources gained become permanent for future purchases.
- Tableau-based resource management — Resources gained become permanent for future purchases.
- worker placement — Place bees on terrain cards to gain resources.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- solo mode is awesome
- Point Galaxy is the third in a series of Point Salad, Point City, and Point Galaxy
- this is going to be crowdfunding on February 11th and they will be in the same campaign
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video IdoNehSk-Qk
Board Game Garden general_discussion at 7:04 sentiment: positive
video_pk 34293 · mention_pk 102116
Click to watch at 7:04 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- cute bee-themed design
- compact box for demos
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- honey, foraging, and hive-building
- bee-themed
- family-weight strategic card game
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — players draft cards to optimize actions and scoring
- card_drafting — players draft cards to optimize actions and scoring
- set collection — collect sets or combos of cards for points
- set_collection — collect sets or combos of cards for points
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I am actually going to be the host of a learn and play.
- I'm going to be wandering the halls and demoing games at packs unplugged.
- I love this game so much it is so cute.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video AaFI-rLHrQg
Board Gameco analysis at 1:46
video_pk 13260 · mention_pk 38853
Click to watch at 1:46 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- What enters my collection is a whole another story.
- I'm absolutely hooked on it. I love Primal.
- If I add something to my collection, ideally I want to see it there a year from now, at least a year from now.
- It is such a good implementation of the Glass Road system.
- It's not forever, but it feels like a forever game for me.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video fQsmev7Dem8
Dice Tower review at 0:18 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 12080 · mention_pk 35385
Click to watch at 0:18 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Beautiful card design with great colors
- Interesting mechanic of placing and laying down bees for different rewards
- Splendor-like engine building effect with resource generation
- Component quality and visual appeal
- Majority control mechanics create interesting decisions
Cons
- Weak bee theme - doesn't feel like you're building a bee hive
- Rule clarity issues - majority and row completion rules split across three sections
- Bees are awkward to handle - too tall and naturally lay down when placed
- Limited thematic restriction of one queen per player feels arbitrary
- Engine never really takes off - underwhelming payoff
- Queen palaces hard to obtain but not exciting enough
- Row completion incentives misaligned - rarely worth finishing opponent's rows
- Engine building mechanics not as satisfying as Splendor
- Limited point values throughout the game
Thematic elements
- bee theme
- hive building
- resource collection
Comparison games
- Splendor
- Flatout Games' Points series
- Other engine building games
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority
- bee placement
- Card Collection
- engine building
- Majority Control
- Resource management
- worker placement
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is not deja vu. You're like, did they already review this? Well, we did, but we uh we made a mistake on one of the rules.
- Finishing a row when you don't have majority is something you will almost never do. I don't care if I get a wild, I'm giving you a wild.
- I like a lot of what's going on, but I don't feel like this is a game that I'm going to come back to because I'd rather just play Splender.
- It's a good try and it's pretty as all get out. I love the motif. But that's about the most I can I can push on that end.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 0fGZtTIpusE
The Dice Tower general_discussion at 7:57 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 7626 · mention_pk 22595
Click to watch at 7:57 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- fun mechanics
- beautiful components
Cons
- execution not fully satisfying
- rules occasionally unclear
Thematic elements
- economic engine in a tiny ecosystem
- beekeeping / beehive development
- compact, strategic
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — internal mechanisms with fun, but not fully satisfying
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a two-player head-to-head game set in the world of Gatsby, kind of. And you are, it's kind of a tug-of-war over three different areas. It's very abstract.
- Moonrise part is the sideboard with tiles that fill up and then they go to one of the players for victory points and then there's just more buildings.
- I recommend it for anybody who plays the game a lot. Though, again, the game is sort of the kind of game you buy at Target.
- This is a neat worker placement game played over two parts of the board on the moon and on the planet. You're trying to blast an asteroid coming.
- the cursing was a little over the top and unnecessary. It didn't really bring anything to the table.
- Star Trek Captain's Chair. Wow, what a game. Nine out of 10. This game takes Imperium, a deck building game, adds a Star Trek theme to it, and does a really good job in that regard.
- Very mass market kind of racing game. You're playing out cards whether you're moving your own ships or your opponent's ships.
- I came in at a six on this game. Ultimately, I did enjoy this as a trivia game. It's a marriage of trivia and blackjack, right?
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Ca0BW6tYNFo
Dice Tower review at 4:10 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 5535 · mention_pk 16462
Click to watch at 4:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
none
Cons
- Doesn't quite work
- Many other games do it better
- Rule corrections didn't improve experience
Thematic elements
- bee-themed
- nature
Comparison games
- Splender
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's really lightning fast
- The expansion is fantastic
- Just tremendous card game
- I quite enjoyed Brink
- Real great production, very solid game
- Absolutely fabulous game
- Eight great characters
- The expansion that we always needed but didn't know we wanted
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video X1fEVGzOgmQ
Foster the Meatle playthrough at 29:21 sentiment: positive
video_pk 677 · mention_pk 93621
Click to watch at 29:21 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Deep engine-building feel with approachable rules
- Pleasant, tactile components and color variety
- Two-player friendly with scalable decision space
Cons
- Can lean into heavier strategy for some players
- Rule surface may require careful read-through for first-time players
Thematic elements
- Bee-centered resource management with a bright, nature-inspired flavor.
- A beekeeping-themed tableau engine where players cultivate resources and construct structures.
- Warm and tactical with a touch of whimsy.
Comparison games
- Rift Force
- Shot and Totten
- Zenith
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority — Majority in rows leads to reclaiming bees and potentially wild resources; ongoing row scoring drives late-game tension.
- area majority and scoring — Majority in rows leads to reclaiming bees and potentially wild resources; ongoing row scoring drives late-game tension.
- engine building — Players deploy workers/bees, fortify, retreat, and construct structures to generate ongoing resources and end-game scoring potential.
- engine-building / tableau-building — Players deploy workers/bees, fortify, retreat, and construct structures to generate ongoing resources and end-game scoring potential.
- permanent resources and palace cards — Permanent resources and palace cards shape long-term strategy and end-game scoring opportunities.
- Resource management — Bees provide resources; fortifying increases strength and triggers majority checks in rows for wild resources.
- resource management and fortification — Bees provide resources; fortifying increases strength and triggers majority checks in rows for wild resources.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Frogs are all the rage.
- This is a game about frogs.
- This really is a perilous pond.
- Jeff was the meanest frog I've ever met in my entire life.
- This game makes me think of Brother Bear because it looks like Brother Bear.
- Poolside is one of the objectives and you get salmon tokens when you complete it.
- Moon Rollers.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–8 of 8