Description

Pollen8 is a simple abstract strategy game in which two players try to capture the opponent's piece. Both players have 19 pieces, divided into two types: the pollen (4 pieces) and pollinators ( 2 ants, 3 lady bugs, and 10 bees). All pieces are red on one side and black on the other. The players start by placing first the pollen pieces on the center of the board with their own color face up. After which, the players can choose to place two bees with piece from previous turn in between them or place a lady bug to flip a row or play the ant to push a row. Each piece must link to another piece at all time. At least 4 pieces are needed to capture an opponent's piece. Each captured piece is removed from the board and has a point. A pollen, a bee, a lady and an ant has 1, 2, 3 and 4 points respectively. The game ends with the first player to get 8 points.

The lady bug and ant are useful for capturing pieces. When played at early stage of the game may result into earning points but at the same time presents difficultly to get additional points at the end part of the game. This also draws your opponent to try to capture your high scoring piece to score big against you. When they are played near the end of the game, it may be also too late to catch up and score ahead. Think ahead and plan you moves, knowing when to use the lady bug and the ant is the key for winning this game.