Hive

Wonderful abstract. I have the pocket ultimate edition, which is the ideal version. Pros: -Tactile chunky pieces. -Interesting gameplay -Unique feel among abstracts. Limitations: -Initially, there are a lot of movement types and movement rules to remember.

The perfect blend of strategy, ease of understanding for new players, and depth. Hive is a criminally underrated abstract that should be in everyone's collection everywhere. Not to mention, unlimited replayability.

The clever part of this game is you have to put your queen bee down in the first 4 moves, so it starts off very close to the enemy's pieces. Almost trapped at the start, not surrounded by lines of guards. Using pieces as the board itself isn't that special, but what IS nice is how some pieces can't move because they're holding the entire structure together. So you get weird situations where you can't block an enemy's destination, but you can block it from even leaving. On the expansion pieces: the ladybug and mosquito are pretty fun and not too complex. However, the pillbug is paragraphs and paragraphs of nonsense.

A fantastic abstract game. But it's very stressful. You constantly fear that you are making a bad move on your turn, which might give your opponent the chance to win the game. I recommend to get the "Pocket" version, though. That one comes with smaller tiles for easier transport and already includes the Mosquito and Ladybug tiles.

One of my favourite games. My go-to game for travel as it packs up neatly in its bag. Really fun, it gets you thinking and it's also really engaging as you find yourself wanting to try out different strategies in each game. Would highly recommend!