The Hive

The Hive Review

The Hive uses a hexagonal grid with a 3-4-5-4-3 layout and 19 symbols in total each spin. The 30 pay-lines reward both ways. Matching 3 to 5 symbols land horizontally or diagonally aligned results in wins. Coinciding wins on different pay-lines will be added and paid out too. Use wagers from 0.10 to 80 credits to play this game with low volatility. Its return to player is 96.97%.

You can trigger 3 bonus features. These are The Bees of the Hive, the Sticky Sweet Free Spins and the Honey Burst Spreading Wilds. Three types of bees can land around the honeycomb – the Drone, Worker and Queen bees. These give you stacking multiplier wilds, and fill the honeycomb meter. They advance you towards the activation of free spins. The Free Spins you play with Honey Burst Spreading Wilds on adjacent positions. The jackpot win per spin in The Hive is €30240, which is 378 times your bet.

The Design

The game is set on a sunny meadow with blossoming in white flowers trees on both sides of the screen. There is a sectioned glass Honey Meter to the left. The grid is made to represent a honeycomb positioned in the centre of the screen. In the honey cells, you can land 4 cards, bees, ladybirds, white, purple and red flowers and honey jar wilds.

The images are vivid in bright and warm colours and look impressive. You will see 3 different types of bees flying around the beehive grid. The soundtrack is melodic, pleasant and very suitable for the theme. As usual, Betsoft has created a visually stunning video slot. It stands out with unique design, features and layout.

The Hive Gameplay

The pay-table includes 4 card royal symbols, 3 medium-value and 2 premium symbols. There are also 2 types of wilds. You will get a win from 3 to 5 matching symbols landed on a pay-line. They are in a horizontal or diagonal positions and can land in any direction.

The low-paying symbols are the J, Q, K and A cards, which pays equally in pairs. The J and Q pay 0.10, 0.20 and 0.30 times your stake for 3, 4 and 5 of a kind symbols on a line. The K and A grant 0.10, 0.30 and 0.50 times your bet wins.

The middle-value symbols are 3 flowers in white, purple and red. They return 0.30, 0.50 and 0.80 times your bet for 3, 4 and 5 of the same flowers on a line. The premiums are the ladybird and bee. The ladybird pays 1.50x, 2.50x and 5x bet, while the bee – 2, 5 and 10 times your stake for 3, 4 and 5 symbols on a line. The bee is the most rewarding of all symbols.

There are normal and Honey Burst Spreading wild symbols. Both substitute for all missing symbols. You can land the standard wild on any cell in the base game. The Honey Burst Spreading Wild appears during the Free Spins only.

Keep in mind that by changing the bet level you will reset your current progress of the Honey Meter and all bees around the Hive.

The Hive Features / Bonuses

The Hive has 3 bonus features – The Bees of the Hive, the Sticky Sweet Free Spins and the Honey Burst Spreading Wilds.

The Bees of the Hive is active in the base game and spawns bees of 3 types randomly each spin. On any spin, a random bee can appear at one of the 18 designated positions around the Hive Grid. Once this happens, the bee will move with 1 position with each new spin clockwise around the Hive Grid. The spawned bees fly away after a random spin number.

Each of the bees has its own modifier activated according to its type. The Worker Bees apply stacked multipliers to the winning lines that are aligned to them. The value of the multiplier is equal to the number of worker bees +1. This means that 1 Worker Bee holds an x2 multiplier, 2 of these bees – x3, etc.

The Drone Bee fills the Honey Meter for Sticky Sweet Free Spins by 1 level. If you land 1 Drone Been, all Drone Bees currently positioned around the grid will fill the Honey Meter by 1 level each. This applies for each Drone Bees including the newly spawned one. The filling of the meter helps you trigger the Free Spins faster. The Drone Bees and Worker Bees travel around the Hive Grid. You can activate them an unrestricted number of times.

The Queen Bee summons a swarm of a random number of other bees including Queen Bees. You will have a new bee spawning around the Hive Grid with each consecutive spin.

By filling the Honey Meter with each Drone Bee you advance your way to the Free Spins. The meter has 12 levels, so after 12 Drone Bees have landed around the Hive Grid, it gets filled up to the full. This activates 5 Sticky Sweet Free Spins, which makes all bees around the grid fly away. After the end of the free spins, the same type and number of bees will return to their places. They will match their position before the triggering. The free rounds begin with 1, 2 or 3 Homey Burst Spreading Wilds.

You can land the Homey Burst Spreading Wilds during free spins only. These special wild symbols spread to adjacent honeycomb cells on each spin. They do this there are no spaces left or the free spins come to an end. The Spreading Wilds disappear at the end of the free games. Thanks to them, you will win from more and higher-paying combinations

The Conclusion

The Hive has unique gameplay and features. It includes many boosters that will keep you entertained. The more bees you get flying around the grid, the larger wins you will get. The slot is suitable for newbies and seasoned players alike. Mystic Hive by Betsoft also has a similar theme and feature.