How Swarm Works: the Bee Card Game, Step by Step
Swarm is a card game of secret picks: everyone picks one numbered bee at the same time, the bees fly in lowest first, and each lands on one of 4 flower stems. Land the 6th bee on a stem and you take the 5 already there, with all their stings. The fewest stings after 10 turns wins. Play online with 2 to 8 people, or on your own against the bees.
1The bees and the stems
The cards are bees, numbered from 1 up to 10 for each player, plus 4: 1–44 with four players, 1–24 with two, 1–84 with eight. Everyone is dealt 10, and the next 4 each start one of the 4 stems, STEM 1 to STEM 4. That's the whole deck: every bee is in someone's hand or on a stem.
Your hand is along the bottom of the board, the stems are in the middle, and every player's stings so far are down the side (along the top on a phone). Nobody sees anyone else's hand.
2Stings
Every bee carries stings, shown next to its number:
- 1 for most bees;
- 2 if it ends in 5;
- 3 if it ends in 0;
- 5 for 11, 22, 33, 44, 66 and 77;
- 7 for the 55.
The deck grows with the table, so the 55 is only in a game of 6 or more, the 66 with 7 or more, and the 77 only with 8. A four-player deck holds 72 stings in all.
| Players | Bees | 1 sting | 2 stings | 3 stings | 5 stings | 7 stings | Total stings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1–24 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | 38 |
| 3 | 1–34 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 3 | – | 55 |
| 4 | 1–44 | 32 | 4 | 4 | 4 | – | 72 |
| 5 | 1–54 | 40 | 5 | 5 | 4 | – | 85 |
| 6 | 1–64 | 48 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 103 |
| 7 | 1–74 | 55 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 120 |
| 8 | 1–84 | 62 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 137 |
Your score is the stings on the bees you've taken, not the number of bees.
3A turn
Everyone picks at the same time. Tap a bee in your hand, then CONFIRM. A confirmed pick is final. Under your hand, the forecast shows where the bee you've tapped would land if nobody else's got there first.
When everyone is in, all the picks are revealed together and line up low → high. Then they fly in one at a time, lowest first. Each bee lands on the stem whose top bee is lower than it and closest to it, so a bee always goes on top of the nearest number below it.
4The sixth bee
A stem holds 5 bees. When it's full, its top slot is marked SIXTH BEE with the stings it holds. A bee that lands on a full stem is the sixth: its player takes those 5 bees, their stings go on that player's pile, and the sixth bee starts the stem again, alone.
The forecast is only what would happen. Lower bees fly first, so they can fill a stem before yours arrives, or start it over by taking it.
5Too low
A bee lower than the top bee of every stem can't land anywhere. Its player chooses any stem, takes all of its bees and their stings, and the bee starts that stem alone. While you choose, each stem shows TAKE and the stings it would cost you, and the banner names the cheapest.
At most one bee a turn is too low, and it's always that turn's lowest. The bees fly lowest first, so it goes before the rest, and once it has started a stem every bee after it has a lower top to land on.
When a bee player's bee is too low, it takes the cheapest stem: the fewest stings, then the fewest bees, then the lowest stem number.
6How a game ends
A game is one hand: after 10 turns everyone has played every bee. The fewest stings wins. Players tied for the fewest share the win.
7The clock (online)
On your own nothing is timed: the bees wait for you. Online, each turn has a 20-second clock, the line along the top of the board.
- The bee you tap is saved as you tap it. When the clock runs out, that bee flies, whether you pressed CONFIRM or not. Tap nothing and your lowest bee flies.
- Too low? You get 10 seconds to choose the stem you take, or the cheapest is taken for you.
- One exception: if you tapped nothing, the clock played your lowest bee, and that bee is too low, there's no choice. The cheapest stem is taken for you at once.
- If 3 turns in a row pass with nobody picking, the game ends and every buy-in goes back.
8Playing on your own
Choose Solo on the game page, choose how many players (2 to 8, 4 to start) and tap Into the meadow. Every other seat is a bee player, joining in this order: Buzz, Bumble, Honey, Clover, Pollen, Nectar and Waggle. They pick in secret too, and can't see your hand.
It's a practice game: nothing is paid or recorded. At the end, Play again deals a new game at the same table, or Back to setup takes you back to choose. You don't need an account to play on your own.
9Playing online
Open a table from the lobby, or join one: 2 to 8 seats (4 to start). The host chooses a free table or a buy-in (💰100 to start). The game starts when the table is full, or when the host starts it with at least two people there. A free table needs no account; a buy-in table needs one.
- Bees at the table: on a free table, once a second person has joined, the host can fill every empty seat with bee players. The game starts at once.
- Buy-in: everyone puts the same amount into the pot, and the fewest stings takes it; players tied for the fewest split it.
- Coins, XP and badges: an online game pays coins and XP and counts for your Swarm badges.
- Leaving: you pick no more bees and your stings stop counting. You earn nothing, and at a buy-in table your buy-in stays in the pot. If only one person is left at the table, they win at once: the bee players don't keep a game going.
- Play again: everyone still at the table can start another game together. It has no buy-in.
- A fair deal: every hand is dealt on the server and locked in by its fingerprint (a hash) before the first turn. When the game ends the deal is published, and the ⏱ Meadow log checks it against that fingerprint.