The Queen slides one space, the Ant slides any distance around the perimeter, the Beetle moves one space and may climb, the Grasshopper jumps along a straight occupied line, and the Spider makes exactly three ground slides. Those descriptions are only the first layer: most pieces must also stay connected to the hive and fit through every gate on their path.
Checks shared by almost every move
- Your Queen is already placed. You cannot move any board piece before your own Queen enters play.
- The chosen piece is exposed. A covered insect cannot act; only the top of a stack moves.
- The hive stays connected. Removing the piece may not create separate groups.
- The route obeys contact and gates. Ground sliders remain against the hive and cannot squeeze through a gap closed by occupied neighbors.
The Grasshopper replaces the sliding route with its jump rule. Elevated Beetles use height-aware gates rather than ordinary ground sliding. The connectivity check still matters unless the moving piece is on top of a stack and its removal leaves the occupied base in place.
Queen: one deliberate slide
The Queen moves to one adjacent empty hex. She does not jump, climb or move more than one space. At ground level, the destination must be reachable by sliding: the Queen cannot pass between two occupied hexes that touch both sides of the doorway.
Queen moves are often defensive. Moving away can reopen a threatened escape route, but the original space may have been holding the hive together. Check connectivity before assuming the obvious retreat is available.
Adjacent, empty, connected after removal, still touching the hive, and not blocked by a two-sided gate.
Ant: any distance around the perimeter
An Ant may make any number of consecutive legal ground slides around the outside of the hive. It can turn corners and finish far from its starting point, but every intermediate step must itself be legal. The Ant cannot teleport across a gap, enter through a closed gate or traverse an isolated empty cell that does not touch the hive.
A useful way to find Ant destinations is to remove the Ant temporarily, then trace the connected ring of empty perimeter spaces reachable by one-space slides. Any reachable space may be the endpoint, as long as the final hive remains connected.
“Anywhere around the hive” means anywhere connected by a legal perimeter path. It never means any visually empty hex.
Beetle: one space, with climbing
A Beetle moves one adjacent space. Unlike the Queen, it may move onto an occupied hex, creating a stack. From a stack, it may move onto another adjacent occupied stack or descend to an adjacent ground space.
The top Beetle controls the stack’s color for placement and movement interaction. Pieces underneath are covered and cannot move. Height also changes whether a doorway blocks the Beetle: if both neighboring stacks rise above the moving Beetle’s effective travel level, the gate is closed. See the full Beetle stacking and height guide.
Grasshopper: jump to the first empty space
A Grasshopper chooses one of the six straight hex directions. The immediately adjacent hex in that direction must be occupied. It then jumps over the entire continuous occupied line and lands in the first empty hex.
- It cannot jump over zero pieces.
- It cannot stop on an occupied hex or in the middle of the line.
- It cannot jump across an empty gap and continue to a later group.
- A tall stack still counts as one occupied hex in the line.
Because the jump is not a slide, narrow ground gates along the line do not matter. Connectivity still matters at the starting point: the Grasshopper cannot leave if removing it would split the hive.
Spider: exactly three perimeter slides
A Spider makes exactly three adjacent ground slides. Each intermediate cell must remain on the hive perimeter, maintain contact and pass through an open gate. The Spider may not jump from the first space directly to a distant endpoint, even if that endpoint is three hex coordinates away.
A valid route contains three distinct move steps. It may turn, but it cannot backtrack through the starting space or reuse a cell to manufacture distance. The endpoint is legal only if at least one complete three-step path reaches it. For a direct comparison, read Spider vs Ant movement.
Movement summary
| Piece | Distance | Uses ground sliding? | Can occupy a piece? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen | Exactly 1 | Yes | No |
| Ant | 1 or more | Yes, every step | No |
| Beetle | Exactly 1 | At ground/height-aware | Yes |
| Grasshopper | First empty after a line | No | No |
| Spider | Exactly 3 steps | Yes, every step | No |
Five fast corrections
- If a destination looks legal but is missing, check whether the starting piece is a bridge.
- If a Spider endpoint looks close enough, trace all three actual cells.
- If an Ant route crosses open air, it is not following the perimeter.
- If a Grasshopper has no adjacent occupied hex in a direction, it cannot jump that way.
- If a Beetle cannot cross between stacks, compare the gate heights with its current and destination levels.
Bug Hive highlights legal destinations after selection, but understanding why a marker appears is what turns rule knowledge into strategy.
Bug Hive is an independent game and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or the official digital edition of Hive® or Gen42 Games.