Explore the Mini Market of Trading Game, Bug Crafts!
Teaching kids how to use planning and resource management is immersive and fun when joining a bustling bug world! Meet us at the market and get ready to trade and collect leaves, stones, flowers, and wood to build Bug Crafts!
Bug Crafts is SimplyFun’s latest Math & STEM game that emphasizes well thought out decision making to transform learning into an exciting family game night. So, if your family is looking for an ANT-idote to weekend boredom, get ready to gather market goods and put your critical thinking to the test!
Keep reading to explore our latest Dr. Reiner Knizia game, Bug Crafts, and unearth how our in-house game developers brought this enchanting bug universe to life!
Get Crafty with Bug Crafts!
The morning bug market is buzzing with goods for the community of bees, ladybugs, and ants. As a friend to the tiny critters, you are tasked with using decision-making, planning, and trading to collect a combination of items at the market to complete bug crafts for your insect friends. Each tile you draw shows a fun bug character with their own market wish list.
With a roll of the dice, players identify the current market value of items available at the market: leaves, stones, flowers, and wood. Each round, market values change, so use critical thinking and basic math to compare trading values and plan your moves.
Will you save up goods per turn to limit your opponents who may also be seeking the same tokens? Or will you trade and complete crafts as quickly as possible to fill your tracking board before the day is done?
The player who outsmarts fellow artisans and builds the most diverse and abundant Bug Crafts scores the most points and wins!
Play Bug Crafts with 2-5 players, ages 8 and up, in 30 minutes.
What is in the Box
• 54 Craft Tiles: ants, bees, and ladybugs
• 52 Material Tokens in 4 different colors
• 5 Tracking Boards
• 5 Player Screens
• 4 Dice (4 colors, matching the tokens)
• 1 Dice Holder
How To Set Up the Game
1. Place the material tokens in the middle of the gameplay area. This represents the market.
2. Give each player one material token of each color (four in total).
3. Each player takes one screen and places it in front of themselves, hiding their material tokens from the view of other players.
4. Then, each player takes a tracking board and places it in front of their screen, so other players can see it.
5. Shuffle the craft tiles and place them in a face-down stack. If you wish, you may split the tiles into multiple stacks.
6. Draw four tiles from the stack and place them face up next to the stack.
7. The first player to name a bug goes first. Give this player the dice holder and all four dice.
How to Play Bug Crafts
The game is played over three days. Each day contains 4 craft tile slots.
Each day in the game consists of multiple rounds. In each round, each player will take one turn. The main goal of the game is to build the crafts shown on the craft tiles. The symbols on the left side of each tile correspond to the material tokens required and how many points the tile will be worth during scoring, from one to four.
Example:
The starting player has rolled:
- 1 for wood
- 2 for leaves
- 4 for rocks
- 8 for flowers
This means that one flower (worth 8) can be traded for:
- Two rocks (4x2=8)
- Four leaves (4x4=8)
- Eight wood (1x8=8)
Or, mix a combination of goods (like currency) to make an equal-value trade. Example: one rock (worth 4), one leaf (worth 2), two wood (worth 1 each), to equal 8 in exchange for one flower worth 8.
It's Your Turn, Ready to Make a Move?
On your turn, choose one of three actions:
1. Take a material token from the market: Choose one material token to take from the market.
Tip: If you don't want to trade or build a Bug Craft on your turn, you can simply take a token, and then your turn is over.
2. Trade materials at the market: Compare the values of goods at the market to trade with items already collected behind your screen. The token totals must be of equal value or less to facilitate an exchange.
3. Build a Bug Craft: When you have all the material tokens featured on a bug tile, you can build one of the four available Bug Crafts.
Cash in your material tokens at the market, take the bug tile, and place it in an empty slot on your tracking board.
Now, replace the empty tile slot in the play area with a new face-up tile from any stack to keep four tiles available for the next player.
End of Your Turn
After completing your action, your turn ends, and the next player takes their turn using the same market dice values.
End of a Day
The market day ends as soon as one player fills all four slots of the current day on their tracking board. When this occurs, continue playing until the round ends. This way, it may be possible for multiple players to fill all four slots. Pass the dice and dice holder to the next starting player and prepare to start a new day.
Starting a New Day
The new starting player draws four new craft tiles. Next, the starting player begins a new round by rolling the dice and placing them in the dice holder.
Scoring at the End of the Game
At the end of the third day, each player will total the points each craft tile generated.
Craft Materials:
Each material shown on each craft tile is worth one point. Therefore, each tile can score between one and four points. Simply count the material icons on your tiles to determine your score.
*FUN Bug Bonus: If a day includes at least one of each type of bug (Ant, Ladybug, and Bee), you will receive five bonus points for that day.
To calculate your total score for the game, add your bug bonuses to your tile scores. The player with the highest total score wins!
The Educational Benefits of Bug Crafts
Executive Function Skills: Planning, Decision-Making and Resource Management
During each turn, players must decide: will they take a material token, use math factoring to trade it for another item that may have a different value, or cash it in to build a Bug Craft and place a tile on their board?
Basic Math and An Introduction to Factoring
Players use basic math skills (including an introduction to factoring), to compare the current market value of each material in the play area against the materials they have already collected.
If a player is ready to make a trade on the market, they will use their saved tokens, much like money is used when trading what they have for tokens they need. This may require trading a combination of tokens to reach the required sum.
Behind-the-Scenes with Bug Crafts
Are you curious about how a board game evolves from idea to production? SimplyFun’s Product Development Director, Tiffany O’Brien, along with Bug Crafts illustrator, Alvin Madden, offer some insight into the making of Bug Crafts.
What are the origins of Bug Crafts?
Bug Crafts is another brilliant creation from the amazing game designer that is Reiner Knizia. We played this game a couple of years ago in Essen, and I loved the euro-game feel that was built into the game's DNA. Our goal was to introduce the traditional aspects found in European resource management games to a new, younger audience.
Did SimplyFun make tweaks to the original blueprint of the game?
We simplified the game but tried to retain the main elements of the original game in the "Try this" section of the rules. We felt like the added complexity of the original game was awesome, and didn't want to lose any of that, but we also wanted to make it easier for players who are not familiar with this style of resource management game to have a good first experience.
Were there any interesting challenges during the illustration process?
We had so many long and fun conversations about the theme of this game. Essentially, there were multiple categories of materials and steps in the game. There were so many options that could work, and all would be so fun to develop, from precious materials to clothing and style to even some fancy food options. We would take turns introducing an idea and then take turns poking holes in that same idea. Getting a balance of fun but also practical sometimes feels intimidating, but ultimately, I love the idea of artisan insects trading and creating everyday objects.
Alvin Madden: One of our earliest ideas that we really wanted to work on was a bakery idea, where each player is acquiring ingredients to make various baked goods. Later, we tried to introduce some other, more overtly educational elements, but they couldn't fully mesh with the gameplay. I think the Bug Crafts theme came about in probably the third or fourth round of brainstorming, but we definitely knew we were on to something when we got there!
How long did it take to produce the game?
Tiffany O’Brien: Most games take approximately 8-12 months to develop. This game took a little longer on the art side because of the sheer number of cards and content that was needed. While it seemed like a long time, the cuteness overload of the game was totally worth it.
Alvin Madden: The game took around 11 months in total, although there was a gap between completing the art and selecting the final date to send the files to print. This one started on another artist’s desk, and she had compiled the initial list of theming ideas. Based on the schedule of other games we were working on, it moved to me for the art, but of course, all the theming and playtesting was a full-team effort!
What was your inspiration for the artwork?
Alvin Madden: When we landed on the theme, one thing that came up was a game sample we had that also had a bug theme and featured a loose, sketchy style that our CEO really liked. From there, I found a nice ink brush in Adobe Fresco that was really fun to sketch with and refined the look from there.
As a game designer & game enthusiast, what do you love most about the game?
Tiffany O’Brien: Bug Crafts is the perfect introduction for American kids to a Euro-style board game. The gameplay really unlocks a different way of planning and decision-making, and I hope this introductory game allows players to fall in love with resource-building games and develop a thirst for more.
Alvin Madden: In addition to the above, I hope the art and theme can unlock the imaginations of young players as they're taking part in a miniature world of bugs!
Join the Enchanting Miniature Universe of Bug Crafts!
In Bug Crafts, players of all ages will find the hustle and bustle of the daily market a fun challenge as they save, trade, and purchase foraged finds to build crafts for their insect friends! While Bug Crafts is a great way for players to flex their addition, math factoring, and resource management skills, what families will notice first and foremost is how exciting and immersive this game is to play! Parents will also love how seamlessly this game sneaks in Math & STEM without compromising the fun factor! Ready to get crafty on game night? Game on!
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