Insecta

About this board game

Insecta is a game of mutant bug conflict and combat for 1–7 players, with a listed play time of 300 minutes. Players create a team of mutant bugs and attempt to escape from The Hive, a dangerous setting filled with real-world arthropods.

One player takes the role of the adversarial Hivemaster, controlling the Hive in a role somewhat akin to a dungeonmaster. The other players must use their designed bug teams as they face the challenges of this enclosed, hostile environment.

Mutation is central to the game’s presentation. Insecta includes 16 mutant bug displays: six starting displays, while the others are swapped in as the bugs mutate. This gives the game a distinctive focus on designing and developing an unusual team of creatures.

• Bug-to-bug conflict and combat
• An adversarial Hivemaster role
• Real-world arthropods within The Hive
• Mutant bug displays, design cards, mapsheets, miniature bugs, and counters

First released in 1992, Insecta includes the materials needed to present its bug-themed escape scenario. The game was also reissued in a limited form in 2000 as The Mutant Kit. That version omitted the rubber bugs and Hive cards, creating a modular game system that could be combined with other expansions.

The Insecta line expanded with Insecta: Rainforest, Insecta: Trilobite, and Insecta: Desert Hive. Together, the core game and its expansions offer a setting built around mutant creatures, hostile arthropods, and a Hivemaster-driven challenge.