Released in the early 1950s by Marx, The Busy Bee Game draws inspiration from the now iconic Game of Cootie, which was produced by Schaper. Instead of building a “Cootie,” Busy Bee players must assemble a three-dimensional bee from a variety of plastic body parts.
GAMEPLAY
The Busy Bee Game package is divided into six sections. Each section was numbered from one to six and corresponded to a specific busy bee body part. The part numbers also corresponded to numbers on the single die used to play the game.
Each of the two to four players must get the bee’s body first by rolling a 1. A successful roll garners a free roll of the die to try for the head, with a roll of 2. Both body and head sections must be acquired before a player can move on to gather the other parts of the bee. A complete bee was made up of the aforementioned body and head, two antennae, one proboscis, and six legs.
IN THE BOX
A complete Busy Bee game included a single die and parts (body, head, two antennae, proboscis, and six legs) to create four brightly coloured bees. Instructions were printed inside the box cover.
COLLECTOR CONSIDERATIONS
Busy Bee enjoyed a short shelf life, making finding copies of the game challenging but possible on auction sites and in vintage toy stores.
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