The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Straight off, a warning. I'm told this game is no longer being published. So read quickly then run out and buy a copy while you can!

OK, so why? Well, just reading the box gives you an idea this could be fun. Published in a small box (half letter sized by an inch thick, it's marked as 'Widescreen Edition' and 'This one's a no-brainer', with a chainsaw-wielding hero hacking at some Zombies!!! (I'm sure the three exclamation marks are significant). The part that reads 'Warning! Choking Hazard - Small parts not suitable for children' seems almost suspiciously serious. The point is, as explained on the back of the box, to be the first of 2-6 players to escape a town full of Zombies(!!!) by reaching the escape helicopter. It's the table-top game of all those popular, but possibly less-than-Oscar-Winning zombie movies. And it's fun. Mostly.

Inside, you get 2 dice, 30 map tiles (4 inch square), 50 Event cards (the usual 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 full-colour game cards), a couple of sheets of die cut markers for lives and bullets, 6 'Shotgun Guys' (identical except for colour, 1 inch tall plastic player figures), and 100 zombies. Yes, 100. 100 identical, grey, inch-tall zombies. You get a fair bit for your money, they fairly fill the box.

Art on the cards is pretty good (if you can apply the word 'pretty' to cards full of beheading, axing, chainsawing, biting, clawing and various other mayhem), and very colourful (a lot of red...) and consistant. The map tiles show street plans, a section of road with buildings round the edges, also well drawn, if slightly repetative. The life & bullet counters are merely functional black and white.

So, having had a look at the bits, what do you DO? The single sheet of rules (a quarter of which has a short introductory piece of fiction on it) explains things pretty quickly and easily. Each player starts with 3 life and 3 bullets. Each turn, a player makes up his cards to 3, picks the next map card off the pile (the first one to be put down is the Town Square where everyone begins), places it to fit existing streets, rolls one die, moves that many spaces (each map has a 3x3 grid of movement spaces, but you can't enter buildings except the Special ones), fighting zombies as he goes, then rolls another die, and moves that many zombies one space each. Special map tiles include Hospitals, Skate Shops, Gas Stations, etc. Each is marked to contain a number of Zombies, Life markers, and Bullet markers, which are placed inside these buildings. Normal tiles just get a few zombies on the road. The last tile in the pile is the helicopter pad. Get to the middle of that (the helicopter) and you win!

Of course, there's that 'fighting zombies' bit I glossed over... Simple enough, you roll a die. 1, 2 or 3 and you fail, 4, 5 or 6 and it's dead (again). On a failure, you either surrender enough bullets to increase the roll to 4 (roll 2 and you need 2 bullets, etc), or surrender a life and roll again. Lives and bullets are inside the zombie-infested Special buildings for the taking. Run out of lives, and you start again at the Town Square with 3 lives, and 3 bullets. Incidently, you keep the zombies you kill (surrender half of them if you die), and you can win by collecting 25 of them. Mostly, though, you have a couple of dozen zombies in the way, and only a couple of Life markers...

Lastly, the Event Cards. These have a good variety of extra weapons, events, assistance, hindrance, and weirdness. You can play them anytime, your turn or not, depending on the content. Some require you to visit certain places (get the Skateboard from the Skate Shop for extra movement, etc), others attack other players ('Brain Cramp - you decide where the player moves'), and a few add extra zombies to the board. Even 100 of them soon proves inadequate!

Now, earlier I said it was 'mostly' fun. I can see it quite quickly becomming repetative. All you do is move around rolling a die, looking for a 4, 5 or 6. The Event cards provide considerable variety, but there are a lot of duplicates in the pack, and only 30 map cards - also with a lot of duplicates. The fun is in the competition, directing zombies at the other players, afflicting them with various events, and all the usual multiplayer tactics. But as a quick time filler, it's a winner.

They have a website at www.journeymanpress.com.

ZOMBIES!!!
ZOMBIES!!! Playtest Review by Wulf Corbett on 17/11/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) If you like slaughtering the undead, you'll like this. For a time, anyway. Product: ZOMBIES!!! Author: Todd Breitenstein & Dave Aikins Category: Card Game Company/Publisher: Journeyman Press Line: Cost: £18.95 Page count: n/a Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: 684 Comp copy?: no Playtest Review by Wulf Corbett on 17/11/01 Genre tags: Modern day Horror	Straight off, a warning. I'm told this game is no longer being published. So read quickly then run out and buy a copy while you can! OK, so why? Well, just reading the box gives you an idea this could be fun. Published in a small box (half letter sized by an inch thick, it's marked as 'Widescreen Edition' and 'This one's a no-brainer', with a chainsaw-wielding hero hacking at some Zombies!!! (I'm sure the three exclamation marks are significant). The part that reads 'Warning! Choking Hazard - Small parts not suitable for children' seems almost suspiciously serious. The point is, as explained on the back of the box, to be the first of 2-6 players to escape a town full of Zombies(!!!) by reaching the escape helicopter. It's the table-top game of all those popular, but possibly less-than-Oscar-Winning zombie movies. And it's fun. Mostly. Inside, you get 2 dice, 30 map tiles (4 inch square), 50 Event cards (the usual 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 full-colour game cards), a couple of sheets of die cut markers for lives and bullets, 6 'Shotgun Guys' (identical except for colour, 1 inch tall plastic player figures), and 100 zombies. Yes, 100. 100 identical, grey, inch-tall zombies. You get a fair bit for your money, they fairly fill the box. Art on the cards is pretty good (if you can apply the word 'pretty' to cards full of beheading, axing, chainsawing, biting, clawing and various other mayhem), and very colourful (a lot of red...) and consistant. The map tiles show street plans, a section of road with buildings round the edges, also well drawn, if slightly repetative. The life & bullet counters are merely functional black and white. So, having had a look at the bits, what do you DO? The single sheet of rules (a quarter of which has a short introductory piece of fiction on it) explains things pretty quickly and easily. Each player starts with 3 life and 3 bullets. Each turn, a player makes up his cards to 3, picks the next map card off the pile (the first one to be put down is the Town Square where everyone begins), places it to fit existing streets, rolls one die, moves that many spaces (each map has a 3x3 grid of movement spaces, but you can't enter buildings except the Special ones), fighting zombies as he goes, then rolls another die, and moves that many zombies one space each. Special map tiles include Hospitals, Skate Shops, Gas Stations, etc. Each is marked to contain a number of Zombies, Life markers, and Bullet markers, which are placed inside these buildings. Normal tiles just get a few zombies on the road. The last tile in the pile is the helicopter pad. Get to the middle of that (the helicopter) and you win! Of course, there's that 'fighting zombies' bit I glossed over... Simple enough, you roll a die. 1, 2 or 3 and you fail, 4, 5 or 6 and it's dead (again). On a failure, you either surrender enough bullets to increase the roll to 4 (roll 2 and you need 2 bullets, etc), or surrender a life and roll again. Lives and bullets are inside the zombie-infested Special buildings for the taking. Run out of lives, and you start again at the Town Square with 3 lives, and 3 bullets. Incidently, you keep the zombies you kill (surrender half of them if you die), and you can win by collecting 25 of them. Mostly, though, you have a couple of dozen zombies in the way, and only a couple of Life markers... Lastly, the Event Cards. These have a good variety of extra weapons, events, assistance, hindrance, and weirdness. You can play them anytime, your turn or not, depending on the content. Some require you to visit certain places (get the Skateboard from the Skate Shop for extra movement, etc), others attack other players ('Brain Cramp - you decide where the player moves'), and a few add extra zombies to the board. Even 100 of them soon proves inadequate! Now, earlier I said it was 'mostly' fun. I can see it quite quickly becomming repetative. All you do is move around rolling a die, looking for a 4, 5 or 6. The Event cards provide considerable variety, but there are a lot of duplicates in the pack, and only 30 map cards - also with a lot of duplicates. The fun is in the competition, directing zombies at the other players, afflicting them with various events, and all the usual multiplayer tactics. But as a quick time filler, it's a winner. They have a website at www.journeymanpress.com.

ZOMBIES!!!