ZOMBIES!!! is a board game for 2 to 6 players that is based on zombie movies such as Night of the Living Dead. The object of the game, which is set in an unnamed town beset by hordes of zombies, is to escape the madness by reaching the center space of the helipad (apparently the helicopter only has one open seat, since once a player reaches it, the game ends). Of course, if kicking zombie butt is more your thing, you can also win by being the first player to destroy 25 zombies. Whichever path you take, ZOMBIES!!! is sure to keep you entertained as you fight your way through town collecting supplies, sabotaging your opponents, and trying to evade the ever-present walking dead.
One of the most interesting aspects of ZOMBIES!!! is that the board on which it is played is constantly expanding and varies from game to game. It is comprised of a series of nine-space tiles, some of which feature buildings containing ammunition and lives, and all of which contain zombies. The first tile placed is the Town Square, where everyone starts the game and to which you return once you have lost all your lives. From there, everyone adds a new tile to the board each turn until all are put down. At this point, the player who has destroyed the fewest zombies lays down the helipad tile (having this person do this helps balance his odds of winning the game).
At the beginning of the game, each player receives three each of cards, life tokens, and ammo tokens (more on how these are used later). On each turn, a player first puts down a new map tile, then fights any zombies occupying their space. She then brings her hand up to three cards and rolls a die to determine how many spaces they can move (the game uses six-sided dice). If the player moves onto a space with a zombie, they must fight it before moving on. If the player moves on to a space containing a life or ammo token, she can pick it up. One can have an unlimited number of ammo tokens, but no more than five life tokens. Once the player has finished moving and fighting, she rolls another die to determine how many zombies she can move one space. Any zombies on the board are eligible, and can be moved to any eligible space including ones inhabited by other players (but only one zombie can share a space with a player). The player can also play a card during her turn if she wishes, or can wait until another player’s turn to play a card. Only one card can be played from the beginning of her turn to the beginning of her next turn.
Zombies are fought by rolling a die. A result of four, five or six destroys the zombie and adds it to the player’s total. If the player rolls a lower number, he has two options: discard enough ammo tokens to bring the total up to four (with each token adding one to the roll) or discard a life token and roll again. Obviously, if the player has no ammo tokens to use, he must discard life tokens. The fight can only end when the player destroys the zombie or is himself killed by it. If the player is killed, he must discard half of the zombies he has destroyed along with any weapons he has in play and return to the Town Square. He loses the rest of his turn, but regains the three life and ammo tokens with which he began the game. There is no limit to the number of times a player can restart the game in this manner.
The toy factor in this game is significant. As I mentioned in the teaser, the game includes 100 miniature zombies with which to populate the board. This seems like a lot, and it is, but unfortunately it might not be enough for games with five or six players who are racking up big piles of vanquished zombies. Of course, given how easy it is to lose said piles, it may not be that big of a problem after all. These zombies are all identically posed and sculpted from a soft, flexible light gray material (I’m not sure whether it’s technically rubber or plastic). Also included are six “shotgun guys” in various colors to represent the players. Details such as the zombies’ ribcages and the shotgun guys’ gun belts are easy to see on each figure.
The remaining accessories consist of two six-sided dice (one red, one blue) and numerous tokens representing lives and ammunition. These tokens are a weak point for the game. Both lives and ammo are black and white; when the combined with the chips’ small size, the result is tokens that are hard to tell apart at a quick glance (especially if it’s late at night and you’re tired). But on the whole, the accessories are of high quality and enhance the game.
I also have praise for the map tiles and cards. The tiles are illustrated with significant attention to both aesthetics (they look good and are highly detailed) and practicality (the text is easy to read and the spaces are big enough for everything to fit on them). And the cards! Simultaneously horrifying and hilarious, the cards are beautifully illustrated and perfectly named, featuring gems such as “The Keys Are Still In It!” and “We’re Screwed!” They can be played either to help yourself by providing you with weapons and healing, or used to hamper others by making them paralyzed with fear or unexpectedly surrounded by zombies. Either way, the cards help keep the game interesting and unpredictable.
Finally, the four-page rules booklet for ZOMBIES!!! is concise and clear. An evocative short fiction piece and introduction by George Vasilakos (of “All Flesh Must Be Eaten” fame) do a great job of establishing the frenetic, desperate, and occasionally quite funny mood of the game. The rules themselves are presented in a straightforward, easy-to-understand format. I have played the game several times, and have yet to come up with a question the instructions could not answer.
To summarize, ZOMBIES!!! is a challenging yet easy to learn game that never plays the same way twice. The game is very visually appealing, and a heck of a lot of fun as well. Even people who aren’t normally fans of the genre will find this to be an entertaining experience.
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