The Basics
ZOMBIES!!! is a modular board game where players try to escape a zombie infested city. You can win the game by either making it to the center of the helipad tile or by being the first player to kill 25 zombies. Zombies!!! was designed by Todd A. Breitenstein and produced by Twilight Creations Inc.
From the Box
Ages: 12+
Players 2-6
Run Time: Varies
Zombies!!! has a fairly quick setup, there’s a few tokens to give out and some shuffling. Each player receives 3 life tokens, 3 bullet tokens, and 3 cards.
Gameplay
The rule book keeps this pretty short and sweet so hopefully I can make it even simpler. A turn in Zombies!!! is also a pretty simple affair. First you draw a tile from the map deck and place it. If you have less than three event cards, draw back up to three. Roll a die for your movement; you can move a number of spaces equal to that number. If you land on a zombie or there is a zombie on your space you must combat the zombie first. After you are finished moving role another d6 and move that number of zombies 1 space.
Map Tiles: Tiles must be played so the roads are connected. Road tiles come into play with a number of zombies based on the access points it has. A 4-way intersection would have 4 zombies. Other tiles have named buildings. Those named buildings will specify a number of zombies, bullets, and life tokens to place on it. Several of the event cards are associated with a named building as well, so if you play the card in the specific building you get some kind of benefit.
I put before that the run time can vary. Per rules as written, the helipad is always placed at the bottom of the map tile deck. That’s going to take about an hour, maybe a little more to play through. If you want, you can shorten the game by shuffling the helipad tile in the deck. The helipad is placed on the table by the person with the fewest zombie kills, giving the player who is basically loosing, the best chance of getting to the helipad (if they’re smart anyway).
If you die… sorry, WHEN you die your marker goes back to town square and you forfeit half of your zombie trophies and go back to starting health and bullets.
Conclusion
Now you might think “why not just avoid zombies as much as possible to get the helipad placement at the end?” Well that is the smelliest of cheese and shame on you. That’s far easier said than done, remember everyone moves the zombies at the end of their turn. The default strategy is to block the other players as much as possible. Now as difficult as it can be, I’ve actually seen more guys win by getting the 25 zombie kills. Sometimes the dice are on your side and you can Tallahassee right across the board.
Zombies!!! a great little time killer. Remember if you’re staring down a horde; snap a few pics with your phone. If you make it out alive it could be a possible zombie kill of the week.
Justin
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