How to Play Zombies!!! (Board Game)

Setting up the Game

Check the contents of the box for the correct amounts of pieces. Each box of Zombies!!! will come with several decks of cards and mini-figures. When you open the box you should have 30 map tiles (known as the 'map deck'), 50 event cards (known as the 'event deck'), 100 plastic zombies, 6 plastic 'shotgun guys' (representing players), 30 life tokens, 60 bullet tokens and 2 6-sided dice. If any pieces are missing you can devise a substitute token or you can return the game to the retailer that sold you it citing missing pieces. You should get a full refund.

Gather 2-6 players around a table and choose a dealer. Find some friends to play the game with you. The game is impossible to play by yourself, but more than 6 people makes the game become too unwieldy. Once you've gathered your players, randomly assign 1 of the players as the dealer.

Remove the 'Town Square' and 'Helipad' from the map deck. The dealer should look through the entirety of the map deck until they find 2 tiles named 'Town Square' and 'Helipad'. Remove these 2 tiles from the deck.

Begin the board by placing the 'Town Square' tile. Place the 'Town Square' tile in the middle of the table and place a shotgun guy for each player in the game on the tile. The rest of the map will build out from this central tile. Make sure there's plenty of room for other tiles to be placed around it.

Shuffle the map deck and put the 'Helipad' at the back. The dealer then picks up the map deck, shuffles it thoroughly, before putting the 'Helipad' tile at the bottom of the map deck so that it should be the last drawn. Place the shuffled map deck on the table.

Deal 3 event cards, 3 life tokens and 3 bullet tokens to each player. Shuffle the event deck thoroughly before dealing 3 cards to each player. The players should keep these a secret from each other. The event deck should then be placed beside the map deck on the table. Each player should also receive 3 life tokens and 3 bullet tokens.

Using Map Tiles

Understand the different types of map tiles. Throughout the game, each player will place a map tile onto the table at the start of their turn. Map tiles are split into grids of 9. Players can rotate the tiles but only if all the roads on the tiles are connected. A tile cannot be placed so that a building blocks off a road. It is possible to place map tiles in a way that prevents any more tiles from being placed. If this happens, the player who placed the last tile loses the rest of their turn. In this scenario, whoever kills 25 zombies first wins.

Learn about named map tiles. Some of the map tiles will have named buildings such as the 'Florist Shop'. These tiles immediately receive the amount of Zombies (Z), Bullet tokens (B), and Life tokens (L) that stated beneath the name. These tokens must be placed inside the building. Remember that a tile is split into a grid of 9, so a building will take up a certain amount of those squares. Each square in the grid can have a zombie and a bullet token or a life token, but never all 3 at once. A player can pick up life tokens and bullet tokens if they enter the square on the grid where they have been placed. If a zombie occupies the tile too, the player must remove them before picking up the token.

Master the use of unnamed map tiles. Most of the tiles in the map deck will be unnamed tiles. Take note of how many roads lead out of a tile. Place as many zombies as there are roads that lead out of the tile. For example, if you play a 4 way crossing with roads going out of the tile on each side, 4 zombies will be placed on that tile. These zombies may be placed on any legal road square (using the grid of 9).

Place the 'Heliport' tile at the end of the game. Once you have exhausted the map deck, the 'Heliport' tile will be drawn. The player who has accumulated the least amount of zombie kills gets to place this tile where they choose, obeying normal map tile placement rules. This signals the end of the game. The first person to reach the 'Heliport' wins. Remember, the goal of the game is to reach the 'Helipad' tile before all the other players, or kill 25 zombies, whichever comes first.

Mastering Combat, Events and Movement

Use event cards to turn the tide of the game. Each player will have 3 event cards dealt to them at the start of the game. Event cards change the rules of the game and can lend all players a bonus, or make progress much harder. An event card lasts as long as its description says.

Move your character towards victory. Movement in Zombies!!! is determined by a 6-sided die. Roll the die. The resulting number is how many squares you can move this turn across the grid of 9 on each map tile. You can cross tiles using your movement. You may choose not to use all movement points if you prefer. You must fight any zombies that you move into when moving. Players can also enter buildings on named map tiles, but they must use the entrance door to do so. If there are no zombies on a tile that a player moves into that contains a life token or a bullet token, the player can pick it up immediately. You can not move diagonally, so plan ahead to make your move as efficient as possible.

Begin combat when players come into contact with zombies. Players will come into contact with zombies throughout the game. Combat is initiated whenever a player moves into the same space as a zombie or they begin their turn on a space with a zombie. This means that rival players will try to block your way with zombies to impede your progress.

Resolve combat using a 6-sided die. When combat begins roll your 6-sided die. If it lands on a 4, 5, or 6, you succeed in combat, kill the zombie, and add it to your collection. If you roll a 1, 2, or 3 you lose the combat. You have 2 options at this point. You can either lose a life token or discard the necessary amount of bullet tokens for the roll to be successful. For example, if you attacked a zombie and rolled a 2, you would need to spend 2 bullet tokens to bring your total roll up to a 4, succeeding the combat round.

Move your character back to the 'Town Square' if you die. If you run out of life tokens your character stops moving. Place your character back at the 'Town Square' and lose half of your collected zombies (rounding up) and any movement that you have left. Once you begin your turn after dying, you start with another 3 life tokens and 3 bullet tokens.

Move zombies 1 space using a 6-sided die. Not only do you control your character, you can also control zombies. Roll a 6-sided die again. The resulting number is how many zombies you can choose to move 1 space. Zombies cannot move diagonally. Use this opportunity to make life difficult for your opponents. Zombies can enter buildings on named map tiles. Each space may only contain 1 zombie at any time.

Playing a Typical Turn

Play an event card. Starting with the player left of the dealer, choose 1 event card and play it on your turn. This will change the rules of your oncoming turn, hopefully making it easier. 'Alternate Food Source' is an event card that prevents any zombies from attacking you on your turn. Use this event card to make the most of your movement and get past any barricades made by other players.

Draw a map tile and place it on the table. After playing an event card the player must draw a map tile. They can choose where to place this map tile, as long as it obeys the map tile placement rules. The player should consider how to benefit his road to victory, but hinder his opponent's.

Combat any zombies on the player's character space. Next, the character should deal with any zombies that have been moved into their space by another player. Use the normal combat rules to determine how the encounter plays out. If you lose your final life token, you must move back to the 'Town Square' tile. You do not get an opportunity to roll for movement.

Draw back up to 3 event cards. Now that your event card is in play, draw as many cards from the event deck as you need so that you have 3 event cards again.

Make a movement roll and move your character. Roll a 6-sided die to determine your movement. Then, with this number, move your character wherever you desire as long as it abides by the movement rules. Remember, if you move into a space occupied by a zombie you must enter combat before continuing your movement. If you enter a tile that has a life token, or a bullet token, but no zombie, you can pick it up at no cost and continue your movement.

Roll a die for the zombie movement. Once your character has exhausted their movement, the player must then roll a 6-sided die for zombie movement. The number the die shows determines how many zombies the player can choose to move 1 space in any direction (except diagonal). Use this opportunity to move zombies into opponent's character spaces or to block their progress towards their goal.

Discard 1 event card and end your turn. Once you have finished all your actions, discard 1 of your 3 events cards into the event deck and end your turn. Play continues clockwise until a player reaches 25 zombie kills or someone reaches the 'Heliport' tile.