How to Play

Stay alive, reach the safe zone, meet any other victory conditions. (Also have fun!)

Determination Cards: Most things are determined by the aptly named “Determination Cards.” They determine movement, they assign amounts to items in the game, and they resolve disputes with a high-low draw. Anytime there is a tie, simply resolve it by having each party involved in the tie draw another determination card.  

Event Cards: These cards are drawn to reveal what happens to each player or group of players after the human movement phase.  

Blood Cards: These determine if you become infected after contact with a zombie. Always draw blood cards FACE DOWN!

Bullets are represented by black octagonal tokens (Grey Bullet Tokens for Deluxe Edition). Players with bullets may use them to automatically kill zombies. Zombies can be killed before or after melee combat. 

Players may also use them during the movement phase instead of having to stop their movement because of a zombie blocking the path. Thus, if a zombie blocks your way you move onto its space, kill it, and move the rest of your remaining movement. 

The effect(s) of an event card with a bullet icon and corresponding negative number at the bottom may be prevented if the player drawing the card or any player on the space with the drawing player (or any combination of players on the same space) spends the indicated amount of bullets.

Shuffle each deck of cards. Discards can be set face up next to each deck. The determination card deck is likely to be reshuffled and reused depending on the distance and complexity of your game. 

Each player chooses one of the colored player tokens and places it on the starting space. We provide eight tokens. 

Once all players decide on any additional conditions of the game, it can begin.

These are all the things that must be decided before the first turn of the game. We recommend all players agreeing on them, but if needed, the owner of the game can dictate the rules for you. We have provided a few examples to get you started.  

Distance  

Decide how far it is to the goal. Place the victory token on the chosen victory space. The further the goal, the harder the game.  

• Simple: 50 spaces is a good beginners starting distance.  
• Intermediate: 100 spaces makes for a more challenging game.  
• Advanced: 40 spaces if reached within 5 turns. Otherwise, the helicopter takes off and players must reach the safe zone at the outskirts of the city at space 100.  
• Expert: 75 spaces to start. Draw a determination card before any players draw theirs. Use bullet tokens or zombies as counters for that draw. Each turn, remove a counter. When there are no counters left, draw a determination card at the beginning of each turn and move the victory space half that distance, rounded up, away from the players.  

Victory Conditions

Decide what it takes to win the game. Is it first player out, or the first group of three to the safe zone? Can a player have unrevealed blood cards, or must all players be certifiably uninfected? The more comfortable you get with the basic game mechanics, the more complex you can make it.  

• Simple: First player(s) to the victory space win.  
• Intermediate: First player(s) to the victory space without any blood cards win.  
• Advanced: Minimum two players, one of each gender must reach the victory space without any unrevealed blood cards.
• Expert: Minimum of two players must reach the victory space. One must have an unrevealed blood card, and the other must have at least one bullet or a weapon capable of killing zombies.  

Starting Ammo

Decide how many bullets each player starts with in his or her gun. How hard do you want the game to be? Distribute bullet tokens accordingly.  

• Simple: 3 bullets per player is good for beginners.  
• Intermediate: 1 bullet per player makes a more challenging game.  
• Advanced: Each player will be awarded bullets based on their first movement determination card draw. 10 = 3 bullets, 7-9 = 2 bullets, 4-6 = 1 bullet, 2-3 = no bullets, 1 = no bullets, and the player starts with a blood card.  
• Expert: Each player begins with no bullets and no gun. Before drawing a movement card, a player can announce that he or she is searching for a gun. His or her movement is reduced to half, rounded down. Any player searching draws a determination card during the event phase, before drawing their event. On a draw of 6 or above, the player finds a gun. Any bullets acquired are unusable until a player finds a gun.  

Heroic Conditions

Decide if there are any other conditions that affect normal game play. 

Intended for Advanced and Expert players.  

• Simple/Intermediate: No additional Conditions
• Advanced: Double all zombie placements, encounters, and blood card draws.  
• Expert: Apocalypse v1.0: After three turns, spawn a zombie at the beginning space every turn moving forward. If players move beyond the first 25 spaces, remove the prior zombies and begin new additional spawns at space 26. Repeat at 51 and 76 respectively if distance necessitates.

Draw Order

Decide how to handle movement and speed draw order. 

• Simple (Structured): The player closest to the victory space (and fastest on that space from the last turn if there are more than one) draws and moves first. Then the other players move in clockwise rotation until all players have moved. 
• Intermediate: The player closest to the victory space (and fastest on that space from the last turn if there are more than one) draws and moves first. Players continue in increasing distance from the victory space, fastest to slowest for spaces with multiple players until all players have moved. 
• Advanced: Play without a specific movement order. Each player draws a card in the same order as the first turn. Each player can simply move his or her token and discuss strategy with other players at the same time in real time once all draws are finished. Once all players have moved, head to the event phase. 
• Expert (Recommended Method):  Play without a specific movement order. Each player draws a card in order of distance from the victory space, fastest to slowest for spaces with multiple players. Each player can simply move his or her token and discuss strategy with other players at the same time in real time once all draws are finished. Once all players have moved, head to the event phase.

The player who owns the game draws a determination card. All other players draw in clockwise sequence. This will be each player’s first movement card. 

* We encourage house rules for many aspects of our game, including who “goes first.” Perhaps the person who most recently watched a zombie movie, or the first player to groan draws first. Have fun with it. The above is just a baseline rule to keep things moving.

A turn consists of 5 phases. They are:

1. Infection Countdown
2. Human Movement 
3. Event 
4. Zombie Movement 
5. Combat

At the infection countdown phase, any player with a blood card will tick (Clockwise rotation) off one blood drop. Once the card has counted down to "0" blood drops and the bloodstain faces the player, (Text is right side up to the player possessing the Blood Card) the player will reveal their infection status. If it turns out that that player has been infected they immediately become a Zombie Player and take zombie actions during the zombie movement and combat phases beginning the turn in which they are zombified. Use the corresponding Zombie Player figure/token to replace your player figure/token. All bullets and items are left on the space the player became a zombie on. Set them aside and use a bullet token to indicate the space where the items are. Other players can pick them up. A player passing over the space may pick up one item or bullet. To pick up all the items on the space, a player must end their turn on that space. Fastest player ending their turn on the space picks up the items, and if a player stops on the space, other players cannot pick up any items in passing.

Each turn, every player will draw a determination card and move up to that many spaces in any direction. Players may pass other players, but may not pass zombie occupied spaces without killing the zombies, even if their movement draw would otherwise allow it.

Keep the determination card until the turn is over. There are things determined by a player’s speed. If there is a tie, draw additional determination cards until the tie is broken. (Keep the original draw and the last tiebreaker card for speed.)

As the game progresses, players may encounter zombies during the movement phase. If players are using structured movement, (Simple or Intermediate) each player will decide whether they kill zombies (with bullets) during their movement before the next player moves. If players are using strategic movement, (Advanced or Expert) use speed to determine when zombies can be killed and whether other players may move beyond a zombie space. The fastest player will decide whether or not to kill the zombie(s) if possible. If not, then they cannot move beyond the space the zombie is on this turn, unless a slower player chooses to kill the zombie. If this happens, the faster player cannot move farther than the final distance the slower player that killed the zombie(s) moves, even if their movement draw would normally allow for it, but they can move past the zombie occupied space once cleared on the same turn, as the movement is “at the same time.” 

Each occupied space has one event card drawn by the player who reached that space with the slowest movement. Unless otherwise stated, the card affects the player who drew it. If it is an item, it goes to the player who drew it. Draw event cards in order of distance from the victory space, closest to victory drawing first. Resolve the effects of each card before the next one is drawn. Combat may occur during this phase through zombie encounter cards. Follow the standard combat rules unless otherwise indicated on the event card. Event cards may have a series of icons that will assist in recognizing what actions need to be taken or effects occur for the player(s)involved.

Discard event cards after their effects are resolved, unless they are weapon, item or ability cards. Discard single use cards when the player uses them, and used or broken weapons when they have exhausted their maximum number of uses.

If there are zombies and/or zombie players on the board use the following rules for the zombie movement turn. 

Non-Player Zombies: Draw a single determination card for all non-player zombie movement. Each single zombie or zombie group not controlled by a player zombie moves that many spaces toward the group or individual closest to them, forward or back. Move zombies in order based on distance from the victory space, closest to the victory space moving first. If two players are equidistant from a zombie, the zombie will pursue the one closest to the victory space. Non-player zombies must stop on a space occupied by a human and engage in combat after all zombies have moved. If there are multiple zombies on a space with players the lead zombie will engage the player with the slowest movement, the second zombie engages the second slowest player in line, and so on. If there are more zombies than players, then the leftover zombies start at the slowest player and work their way through until there are no more zombies to engage players.

Zombie Players: Players that have been turned into zombies will each draw their own movement determination card, after the card for the non-player zombies has been drawn. Zombie players may pass other zombies, may travel in any direction pursuing whomever they wish, and may stop short of their full movement. Zombie players may also choose to stop and gain control of other zombies, creating a horde. When they do, the other zombies in the horde move with the zombie player based on his or her movement draw instead of the generic zombie draw. The player may lead them forward or backward, as they see fit. Non-player zombies that would pass will always stop and join a zombie player and their horde.

Player zombies, or player-controlled hordes may target any player on a space according to the zombie player’s wishes.

A zombie player with a horde may choose to pass a slower non-player zombie, but they will leave their horde back with the other “slower” zombie(s) if they do so. However, one zombie player controlled horde may pass another zombie player or player controlled horde as both are treated like zombie players when in a horde. 

Non-player zombies cannot pass other non-player zombies. 

After all zombies have moved, if players and zombies end up occupying a space together, combat in some form is required. 

Ranged Combat: Players with bullets may choose to shoot a zombie rather than engage in melee combat with it. Each zombie takes one bullet to kill unless specified by other effects or cards. If players do not have bullets or choose not to use them, melee combat will be joined.

Melee Combat: During melee combat, the zombie and the human each draw determination cards. Human players always draw first. It's a high/low scenario. If the human draws higher they have managed to defeat or elude the zombie for that turn. 

Humans using melee weapons are able to kill zombies when they win combat. Players must announce any weapon(s) they are using before they draw the determination card and any limited use weapons are lose a use whether the player wins the combat or not. Multiple weapons can be used in combat. A non-player zombie that is not killed will continue to pursue players on the next turn based on proximity after player movement on the next turn.

If the zombie draws higher than the human then that player must draw a blood card. 

Zombies may be killed with bullets after melee combat, but doing so does not negate a player’s blood card draw. 

Any zombie player that is killed in the combat phase respawns 10 spaces behind (further form the victory space) the space they are killed on and can continue pursuing players on the next turn. 

Optional Combat Rule: Players without weapons may kill zombies, but it takes at least three unarmed players to do it. All players taking part in the fight draw versus the zombie. If they have three victories then they kill the zombie. Any player drawing lower than the zombie must draw a blood card.

The player(s) satisfying the chosen victory conditions win the game. If all players are zombified, then the player who was alive the longest, the last loser, is considered the “winner.”