Board games, who loves board games? You may have heard about this game by now, it has been around for a very long time. But I feel it deserves to be mentioned here at the The Horror Syndicate.
Yes, this is a board game, and it is fantastic. It is fun to get about 5 or 6 friends together to play this game. Zombies!!! was created in 2001 by Twilight Creations Inc. and is a tile based strategy board game for two to six players. Twilight Creations does not only make the tile based board games, Zombies!!!, there are many others, including Zombies Jr and Medieval.
I have been playing this game since around 2004 I believe. My brother in law found it at one of the local game shops. He bought it and we played the game for many days in a row. We went back up and bought some of the expansions, which at the time were four total. Each seemed to be themed after some of the popular zombie movies.
Each edition of the game and its expansions comes with tile cards and event cards. There is also a short story, a couple of paragraphs, written to set up the game. These stories are short and very entertaining. There are set rules, but you can also create your own if you feel like it. I would suggest buying the bag-o-zombies. You will need them. The set comes with Zombies, but it is usually never enough, not to mention the different expansions with different kinds of zombies. There are radioactive zombies, zombie dogs, female zombies and even clown zombies.
In the game, when it is your turn you pull a tile and place it somewhere on the map, it adds to the map, so the game board is never the same. Before you roll, place zombies on ever other empty spot, unless the tile is special, like a Police Station or a Hardware store, those tiles tell you how many zombies belong on the tile. There are also heart tokens and bullet tokens. The heart tokens are in play for re-rolls and the bullets can add to the roll. When you face off with a regular zombie, you must throw a 4,5 or 6 with your dice. If you roll a 3, toss a bullet token and it will kill the zombie. If you roll a 1 or 2, toss a heart token down and re-roll the dice. Then after you lay the tile you role a dice to move and you may confront a zombie. If you do, you have to role the dice to kill the zombie, as I said if you role a 4 or greater, that zombie is dead. The radioactive zombies and zombie dogs require a roll of 5 or 6. Unless you play by my rules, zombie dogs are a 6. You can use a half-heart token to re-roll with a zombie dog. If you roll a 1,2 or 3 and are out of bullet tokens and heart tokens…you’re dead! You build the map until the helipad pops up, that is your goal, make it to the helipad first. But, there are 9 zombies sitting on the helipad and you must clear the helipad to win. Oh and if you die at any point in the game, you get sent back to “town square” the starter tile and have to give up half of your zombies.
Sometimes we would pre-build the map we used to put a zombie on every single spot on the map. That makes the game really intense and a lot of fun. But you run out of bullet tokens and heart tokens fast. Generally the one who makes it to the helipad wins. If you die you get sent to the middle of the map and lose half your zombies…not the way we play. You do get sent back to “town square” and lose half your zombies…but we put them back on the map, generally in your path. Check out the picture of what the map looks like. Also one of the best Z things about the game are the expansions, there are very many eleven overall. The first couple of expansions are a military base with the radioactive zombies and a mall, kinda like a couple of good ole Romero zombie movies. The fourth, brings an entirely different feel to the game, you collect pages from the book of the dead and can be transported to Medieval times…yes, like Evil Dead and Army of Darkness.
I suggest you go to your local gaming shop or order on the internet and get a bunch of friends together and have a hell of a good time. I would really like to get a few people together and play a great game of zombies sometime soon, it really is a good, intense time. So check it out and you will not be sorry. Check out all of Twilight Creations Inc’s other games here http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/en/index.html
Some choice expansions you can purchase seperatly. Here is a picture of my personal collection.
There is also a Zombies!!! the board game available on IOS and Google play. It is more fun to get 5 or 6 friends together and play, but if you can’t, the IOS game is fun and only $1.99.
Now, go out and buy Zombies!!!, get some friends together and have a great time!