Before Zombicide, Last night on earth, Dawn of the Zeds, and yes, Dead of winter, there was a little game from a small company Twilight Creations, called Zombies!!! The question is, in the world of all the newer games of this genre, does Zombies!!! Still, hold a place as a good solid game? Let’s find out. Zombies!!!
Unlike the others, is not a cooperative game. It’s a race to who can get to the helicopter or kill the most zombies first and be rescued. There’s only room for one more, and will it be you? To start, take the city tiles and place them in a face-down pile. Take out the helicopter and the town square. Put the helicopter back into the stack at the halfway point. You can also move it closer for a shorter or farther down for a longer game. Take the town square tile and place it in the center of the play area. Shuffle the deck of event cards, and deal 3 to each player. Each player takes 3 bullet and 3 heart tokens and places their pawn (shotgun guy) on any square of the town square. Randomly decide who goes first and let the hunt begin.
In Zombies!!!, players explore the ruins of the city, looking for the helicopter pad and be rescued. In their search, they may encounter hordes of the undead, and find more powerful weapons and items to aid them in survival. On a players turn, he/she flips the top city tile and places it next to the town square for the first turn, but next to any legal tile in play after. When placing a building, follow the tile instructions on how many zombies and what tokens are placed for each street, 1 zombie is placed for each direction revealed. For example, if a 3-way street tile is drawn, place one zombie at the end of each of the streets (for a total of 3). Draw an event card if you have less than 3.
Next roll a 6 sided die to see how many spaces you move. If you move into a space with a zombie, you immediately fight it. Zombies are killed on a 4-6 of a six-sided die roll. If you miss, you still have options; you can spend a bullet to add one to the die roll, or you may spend a heart token to reroll the die. There is no limit for bullet and heart (life) tokens you can have. Combat ends when either you kill the zombie or run out of life tokens. When you kill a zombie, take it and add it to your collection. If you lose a fight, you discard all your cards and tokens and half of your collected zombies. Take 3 hearts and bullets and start over in the town square. If you enter a space with a token you may take it. A token is only collected after any zombie in the space has been defeated. A player may play one event card anytime on their turn. The cards have items or events on them. Some will help you find a shotgun say, or allow you to make an opponent fight extra zombies. After all, fights are resolved, roll a die and move that many zombies one space each. There can only be one zombie in each space. If a zombie enters a space with a pawn, resolve a battle. Finally, a player may discard an event card. Once the helicopter pad is revealed, it can be placed at any legal space and the player with the least amount of dead zombies chooses where. Follow the tile instructions for zombie placement like any building tile. A player may use the helicopter only when there are no zombies remaining on the tile.
The game ends when a player has 25 zombies in their collection or reaches the helipad and escapes. Zombies!!! is a very simple, yet challenging game; it uses a roll to move mechanism and a simple combat system. The dynamic card play and token use gives it a bit more challenge than just roll-to-hit.I find the game still enjoyable. It takes less time to set up than several of the more modern games. In addition, it usually plays in under 1 hour. The cards can give a player an advantage and help them to win. It is unique with its non-cooperative gameplay as well. Even though it is an older game, it still has a spot in my collection and I don’t see it ever leaving. Twilight Creations has added a whole lot of expansions to the game; a military base, mall, school, subways, sewers, and even a circus among others. Each adds to the game in a simple yet interesting way. There is a book of scenarios and solitaire rules as well. They have released three editions of the base game since it first came out in 2001; each one with better components and art work. I find my second edition to be just fine. However the third includes advanced rules for cooperative gameplay. Here is a video review I found that lets you see the game for yourself.
Written By Ed Carter
