Zombicide

Zombicide logo
Designers	Raphaël Guiton Jean-Baptiste Lullien Nicolas Raoult
Illustrators	Nicolas Fructus Édouard Guiton Mathieu Harlaut Eric Nouhaut
Publishers	Asmodee Asterion Press Black Monk CoolMiniOrNot Edge Entertainment Galápagos Jogos Guillotine Games Hobby World
Publication	2012
Players	1 to 6
Setup time	approx. 5 minutes
Playing time	A game lasts for 20 minutes (beginner board) to 3 hours (expert board).
Chance	Dice rolling
Skills	strategic thinking

Zombicide at Pyrkon, Poznań 2015

Zombicide, is a collaborative adventure board game with a modern zombie theme, created by Guillotine Games.^[1] It was launched on Kickstarter by publisher CoolMiniOrNot and raised $781,597 from 5,258 backers.

In the game, each player controls from one (for 6 players) to four (solo game) "survivors", human beings in a zombie-infested town. In fact, "survivors" hastily change to "hunters" to smash zombies through and through. However, the team must keep the balance between survival and slaughter: as the zombicide's going on, the "danger level" is going up and infected are growing in numbers.^[2]

Gameplay

Each player in the game represents one or more survivors in a zombie apocalypse. Their goal is to complete the scenario objects dictated by their particular mission before being overrun by zombies. The game board represents a zombie-infested town, with large square tiles, laid according to the mission selected.

Before the beginning of the game, a mission is chosen. The playing area is built with board tiles and features (icons representing cars, doors and objectives) according to the selected mission. Each players chooses one or more survivors to play and everyone places their survivors on the starting area of the board.

A deck of zombie cards, which will be used to spawn zombies, is placed on the side of the board. The game starts after the group decides who will be the first player. In the game, time flows in “turns”, and each turn is composed of three “phases”.

In the first phase, the survivors perform their actions. They can move, attack and interact with inventory items. During their phase, players can trade items, move, kill zombies or perform other tasks to help their objective. They can also discuss strategies to triumph over the zombies. Also each survivor starts the game with a different zombie-fighting special ability. These special abilities grow as the survivor gains experience from defeating zombies and completing objectives during the game. After the first survivor completes their actions, the turn passes to the next survivor.

After each survivor has completed a turn of actions, the second phase begins. This "zombies phase" is completed by moving and attacking survivors with all the zombies on the board. These moves and attacks are programmed by the game mechanics, and are therefore completely predictable.

Finally comes the end phase, when tokens are managed, a new first players is determined, and another turn begins.

Throughout the game, survivors may collect better items and gain experience to help them kill more zombies and accomplish their mission.

If the players are able to complete all objectives, they are winners and may proceed to the following scenario. If, on the other hand, the zombies kill all survivors, the game is lost.^[3]

Development

Zombicide was funded on Kickstarter,^[4] with the subsequent franchise funding $34,505,398 combined on Kickstarter as of 2 February 2022.^[5]

Products

The game has been expanded to several settings and spin-off games. All settings and spin-off games feature significantly different mechanics. The game is designed for every product for each setting/spin-off game to be easily mixed, but not to be mixed across settings/spin-offs. Below is a list of all released content for each of the settings and spin-off games, sorted by their SKU.

Reception

TechRaptor stated "The game is fun and challenging if you like cooperative games".^[6] An entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction commented on the "complex gameplay" and difficulty. The writer Esther MacCallum-Stewart also praised the digital application that "greatly aids gameplay".^[4]

Awards

2013: As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année - Nominee^[7]

2013: Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game - Nominee^[8]

2013: Le Lys Passioné - Finalist^[9]

2013: Ludo Award Best Board Game Editor's Choice - Winner^[10]

2013: Ludo Award Best Board Game Popular - Winner^[11]

2013: Tric Trac - Finalist^[12]

Tie-in Fiction

Several media tie-in novels of the game were published by Aconyte Books. The first novel based on the game was Last Resort by Josh Reynolds, followed by Planet Havoc by Tim Waggoner and Age of the Undead by C.L. Werner.^[13]

References

External links

• Boardgamegeek entry for Zombicide
• Official page for Zombicide