Zombies!!! Part The First: Lord Dicely Reminisces

To whom it may concern,

You are cordially invited to join me in a brief retrospective of the widely-sold, and reasonably-frequently played, Zombies!!! series. For those not in the know, Todd Breitenstein, dark overlord of Zombies!!! publisher Twilight Creations, passed from this vale in March of this year. Now that some months have passed since that tragedy, it seems appropriate to launch a retrospective of the game series, its place in the hobby, and its meaning to me personally.

Chapter 1: Zombies!!!

Many years ago, a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) attempted to convince me of the value

Photograph by Martin Donat

of the boardgaming hobby by introducing me to the bestselling Settlers of Catan. He succeeded in convincing me that boardgames had nothing to offer.

Years later, he tried again. This time, things went rather better. The game in question was Touch of Evil, though that fact is of no consequence here. His suggestion, that I try close cousin Arkham Horror, had merit, and I took myself off to one of the few vendors of boardgames with which I was then familiar. I there found Arkham Horror, at a price I could not possibly justify. However, sitting next to it on the table, was a much more affordable horror-themed game - Zombies!!!. I made my decision by price alone. And, quite honestly, who wouldn't have fun with zombies?
Zombies!!! is often referred to among the gaming community as a "beer-and-pretzels" game - that is to say, it is not a game which provokes deep strategical thinking, but one which functions better as a casual pastime in the background of an evening of drinking and raucous banter. Does it succeed? Let's look closer.

How The Game Works

I will not repeat the rulebook here, but in brief, each player's turn consists of the following steps:

1. Take a city tile from the pile, and add it to the city. This game does not have a fixed board, but rather it is built in a turnwise fashion by placing these tiles - at the time, this mechanic was new and fascinating to me. Some tiles merely have connecting roads; some have buildings, containing helpful tokens.
2. Roll a die and move up to the number of squares indicated. Here we find Zombies!!!' greatest crime against the boardgame community - that of "roll-and-move".
3. As you move, fight zombies encountered. This involves more dice rolling - a roll of 4-6 wins, and adds the zombie to your trophy collection, and a lower roll loses. You may expend "bullet" tokens to push the value into that winning zone, or take the hit, lose a "heart" token, and lay on.
4. Play cards from your hand of three, on your turn or on that of another. Cards have a variety of effects, some helping, some hindering, and some activated by entering certain buildings which appear on the tiles which make up the city.
5. Move zombies, ideally to help oneself and hinder others.

Repeat until a player has amassed a certain number of zombie trophies (by default 25) or until they reach the centre of the Helipad, a city tile which appears near the end of the deck.

The Case For

• The game offers value for money. The box retails for half the cost of most modern boardgames. You will receive 100 zombies in two sculpts - they may not be quite the level of high-priced competitors such as Zombicide, but they're actually quite good, and great value at that price. Plus further miniatures for the players, a huge number of tokens, some dice, a deck of action cards, and the city tiles. That's a lot of game for a low price.
• The game does, indeed, function as a "beer-and-pretzels" game. The theme is easy to sell to non-boardgamers. It can be explained and played in moments. As the "board" is laid out turn-by-turn, initial setup is very quick. The caprice of the dice, particularly in combat, makes this a fine game to drink over and laugh at the misfortunes of others.
• Unlike certain other cheap and widely-available games with which non-gamers may be familiar, this game does actually have some minor strategic decisions. City tile placement can involve weighing up helping oneself as opposed to hindering others; when to play, and when to discard, cards provoke some decision making (though such decisions are often obvious); and choosing one's route, whether to maximise zombie targets, acquire resources, or activate cards, involves some light push-your-luck planning. 

Thus, for some groups of older non-gamers, the theme and easy access can make this an effective "gateway" game. Certainly, other gateway options are vastly superior games qua games (e.g. Ticket To Ride, Carcassonne, Bohnanza), but the fun theme, low price, and quick start-up make Zombies!!! a legitimate introductory option, and an appropriate social activity to accompany cocktails in the drawing room.

The Case Against

• "Roll-and-move" plus dice-based combat seriously limits the strategic depth of this game. More problematically, they can result in some players not having fun - it's not particularly enjoyable to wait for one's turn to come around, as other players have slain zombies left and right, only to roll a 1 for movement and a 1 in combat against the only zombie you'll see this round (if you even have that much of an opportunity).
• The tile-laying becomes redundant in the later game, as parts of the city must be placed and filled with zombies that will realistically never be visited by the players.
• The game takes too long. Both the points above contribute to this problem. Furthermore, once players start dying and restarting with half their trophies, they are likely to face long walks to reach the action again.
• None of the decisions faced are really very strategic. Most of the time, the player's options will be obvious, and the outcome of their turn determined entirely by the roll of dice.

These issues are difficult to deny. The lack of strategy can be forgiven, particularly for a game aimed so squarely at being a casual group experience rather than a battle of wits. The length and slow pace (particularly in later rounds) is more of a problem for a "gateway" game, however. Many variants have been proposed to tackle these issues; in the second and concluding part of this series, I will present my own.

Chapter 2: Expansions to the main game only

Picture by Francisco Rueda Garcia

Zombies!!! has a prodigious library of expansions. Confusingly, they are different types, which are not clear from their titles. Some expansions are of the more standard type, merely adding components to the base game. Others are separate games entirely. Finally, there are those which may be played either on their own or with the main game. I do not own, and have not played, every expansion - however, I do have experience with at least one example of each type.
This chapter considers the first type - those which add to the main game. At the time of writing, these include Zombies!!! 3.5, 6 and 10 (otherwise known as Zombies!!! X). The first primarily functions to add a large number of cards to the game; though this may seem rather basic and perfunctory, it is probably the most vital expansion in the entire series. The new cards are generally superior to those in the base game, and as the cards are the major source of strategy in the game, this expansion in practice adds a great deal. Zombies!!! 3.5 also adds rules for players to pre-build separate decks with which to compete; I do not know any other gamers with with Zombies!!! and Zombies!!! 3.5, so I cannot comment on this variant.
Slightly more involved is Zombies!!! 6. This adds tiles, cards and tokens relevant to two new gameplay mechanisms - subway stations, which can be travelled between in a single round, and zombie-free underground travel via the sewer system.
The first mechanism is potentially very useful, as it can make the turgid late game much faster. However, this will only work if the subway stations are placed usefully. I suggest shuffling one into the first few city tiles, to make sure that respawning players can get some value out of the fast movement.
I have yet to see the second mechanism used. This is because sewer travel takes away health every round. Paying one health just to avoid zombies for a round is rarely an attractive proposition - if you are low on health, it is not an option, and if you have health to spare it generally makes more sense to engage in combat. Potentially this mechanism could be used to bypass zombies to reach a resource-rich building when one is running low, (but still has enough to spare for the journey), but this is so circumstantial it rarely arises.
Overall, I would recommend both these expansions if you enjoy Zombies!!! and want to improve on it. Both expansions take steps to mitigate the problems with the core game. Just don't expect to use the sewers much without some sort of rules variation.
Of the another expansion of this type - Zombies!!! X - I have not played it, and cannot comment. From what I can divine, it does not directly address issues such as play time, but it does include an Addictions mechanism which alters players' abilities and may enhance meaningful decision-making, as well as adding further building tiles.

Chapter 3: Expansions which may be integrated with the core set, but also played on their own

 These expansions form the principal type of Zombies!!! expansion. As expansions to the core set, they can be separated into two subtypes - those which add additional goals, and hence expand the players' options (expansions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9), and those which represent new start areas for the players, which must be navigated before starting the core game (expansions 7 and 8). Although I have not played every one of these expansions, I can state that I have played both types.
As expansions to the main game, those which add additional goals work more seamlessly, and have a

Photograph by the author

positive effect on the gameplay experience by providing legitimate exploration options. The downside is that they can significantly increase the total playtime of an already-long game. They work well for higher player numbers, but with only two players create too much of a sprawling map.
Those which add start areas are rather odd as expansions. In practice, rather than creating one larger game, it feels more like the players are playing two separate games of Zombies!!!, one after the other. This can test the patience of those who are not committed fans.
However, both subtypes work much better as standalone games. With more constrained geography and thematically-focused cards, they actually play much better (and more quickly) than the core game - at least for small player counts. Zombies!!! 8 standalone has become our favourite two-player Zombies!!! experience.
In conclusion, these expansions are good as quicker standalone adventures, and can be used to make a more "epic" game in the (admittedly rare) circumstance where committed players wish to play a big, sprawling game. However, you probably won't want all of them - adding more than one of the "alternative goal" subtypes as an expansion will create far too large a game, and the "alternative start" versions don't integrate that well. One of each subtype will give you plenty of gameplay options, but there isn't enough difference between them to justify acquiring every one except for committed players.

Chapter 4: Stand-alone Zombies!!! adventures

And then there are those which are not intended to integrate with the core game, but are standalone
adventures. These might borrow components from the base box (Zombies!!! 12: Zombie Zoo), or be playable without the core set (Zombies!!! 11). It is difficult to recommend these, for one simple reason - I already have the game Zombies!!!. Why would I want separate games which are also Zombies!!!? With the huge number of excellent games in the world, that would seem rather redundant, particularly given that the expansions of Chapter 3 may also be played standalone. Nonetheless, I have purchased and played Zombies!!! 12 - I am afraid to say I was tempted by the promise of six types of zombie animal. The playing experience was much like playing one of the previously-discussed expansions as a standalone - the zombie animals were amusing, but the gameplay experience was Zombies!!! - no more, no less.

Conclusions

Photograph by spearjr

In conclusion, then, Zombies!!! is not a game of grand strategy, but that does not mean it doesn't have a place. Specifically, late in the evening, when the wine and song are already flowing - and in particular, when those singing and drinking are not (yet) boardgame players. The game as designed is simple to learn, and equally simple to modify (and a certain amount of modification is recommended). Of the many expansions available, those which add mechanics are recommended to fans, though consider the impact on complexity they will have for a game whose beauty is in its simplicity. Those which can be played together with the core game or alone are probably the next-most useful, while it is difficult to recommend those which are purely standalone. Ultimately, though, this game provides so many options, all at a reasonable price point, that really I would advise choosing any part whose theme appeals, and not worry overly regarding the specific mechanics involved.