I know everyone loves zombies but I, I’m one of the few who not only get grossed out but actively try to avoid zombie ANYTHING at this time of year. Even a short commercial for a zombie movie can give me nightmares, making me one of the faintest of heart people I know.
But there’s one zombie that I can’t get away from and don’t want to – the fun and easy game called Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson Games. It’s a staple in my household for Game Night and I think you should consider making it one of your go-to games as well!
The concept is easy – you’re a zombie trying to collect brains. Oh, wait… BRAAAIINNZZZ…
The goal is to collect thirteen brains without getting shotgunned to undeath. You start off shaking the cup with all the dice inside and pulling out three dice without looking. Shake them up again and blindly toss the three dice on the table. What comes up determines the future of your turn.
The dice have three types of symbols on them – brains, a shotgun blast, and footprints. Brains mean that you’ve successfully killed your target, a shotgun blast means they got you first, and footprints means that your prey has escaped.
The goal is to collect thirteen brains – but without being shotgunned three times. So you check your dice. Any brains go off to one side, to hopefully be counted at the end of your turn. Shotguns go off to another side, indicating your mounting damage. Remember, three shotguns and you’re out. Footprints can be rerolled along with any number of dice blindly picked from the container to bring the total number back up to three dice.
But your brains ONLY count to your final goal of thirteen if you don’t get shotgunned three times during your turn. For example, you could roll two brains and one shotgun. Place the two brains to one side and the shotgun to the other. Now you pick three fresh dice and roll them… but if you get two more shotguns in the next roll you lose ALL of your fresh brains and the turn is over. You can pick and roll dice as long as you don’t get three shotguns. At any time you can stop your turn, run off with your brains and pass to the next player. It comes down to figuring out how lucky you feel – when you have two shotguns and three brains, do you go for another roll when only one more shotgun will lose you all your brains? Or do you risk it all and grab even more delicious brain matter before ending your turn?
This is a fast paced, fun game for all ages. There’s a certain amount of luck involved but also strategy, combining the best of both worlds for an excellent portable game that’s guaranteed to be fun and fast without anyone getting tangled up in the rules. The only thing I could see that would improve the game is having some sort of counter included to keep score but my husband and I simply tossed in a pair of D12 dice to keep track.
If you’re looking for a good Halloween-themed game for the family or just need something to add to your zombie collection Zombie Dice has what you want. Plenty of BRAIINZZZ…