How to Play Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Arrange boards

Set up the Colony board and 6 Location boards; give each player 1 Player Reference sheet

Optional content removal

Remove "!?!" Crossroads cards containing mature references for a more PG-friendly game

Select Main Objective

Agree on or randomly select 1 Main Objective card (first game use "We need more samples"); place on Colony Board

Prepare Secret Objectives

Shuffle face-down: 2 non-Betrayal cards per player plus 1 Betrayal card total; deal 1 secretly to each player

Shuffle Crisis deck

Place face-down on Colony Board

Shuffle other decks

Shuffle Survivors, Exiled Objectives, and Crossroads decks; place adjacent to Colony Board

Distribute Starter Items

Shuffle and deal 5 cards per player (7 cards in 2-player game)

Place Location Items

Shuffle Location Item cards and place each deck at its matching Location

Draft Survivors

Deal 4 Survivors per player; each keeps 2 (3 in 2-player game); return remainder and reshuffle

Designate Group Leader

Each player nominates 1 Survivor as Group Leader (placed left of Player sheet); remaining Survivors become Following (placed below)

Place standees

Place matching Survivor standees in Colony; prepare other standees and tokens

Determine first player

The player whose Group Leader has the highest Influence becomes first player

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Reveal Crisis

At round start, reveal top Crisis card to be resolved in Colony Phase

Roll Action Dice

Remove previous Action D6; roll number of dice equal to 1 plus 1 per Survivor in your Group (all players roll simultaneously)

Read Crossroads card

The previous player draws and monitors the Crossroads card for the active player

Apply Frostbite damage

If any Survivor has Frostbite tokens, place 1 Wound on each affected Survivor

Attack a Zombie

Spend Action D6 equal to or greater than Survivor's Attack value; remove 1 Zombie from Survivor's location (Colony: choose any Entrance); roll Exposure die

Resolve Spreading bite

When a Survivor is bitten, infection spreads to others at that location one at a time by lowest Influence

Attack a Survivor

Spend Action D6 equal to or greater than your Survivor's Attack value; roll D6 and if result is equal to or less than target's Attack, target takes 1 Wound

Search a Location

Spend Action D6 equal to or greater than Survivor's Search value (non-Colony locations only); draw cards secretly, keep 1, place rest on bottom

Build Barricade

Spend any Action D6 to place 1 Barricade token at your Survivor's Location

Clean Waste

Spend any Action D6 (Survivor must be in Colony) to remove 3 cards from the Waste Pile

Attract Zombies

Spend any Action D6 to move 2 Zombies from any Location(s) to your Survivor's Location

Use Survivor Ability

Spend Action D6 equal to or greater than the Ability's required number to activate that Survivor's special ability

Play a Card

Use a card for its effect, Equip it face-up to a Character, or contribute face-down to Crisis (non-Exiled players only)

Move a Survivor

Move 1 Survivor (maximum 1 move per Survivor per turn) to any Location with an empty space; roll Exposure die

Spend Food

Remove Food tokens from supply to add +1 to an Action D6 per Food token spent

Request a Card

Ask another player for a card; if given, must be played immediately and cannot be used for Crisis

Hand Off Item

Transfer an equipped item from your Survivor to another Survivor in the same Location; recipient equips it

Vote to Exile

Call for a vote against another player (not yourself; not allowed in Co-op); all players vote with 1 vote each; first player breaks ties

Pay Food

Remove 1 Food token from Food Supply for every 2 (round up) Survivors and Helpless Survivors in the Colony

Check Waste

Lose 1 Morale for each full 10 cards in the Waste Pile

Resolve Crisis

Shuffle contributed cards, reveal and count matching symbols; if total equals or exceeds non-Exiled players plus 2, gain +1 Morale; then resolve Crisis effect

Add Zombies to Colony

Add 1 Zombie per 2 (round up) Survivors/Helpless Survivors; place at Entrances 1,2,3,4,5,6,1...

Add Zombies to other Locations

Add 1 Zombie per Survivor present at each non-Colony Location

Handle KIA Survivors

When a Survivor dies (3+ Wounds, Bitten, Spreading, or Overrun):

Check Main Objective

If achieved, end the game; otherwise advance Round marker (reaching "0" ends the game)

Pass First Player marker

Pass counter-clockwise to next player