How to Play

Zombicide

1-6 players 60-60 min 7.1 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control unique survivors cooperatively battling endless zombie hordes using simple card-driven enemy behavior. Scavenge weapons and eliminate undead, but killing zombies increases your skill level, which spawns even more enemies. Victory requires completing scenario objectives through teamwork and strategic zombie slaughter across modular map configurations.

Published 2012

Zombicide

Get Ready

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

1
Choose a mission
Select a mission to play and place tiles and tokens according to the setup images in the mission description
2
Select survivors
Each player chooses survivors based on player count: 1 player uses 4-6 survivors, 2 players use 3 each, 3 players use 2 each, 4-6 players use 1 each
3
Put aside special cards
Remove from the Equipment deck: Pimpmobile cards, Ultrared cards, improved weapons (Molotov and Nailbat), starting weapons (Pan and Nightstick), Bulletproof Vest, and Companion cards
4
Distribute starting equipment
Randomly deal starting weapons: Fire Axe, Crowbar (or Claw Hammer with Prison Outbreak), Pistol, and enough Nightsticks/Pans so each survivor gets one card
5
Assign starting skill equipment
If a survivor's starting skill lists equipment (like "Starts with Pistol"), take those cards from the Equipment deck
6
Prepare companion deck
If the mission features Companion tokens, shuffle Companion Equipment cards into a separate Companion deck
7
Shuffle the decks
Shuffle Zombie cards into one deck and remaining Equipment cards into another; shuffle Pimpweapon cards into a separate deck
8
Place survivor miniatures
Position survivor miniatures on the starting zone(s) indicated by the mission
9
Set up identity cards
Place each survivor's Identity Card in front of their player with an experience tracker on the first square (0) in the blue Danger Level area and a Skill counter on the blue Skill
10
Designate first player
Give the first player token to a player of choice

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Perform actions
Each survivor can initially perform 3 actions per turn, with more available as skills are gained at higher Danger Levels
2
Move action
Move from one zone to an adjacent zone; spend 1 extra action per zombie in the zone you are leaving
3
Search action
Draw a card from the Equipment deck when in a building zone with no zombies; can only search once per turn
4
Open a door action
Use a melee weapon with the door symbol to open a locked door; flip the door token to show it is open
5
Take or activate an objective
Pick up an objective token or activate an object in your zone as described by the mission
6
Reorganize/Trade action
Reorganize your inventory and/or exchange any number of non-Wounded cards with one other survivor in your zone
7
Ranged combat action
Use a ranged weapon to shoot at a single zone within range that you can see
8
Melee combat action
Use a melee weapon to attack actors in your zone; freely assign hits among targets
9
Reload action
Spend an action to reload weapons that require reloading between shots
10
Make some noise action
Place a noise token in your zone to attract zombies
11
Get in or out of a car
Enter or exit a car in your zone; zone must have no zombies to enter
12
Change seats in a car
Move to an empty seat in the same car
13
Drive a car
Move the car 1 or 2 street zones per action; car attacks all actors in zones it passes through
14
Build a barricade
Spend 3 actions at once to start building, then another 3 actions to complete; earns 5 experience points
15
Pull a switch
Activate a switch in your zone to open doors, rotate security gates, or trigger other effects
16
Resolve zombie attacks
Each zombie in a zone with a survivor attacks, automatically inflicting 1 wound per zombie
17
Resolve zombie movement
Zombies not attacking move 1 zone toward visible survivors or the noisiest zone
18
Spawn new zombies
Draw a Zombie card for each spawn zone; read the line matching the highest Danger Level among survivors
19
Roll attack dice
Roll dice equal to the weapon's dice value when attacking
20
Determine hits
Each die result equal to or greater than the weapon's accuracy value is a hit
21
Apply damage
Each hit inflicts damage equal to the weapon's damage value
22
Handle friendly fire
In ranged combat, hits must be assigned following targeting priority; survivors are hit before most zombies
23
Toxic blood spray
When killing a Toxic Zombie in melee, suffer 1 wound from blood spray
24
Crawler spawning
When killing Skinner Zombies, add a Crawler for each "1" rolled on the attack
25
Gain experience
Earn 1 experience point per zombie killed; Abominations provide 5 points
26
Advance danger levels
At 7 points reach Yellow, at 19 points reach Orange, at 43 points reach Red
27
Select new skills
Gain a new skill at each Danger Level as shown on your Identity Card
28
Spawn stronger zombies
Read the Zombie card line matching the highest Danger Level among all survivors

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Complete mission objectives
Achieve all objectives specified in the mission description to win
2
All players win together
When objectives are completed, all players win even if some survivors were eliminated
3
Lose if all survivors die
If all survivors are eliminated, all players lose immediately
4
Check mission-specific conditions
Some missions have additional losing conditions described in the mission briefing

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

?‍♂️ Zombicide: El Juego que Cambió la Historia de los Zombis

?‍♂️ Zombicide: El Juego que Cambió la Historia de los Zombis

Review

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SPOT ON: Zombicide - Der erste Kickstarter

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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