Escape: Zombie City
Escape: Zombie City Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 23 street sections:
- 1x cemetery
- 1x cargo bay
- 1x church
- 2x starting crossroads
- 2x gas station
- 2x hospital
- 2x supermarket
- 5x crossroads
- 6x 3-way junction
- 1x exit
- 20 zombies with 20 colored bases – before playing your first game, place the zombie pieces in the bases of the corresponding color.
- 18 item tiles – 9 different
- 20 dice – 5 for each player
- 4 survivor tokens – 1 for each player
- 1 van
- 1 van tile
- 55 zombie cards – the numbers on the card fronts correspond to different scenarios (scenario numbers are printed on the cards)
- 1 CD with 2 soundtracks – each soundtrack has a total length of 16 minutes, with a game-playing time of 15 minutes
- 1 bag
- 1 rules booklet
Set-up of the Basic Game
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Take the 5 starting street sections (marked on their back with a small "S" in the lower right corner) and place them in the center of the playing area, as shown in the illustration.
Sort the remaining street sections by "A" and "B" (on their back). Mix each stack separately, then place stack A on top of stack B. This is the draw pile.
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Pick the zombie cards needed for the first scenario from the zombie card deck, then shuffle them. Place these cards face down on the cemetery; this is the draw pile. Put all remaining zombie cards back into the box as you will not need them.
Take all zombie cards with a "1".
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Sort the item tiles by their 3 different back sides and mix each stack well. Put them within reach of all players.
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Put all zombies into the bag and put it within easy reach of all players.
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Each player takes one player token (survivor) of his choice and 5 dice. Then, the players place their token on the church.
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Put the van and the van tile next to the draw pile.
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Insert the CD and select track 1 or track 2; their playing time is identical, and they don't differ in terms of gameplay. We recommend using track 1 for your first game.
Please note: Alternatively, you may download the soundtrack from our website www.escape-queen-games.com and listen to it with any device of your choice.
The Street Sections
Each street section is distinguished by its features:
Skull icon: The skull icon marks the main street of this street section, zombies always move in the direction of the skull icon.
Open streets: New street sections can be placed next to open streets.
Entry icons: If players want to enter a street section, they must roll these two die icons.
Pile of zombies: New zombies may spawn on this spot, depending on the zombie card drawn.
Special buildings: The hospital, the gas station, and the supermarket can be searched for items the players urgently need for their escape. In order to search a building, players must roll the depicted icons.
Up to three different items can be found in each of these buildings.
The Dice
There are 5 different icons on each die:
Getaway (2x): You need these to reveal new street sections or to enter a street section.
Fist and baseball bat: You need these to enter certain street sections, to find items in special buildings, and to fight the zombies.
Panic: The panic icon means that this die is blocked. It must be put aside and cannot be rolled again.
Example: Throwing his dice, Logan rolls two panic icons and must put these two dice aside. He has only 3 dice left to roll.
Caution: If you roll a caution icon, you may reroll up to two of your blocked dice anew.
Example: On his next roll, Logan gets a caution icon and may roll two of his blocked dice when he next rolls his dice.
If you occupy a street section with other survivors and roll a caution icon that you don't want to use yourself, one other survivor may use it to reroll up to two of his blocked dice.
Important: With each single caution die, you can help only one other survivor. Please note that the dice do not change hands!
If zombies occupy the same street section as you and you roll a caution icon, no one may use this die to reroll blocked panic dice. If you want to use caution icons once again, you must either defeat the zombies or move to a street section without zombies. (You may, of course, reroll the die or dice with caution icons.)
The Zombies
There are 6 different kinds of zombies in 3 categories: weak (green), strong (yellow), very strong (red).
You can defeat zombies only if you share the same street section with them and roll the icons depicted on the zombies.
If other survivors occupy that same street section, you can combine your efforts to defeat the zombies — meaning, you can add together your rolled fists and baseball bats. Return defeated zombies to the bag.
Example: Keith (blue) and Logan (red) together have rolled 5 fists and defeated the zombie, which is returned to the bag.
Players must try to prevent the zombies from reaching the church. If too many zombies manage to get to the church tile, the game is lost.
Do not forget: You may not use your caution icons to reroll panic dice if you share the same street section with zombies. Instead you must reroll your caution icons and hope to roll the icons needed to defeat the zombies.
Sequence of Play
After all preparations are completed, and everybody is ready to play, start the soundtrack and wait for the signal: "Escape"! Start rolling your dice immediately!
The game is played over 2 phases:
- 1st Phase: Explore the city
- 2nd Phase: Escape by van
1st Phase: Explore the City
The players must find the exit, and depending on the number of players, collect a number of different items and take them to the church.
| Number of players: | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of different items: | 5 | 6 | 7 |
The items can be found inside the 3 special buildings, while the exit is among the street tiles of stack B. Once the players have met both conditions and all players are inside the church, the 2nd phase starts: "Escape by van".
Using various combinations of dice, the players may perform different actions, even several actions with one roll only, if possible.
- Enter street section
- Reveal new street section
- Search/deposit/use items
- Rescue
After a player has performed one action, he must reroll all dice used for this action. A player may put aside any dice not used for an action and use them later when performing another action. At any time, a player can reroll any dice he has set aside.
Important: Panic icons may be rerolled only by using caution icons!
Dice example (Logan): Logan rolled 1x panic, 2x getaway, 1x fist and 1x baseball bat. He is not allowed to reroll the panic die, because he has no caution die yet. He has to put the blocked die aside. He wants to save one getaway die for later and puts it aside. He uses the other getaway die together with the fist for an action. Logan doesn't need the baseball bat yet, so he rolls it again, together with the used getaway and fist dice.
1. Enter Street Section
The players can enter only those street sections that are connected by streets.
In order to enter a new street section, a player must roll the entry icons of that section, then move his player token onto the new street section.
Example: Logan has rolled his dice and uses the getaway and fist icons to enter the left street section.
2. Reveal New Street Section
If a player is on a street section with one or more open streets that have no adjacent street section, he can reveal a new street section.
To do this, he must roll two getaway icons. If he does, he can reveal the top street section of the draw pile, then place this new section adjacent to the section he currently occupies, with the skull icon on this new section next to an open street.
If the new street section shows a special building, place the corresponding item tile on its designated space.
Example: Logan uses two getaway icons to reveal a new street section from the draw pile. He places the new street section with its skull icon next to the open street of his current street section. Additionally, he places a gas station item tile face down on the special building.
Each time a player reveals a new street section, he must draw the top zombie card from the cemetery. Every card shows 1 or 2 icons; for each icon shown, the players must do the following:
Spawn a zombie: Draw a zombie from the bag and place it on the just revealed street section.
Spawn 2 zombies: Draw two zombies from the bag and place them on the just revealed street section.
Move zombies: Move the zombies of the corresponding color one or two street sections, always in the direction of the skull symbol. After a zombie has reached the church, place it on one of the three zombie spaces next to the cemetery.
Pile of zombies: Draw one zombie from the bag, one after another, for each pile of zombies visible on all street sections, and place one zombie next to each pile.
3. Search/Deposit/Use Items
If a player's token is on a street section with a special building and its item tile is still present, he can search the building. Once he's rolled the icons depicted on the building, he takes that tile and places it in front of him. A player may never have more than one item in front of him.
Important: Do not replace the found item until after a countdown.
Example: Logan uses his 3 fists to search at the gas station for an item tile. He takes the tile and keeps it (face up) in front of him.
When a player has reached the church, he can immediately place his item in the cargo bay.
If a player has an item that's already in the cargo bay, he can discard it at any time or use it once to reroll all of his panic dice. He then places the tile in the box out of play.
Example: Logan returns to the church and deposits his crowbar in the cargo bay (as it currently doesn't hold a crowbar).
4. Rescue
Sometimes all of a player's dice will show the panic icon. This unfortunate player can wait for help from other survivors or he can help himself — while possibly hurting everyone!
The player draws the top zombie card from the cemetery and acts accordingly. If 1 or 2 zombies spawn, the player adds them to the street section he currently occupies. The player then rerolls all of his dice.
Please note: Only the player who draws the zombie card may reroll his dice. This action should be used sparingly as it lessens the players' overall chances of escaping.
Example: Logan has rolled only panic icons and wants to rescue himself by drawing a zombie card. The zombie card shows 1 zombie, so Logan places a new zombie from the bag on his street section.
2nd Phase: Escape by Van
Once the exit has been revealed, players have collected the required number of items in the cargo bay, and they all stand at the church, they can remove their survivor tokens from the map and place the van on the church.
You must now drive to the exit, with all players collectively deciding which of the following actions they want to perform:
- Drive
- Fight zombies
- Rescue
From now on, all players are always on the same street section, which means they can always help one another with caution icons.
Example: Jenny, Frank, Logan and Keith are in the church, have already revealed the exit and have collected 7 different items in the cargo bay. Now they switch their survivor tokens with the van. From now on they drive together to the exit.
1. Drive
In order to drive the van to the next street section, each player must roll the entry icons required for that section, plus one additional getaway icon.
Example: All players have rolled the entry icons for the next street section (getaway & fist) plus one additional getaway (for the van). Now they can drive to the new street section.
2. Fight Zombies
If the players drive onto a street section containing zombies, they must fight the zombies before they can continue their ride. The same rules for fighting apply as during "The Zombies" described above.
Example: Keith (blue) and Logan (red) together have rolled 4 baseball bats and defeat the zombie. He goes back into the bag.
3. Rescue
If you want to rescue yourself, you must draw the top card of the cemetery deck. Only the spawn icons take effect, and these zombies spawn in the street section where the van is located. The pile of zombies still spawn on each pile on each street section, as usual.
After following the instructions on this card, exactly one player can reroll all of his panic icons.
Please note: This action should be used sparingly as you will have to fight (at least) one more zombie on the way to the exit.
Example: Keith (blue) is blocked with five panic dice. Since no one has a caution icon for him, he decides to rescue himself. He draws a zombie card, ignores the "move green zombies" action, then spawns two zombies on the van's location. Now Keith can reroll all of his blocked dice.
Soundtrack
During the soundtrack, you will hear 3 countdowns. Each countdown starts with a short silence, followed by knocking sounds, and a loud bang of one, two or three gongs. During the first two countdowns, you have 38 seconds to return to the safety of the church.
Each player who doesn't manage to reach the church in time — that is, by the time the door slams shut — loses one of his dice for the rest of the game.
Example: Jenny (white) and Frank (green) did not make it to the church before the first countdown ended. Now they lose one die each for the rest of the game. They place their dice in the game box.
After the end of the first two countdowns, the players have 20 seconds for a short discussion and the following actions:
- Each player who did not make it back to the church places his player token on the church.
- Place a new item tile on each street section containing a special building if it has no item tile on it.
After 20 seconds, a voice will prompt you to continue rolling your dice and continue your search for items with the word "Escape".
Important: If you are playing "Escape by van" during the 2nd phase and do not make it back to the church before the end of the second countdown, everyone loses a die.
The third countdown starts after three bangs of a gong and ends with a zombie cry. You must have reached the exit before this cry.
End of the Game
All players win the game as a team: If the players manage to reach the exit with their van within 15 minutes and defeat any zombies on the exit tile.
All players lose the game as a team: If a third zombie reaches the church. The zombies have overrun the players!
OR
If at the end of the third countdown, the players have not reached the exit with their van or if zombies stand on the exit along with the van.
© Copyright 2014 Queen Games, D-53842 Troisdorf, Germany. All rights reserved
Choose a New Scenario to Make the Game More Challenging
After you have successfully completed the first scenario, you may want to give these tougher ones a try, which alter the zombie cards in the deck to make things more challenging for you and your team.
In total, five different scenarios are available.
Use only the correspondingly numbered zombie cards for the scenario you have chosen. Most cards are used for more than one scenario.
You may customize these 5 scenarios by changing the number of objects you need to collect:
| Number of players: | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Advanced | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Expert | 7 | 8 | 9 |
The game becomes even more challenging if you reduce the numbers of zombies that may enter the church before they overrun you!
| Standard | 3 |
|---|---|
| Advanced | 2 |
| Expert | 1 |
The Zombie-Bite Cards
If you draw a zombie-bite card, you must play with a handicap for the remainder of the game unless you can ditch the card. Place the zombie card in front of you as a reminder.
To remove the handicap, you must roll the number of symbols shown on the zombie card with no assistance from other survivors. If you do this, place the card in the game box out of play.
Paralysis: Place one of your dice on this card. You get the die back only if you get rid of this bite card.
Broken arm: Keep one hand flat against your back.
Silence: You are not allowed to speak to your fellow players.
Vertigo: If one of your dice rolls off the table, you must place the die in the game box out of play.
Unresting: You must play standing up.
Sneak: You must roll your dice one at a time.
© Copyright 2014 Queen Games, D-53842 Troisdorf, Germany. All rights reserved