The Zombie Paella
The Zombie Paella Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How it works
Collect five ingredients to cook a Valencian paella! As soon as a player has five ingredients in their collection, they win immediately.
Game components
- 108 cards: 31 treasure cards, 37 battle cards and 40 special cards.
- 2 quick guides
- 1 rule book
Symbols
- Card
- Treasure card
- Battle card
- Special card
- Ingredient (treasure)
- Discardable treasure (+)
- Permanent effect (treasure)
- Attack
- Defense
- Instant effect
- Not used in 2-player games
The first player with 10 cards in their hand adds the Saffron card to their collection. In games with 4 or more players, this card is worth 2 (ingredients).
Treasure cards
Keep your treasure cards face up in a row in front of you on the table, in an imaginary space called your collection. When you get a treasure card, immediately put it on the table in front of you. This is not considered an action. All other players must be able to see treasure cards clearly, and you can never keep them in your hand!
There is no limit to how many treasure cards you can have in your collection. But watch out! Other players may attempt to steal your treasures during their turns, so try to keep them safe!
There are three types of treasure cards: ingredients, discardable treasures, and permanent effects. You'll find the icon for each type of treasure in the upper left corner of the card.
Ingredients
As soon as a player has five of these cards in their collection, they immediately win the game.
Ingredients have a striped background. There is only one ingredient of each type! (Example: Tomato - the saucy secret to paella's fantastic flavor.)
Discardable treasures
Discard one of these cards to draw cards from the draw pile. Each discardable treasure card tells you how many cards to draw.
Some discardable treasure cards may have additional powers, which are written on the card itself.
Example: Loli discards a Ceremonial Comb (+3) and draws three cards from the draw pile. This means that you draw three cards from the draw pile when you discard this card.
Permanent effects
If you have a permanent effect treasure card in your collection, its effect applies automatically. Do not discard it. Place it to the left of your collection to help you remember its effects at the beginning of your turn.
Example: Pep has the Rotting Orange Tree (at the start of each turn, before taking any action, draw 1 card), so he draws a card before taking his action each turn.
These permanent effects apply every turn for as long as these treasures are in your collection.
Battle cards
Unlike treasures, battle cards and special cards are hidden. Keep them in your hand and do not show them to your opponents. There is no limit to how many battle cards you can have in your hand.
All battle cards show important information: attack points, indicated with a sword, and defense points, indicated with a shield.
Example: King James I has 3 attack points and 5 defense points.
Use battle cards to try to steal treasures from another player's collection. A battle takes place when a person has a battle card and decides to declare a battle for a specific treasure. When you declare a battle, say which treasure you're trying to steal. Then, play a battle card face down on the table. Unless a card specifically states otherwise, you can only play one battle card face down.
After declaring a battle (For example: "Antonia, I'm battling you for your Rabbit"), the person with that treasure in their collection decides whether or not to defend themself - without knowing what card the attacker is using!
If they choose not to defend themself (cases I and V), the attacker steals the treasure and adds it to their collection. Discard the played battle card in the cemetery (the discard pile).
If they choose to defend themself, the defender plays a battle card. Then, the attacker flips over their card. Compare the attacker's attack points and the defender's defense points. If the attack points are higher than the defense points, the attacker steals the treasure (case IV). If the defense points are greater than or equal to the attack points, the defender keeps the treasure in their collection (cases II and III). Then, the attacker and defender discard their battle cards in the cemetery.
| Case | Attack points | Defense points | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 4 | No defense card | The attacker steals the treasure |
| II | 4 | 5 | The defender keeps the treasure |
| III | 3 | 3 | The defender keeps the treasure |
| IV | 3 | 2 | The attacker steals the treasure |
| V | 0 | No defense card | The attacker steals the treasure |
In addition to attack points and defense points, some battle cards also have special powers. Read these carefully, since battle cards with special powers work differently.
Example: You cannot play The Showgirls battle card (+1 attack / +0 defense) alone, since its special power is Teamwork ("Cannot battle alone. Play this card face down with another card to add its points to that card. You can play as many Showgirls cards as you wish.").
Special cards
Like battle cards, special cards are hidden. Keep them in your hand and do not show them to your opponents until you play them. There is no limit to how many special cards you can have in your hand.
Special cards have a range of completely unpredictable effects. They can affect other players' treasures, play a role in battles or block other special cards.
All special cards include a number from 1 to 9. This number tells you how strong a special card is, and only comes into play in certain cases. You only need to check these numbers when two special cards have conflicting or contradictory powers. In that case, the stronger card (the card with the higher number) prevails.
Instant effect special cards
A lightning symbol appears on all instant effect special cards.
Most special cards are played during your turn and count as an action (like Defensive Stronghold or The Great Flood). However, some special cards have a lightning symbol (like Paella Protection and Blurtini). These cards do not count as an action. Some of these cards can be played during another player's turn.
Example card: Blurtini - "When battle cards are flipped over, subtract 1 point from your opponent's attack or defense."
Special card strength
| Strength | Card | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Ultra Paella Protection | Block 1 card, even if it does not affect you directly. Discard half the cards in your hand. |
| 6 | The Great Flood | Every player gives all their treasures to the next player in clockwise order. |
| 5 | Defensive Stronghold | Play this card in front of your collection. Now, other players cannot use special or battle cards that directly affect your treasures. If a player declares a battle against you and wins, discard the Stronghold. |
| 4 | Enormous Effigy | Play this card in front of your collection. Now, other players cannot play battle cards to steal your treasures. If a player declares a battle against you and wins, discard the Effigy. |
| 3 | Bloody Battle | Battle an opponent for all their treasures. If you lose, give all your treasures to that opponent. If you don't have any treasures, you cannot use this card. |
| 2 | Paella Protection | Block 1 card, even if it does not affect you directly. You can play a paella on a paella to negate it. |
Example: Although Paella Protection blocks special cards, it does not affect The Great Flood, which is stronger. However, an Ultra Paella Protection can block any special card.
How to read cards
Read the instructions on each card carefully. The texts on cards may include symbols that represent certain concepts:
- Card
- Treasure card
- Battle card
- Special card
- Ingredient (treasure)
- Discardable treasure (+)
- Permanent effect
- Attack
- Defense
- Instant effect
- Not used in 2-player games
In addition, many cards include phrases or sayings in italics. Some cards include explanations of Valencian culture and traditions. Others include English proverbs that convey similar ideas. You don't need these texts to play, but if you want to learn more about our traditions, ask a Valencian friend! Feel free to read them out loud while you're playing, too!
Setting up the game
- Find the Saffron card (which has a different illustration on the back) and put it face up in the center of the table. The first player with 10 cards in their hand automatically adds this card to their collection.
- Shuffle the rest of the cards well and deal 7 cards to each player.
- Put all your treasure cards face up in your collection. These must be visible to all players. If any player has 3 or more ingredients at the beginning of the game, shuffle and deal all the cards again.
- Put the remaining cards face down in the center of the table to form the draw pile.
The cemetery (discard pile) is placed next to the draw pile.
How to play
The Zombie Paella game has two main rules:
- You can usually only take one action per turn.
- Most cards are single use (except ingredients and permanent effect treasure cards). In other words: When you play battle or special cards or discard discardable treasures, put them in the cemetery. They cannot be used again.
The player with the fewest treasure cards starts. If two players have the same number of treasures, the player with the fewest ingredients starts. If they are still tied, the player who last drank orange juice starts. Play in clockwise order.
During your turn
First, check if you have any permanent effect treasure cards and follow any instructions on them.
After that, take one of the following actions:
- Discard 1 discardable treasure card (for example, Stinky Sandals) to draw new cards from the draw pile.
- Declare a battle with 1 battle card to try to steal 1 treasure from another player (for example, with The Delicate Damsel).
- Use 1 special card, which can have a wide variety of effects (for example, the Kleptobat).
- Alms: Draw 1 card from the draw pile, or draw cards one at a time until you have 3 in your hand. This action is useful if you can't or don't want to play a card.
Example of Alms: Enric has 6 cards in his hand and doesn't want to take an action, so he draws a card from the draw pile. On the next turn, Ren, who only has one card in his hand, decides to take Alms to draw until he has 3 cards in his hand. He draws a card and gets the Stinky Sandals. Since it's a treasure, he adds it to his collection. He still only has one card in his hand, so he draws 2 more cards, one at a time. Since neither is a treasure, he adds them to his hand. Once he has 3 cards in his hand, the Alms action is over.
End of the game
Over the course of the game, treasures will move between collections, and players will draw new cards from the draw pile and use a variety of unpredictable effects. The first player to get 5 ingredients, either by drawing an ingredient from the draw pile or stealing it from another player, wins. Remember: Some cards count as 2 ingredients.
If the cards in the draw pile run out, the player with the Apastalypse treasure wins immediately.
Two-player variant
When playing with only two players, remove all cards marked with the "not used in 2-player games" symbol from the deck. Put these cards in the box. You will not use them for the two-player game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chaining actions. Some cards let you take more than one action. To chain together several cards with multiple actions, use the first card's second action to play the next card.
Example: Enric plays a Double Trouble and gets 2 actions. For his first action, he declares a battle. For his second action, he plays another Double Trouble. Then, he gets 2 more actions. This makes a total of 3 actions in one turn!
Special cards that go into collections. Some special cards, like Defensive Stronghold and Enormous Effigy, are added to collections. Playing them counts as an action. We recommend turning them sideways and putting them in front of your treasures. When you add them to a collection, another player can block you with an Ultra Paella Protection. After that, these cards cannot be blocked.
Card-specific questions
In alphabetical order. Only read this section if you have questions about how a card works!
Apastalypse. If multiple players win at the same time, the player with the Apastalypse wins. The game ends as soon as the last card is drawn from the draw pile.
Bloody Battle. If you declare a battle with this card and there is a tie, the defender wins and keeps all the attacker's treasures. You cannot play this card against a player who has Defensive Stronghold or Enormous Effigy, which are stronger.
Boozy Breakfast. If you draw treasures, put them in your collection. Keep drawing until you have 6 cards in your hand.
Blurtini. You can only use this card when you are involved in a battle. When you use this card, a battle card's points cannot fall below zero. Multiple Blurtini cards can be used in the same battle.
Creaky Cart. Example play: If you discard the Stinky Sandals, draw 3 cards instead of 2.
Defensive Stronghold. This card does not provide protection from The Great Flood, which is stronger. This card does not prevent you from giving treasures to other players because of the effects of your special cards, for example, if you play the Bloody Battle and lose or you play the Deal with the Devil.
Dicey Dilemma. When you play this card, it does not count as one of your discarded cards.
Enormous Effigy. This card does not protect you from the effects of special cards like Deal with the Devil or Kleptobat. In addition to Enormous Effigy, you can also have other special cards like Defensive Stronghold in your collection. Opponents must beat you in two battles, one per card. The winning attacker decides which card is discarded in each battle they win.
Firecracker. You can use two Firecracker cards in the same battle. You can also use this card during a Bloody Battle or against an opponent who only has 1 card in their hand.
Garlic Dip. This card comes into effect the turn after you get it. If you get an ingredient for your first action, you can still take the second action. (The number of ingredients you had at the beginning of your turn is what counts.) If you also have the Rotting Orange Tree and you don't have any ingredients, draw a card from the draw pile, then take two actions.
Human Tower. You can attack by playing this card with 1 The Showgirls card.
Hungry Hen. If you ask an opponent how many cards they have in their hand, they have to tell you the truth, since the number of cards in a player's hand is public knowledge. If an opponent with 7 cards in their hand blocks Hungry Hen with a Paella Protection, and that card is blocked with another Paella Protection, Hungry Hen still comes into effect (even though that opponent now has 6 cards in their hand, since what counts is the number of cards in their hand at the beginning of the turn).
Inquisitive Elf. If you keep a special card or battle card, you do not have to show the card you kept to other players.
Kleptobat. You can play this card against a player with Enormous Effigy, which only provides protection from battle cards.
Paella Protection. Blocks any level 1 special card or another Paella Protection. It cannot be used to block more powerful cards, such as Bloody Battle, The Great Flood, or Ultra Paella Protection.
Plump Mr. Piggy. Add point values based on the number of ingredients in your collection, not the number of ingredient cards. For example, in 4- and 5-player games, if you have Saffron in your collection, add two points.
Protective Potion. This card's effect only applies when the player holding it defends themself with a battle card. If you have the Protective Potion but don't defend yourself, you lose the battle.
Rotting Orange Tree. If you have the Rotting Orange Tree at the beginning of your turn, you must draw a card, whether you want to or not. If you also have the Garlic Dip and you don't have any ingredients, draw a card from the draw pile, then take two actions.
Saffron. After the first player gets 10 cards in their hand, add the Saffron card to their collection. From then on, it behaves like a normal treasure. That means it can be stolen and traded like other treasures.
Spirit Elixir. Show the card you take out of the cemetery using the Elixir to everyone, since all the cards in the cemetery are public knowledge.
Swamp Rat. This card has no effect before there are 8 ingredient cards in all collections. If there are 8 ingredients, but fewer than 8 ingredient cards, this card has no effect. If two players win at the same time, the player without the Swamp Rat wins.
The Great Flood. Do not move special cards in collections, like Defensive Stronghold or Enormous Effigy, since they are not treasures. Since The Great Flood is stronger than those special cards, move the treasures protected by those special cards.
The Holy Grail. Depending on the number of treasures in your collection, draw between zero and 6 cards.
The Band. If you want to use this card's power, play all other cards involved in the attack face down.
The Princess of Snot. If you use The Princess of Snot to win a battle that destroys the Defensive Stronghold or the Enormous Effigy, do not steal any extra treasures.
The Showgirls. You can attack with 2 The Showgirls cards together or with 1 The Showgirls card and 1 Human Tower card. If you play 1 The Showgirls card with The Showman card, you have 4 attack points.
Turd in a Ditch. If the defender chooses not to defend themself, you win the battle (even though you have zero attack points).
Ultra Paella Protection. If you have an odd number of cards, round down. You can only use this card to block a special card that is added to a collection at the moment it is played.