Tiny Epic Zombies Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Modes
• Game Setup (For a Cooperative vs. Zombie Game)
• Assembling the Search & Supply Decks
• Gameplay Overview
  • Human Players' Goal
  • Zombie Player's Goal
• Wounds and Ammo
  • Eaten Alive
• Human Turn
  • Zombie Turn
  • Move 1 Room
  • The Golden Rule
• A. Kill 1 Zombie
  • Melee Die Results
  • Human Abilities
• B. Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
• C. Collect Items
• 2. Search Your Current Room
• Zombie Turn
  • 1. Check for Noise
  • 2. Add New Zombies
  • Moving Between Stores / Into the Courtyard
  • Damage the Barricade
  • Zombie Abilities
  • Bleeding Out
  • Overrun
  • 3. Deal / Draw Search Cards
• Completing Objectives
• Game End
• Other Game Modes
  • Cooperative (2-4 Players)
  • Competitive vs. Zombie (3-5 Players)
  • Competitive (2-4 Players)
  • Solo (1 Player)
• Glossary and Clarifications
• Credits

Components

• 14 Player Cards (Human and Zombie sides)
• 9 Mall Cards (Double-sided)
• 32 Search Cards
• 9 Objective Cards (Cooperative and Competitive sides)
• 4 ITEMeeples®
• 12 Items
• 4 Wound Tokens
• 4 Ammo Tokens
• 18 Zombies
• 4 Survivor Tokens
• 1 Barricade Token
• 2 Vehicles (Motorcycle / Police Car)
• 1 Melee Die
• 12 Objective Markers & 3 Horde Markers
• 4 Room Tokens & 29 Objective Tokens

Game Modes

This game has 5 different ways to play:

1. Cooperative vs. Zombie (3-5 Players): A team of Human Players versus a Zombie Player
2. Cooperative (2-4 Players): A team of Human Players versus the game's A.I.-controlled Zombies
3. Competitive vs. Zombie (3-5 Players): Competitive Human Players versus a Zombie Player
4. Competitive (2-4 Players): Competitive Human Players versus the game's AI-controlled Zombies
5. Solo (1 Player): A lone Human Player versus the game's A.I.-controlled Zombies

The Cooperative vs. Zombie Player game is described first in the rulebook in Game Setup.

The other game modes are played with minor changes, which are described in Other Game Modes.

Game Setup (For a Cooperative vs. Zombie Game)

1. Place the 9 Mall Cards to form the Mall Map:

   • A. Place the Courtyard in the center of the table with the side labeled "Cooperative Courtyard" face up.
   • B. Then, in random order and randomly selecting which side to use, arrange the 8 Stores around the Courtyard. Note that each Entrance Symbol must be placed on the outside edge of the Mall (some will be upside down—see the Setup diagram).
   • C. Place 1 Zombie onto each Store's Entrance Room (8 Zombies total).

2. On the Courtyard Card:

   • D. Place the Barricade Token on the "2" space of the Barricade Track.
   • E. Place 2 Survivor Tokens in the Pool Area.

3. Select one Player to be the Zombie Player. That Player shuffles the Player Cards underneath the table and randomly draws 3 Player Cards and chooses one, then flips it to the Zombie side (shuffle the unused Player Cards back into the stack). Then:

   • F. Place 1 Horde Marker (green cube) onto the "1" space on the Horde Track of the Zombie Player Card. Keep the other 2 Horde Markers nearby.
   • G. Place all of the remaining Zombies into a supply near their Zombie Player Card.

4. Each other (Human) Player is dealt 3 random Player Cards and chooses 1 to keep. Their Player Cards are flipped to the Human side. They each then:

   • H. Choose an ITEMeeple and place it into the Courtyard's center Room.
   • I. Take a Wound Token (matching the color of the ITEMeeple) and place it on the "0" spot of their card's track.
   • J. Take an Ammo Token and place it on the "9" spot of their card's track.
   • K. Return any unused Player Cards and Wound/Ammo Tokens to the box.

5. Shuffle the 9 Objective Cards underneath the table and randomly draw 3 of them. Place them in a row on the table with the "Cooperative Objective" side up. Follow the setup rules on the cards, which may include adding extra pieces or tokens from the box. If an Objective Marker (a colored cube) is required, choose any Player's color to use.

6. Assign a Player to be in charge of creating the Search Deck and the Supply Deck (see Assembling the Search & Supply Decks):

   • L. Place the Supply Deck face down near the row of Objective Cards.
   • M. Place the Search Deck face down near the Zombie Player Card, and have the Zombie Player draw a hand of 8 random Search Cards.
   • N. From this hand of 8 Search Cards, the Zombie Player now chooses 1 card to place face down in front of each Human Player (the Humans may not look at them at this time), and keeps the remaining 4.

7. Place the 12 Items and the Melee Die near the Supply Deck.

8. Place the Stores' game components in their respective spots:

   • O. Place the Vehicle (Motorcycle or Police Car) in its marked Room in Parking Deck Z / Echo Ridge Security Office. The Vehicle used is based on what Store is present.
   • P. Place the 2 Trap Tokens, gray-side up, next to Amp's Electronics / T.E. Toys.
   • Q. Place the 2 Supply Tokens on each of the 2 spots, matching their numbers.

Assembling the Search & Supply Decks

1. Separate the cards by their types: Pickup Cards, Event Cards, Weapon Cards, and Backpack Cards.

2. Take all of the Pickup Cards and Event Cards, shuffle them together and form DECK A face down. (DECK A = 12 cards)

3. Take all of the Weapon and Backpack Cards, shuffle them together and draw 12 of them without revealing any to form a second deck, DECK B, face down. (DECK B = 12 cards) Take the remaining unused cards and shuffle them to form a third deck, the Supply Deck (C), face down. (DECK C = All unused cards) Set DECK C next to the Objective Cards.

4. Shuffle DECKS A and B together to form the Search Deck (24 cards). (DECKS A + B = 24 Cards)

Gameplay Overview

The player who most recently visited a mall goes first (or choose your own method to determine and remember the first player). The game is played in a series of Turns performed by the Human Players, and after each Turn, the Zombie Player performs an action. This continues until the Humans or the Zombies achieve their goal:

Human Players' Goal

To complete their 3 Objective Cards. If they do this before the game ends, then they win.

Zombie Player's Goal

Either to kill Humans and attack the Courtyard until no Survivors remain, OR to prevent the Humans from completing their Objectives until all the Search Cards have been revealed and they've each taken one final Turn, in which case they are hopelessly overrun. The Zombie Player (or the game A.I.) then wins.

Wounds and Ammo

Each Human Player will track two essential "resources" on their Player Card: Wounds and Ammo. They are tracked differently and have different functions.

• Wounds: When you take one Wound, you move the Wound Token one space from left to right on the track. You should be mindful of how many Wounds you receive (see Eaten Alive below). You may use certain abilities to heal Wounds (moving back down the track from right to left).
• Ammo: When you spend one Ammo, you move the Ammo Token one space from right to left on the track. You may gain Ammo from certain abilities (moving back up the track from left to right), but you must be careful to keep your Ammo plentiful.

Eaten Alive

A Human Player is Eaten Alive if their Wound and Ammo Tokens meet on the same space or if they cross each other. This shows their character is too weak and too poorly equipped to survive.

They immediately drop ALL of their Cards and Items that they hold, face up, beside the Store they have died in (if they die while in the Courtyard due to an effect, choose any 1 Store). If there are no more Survivor Tokens in the Courtyard, then the Humans lose. Otherwise, remove 1 Survivor Token from the game, and return that Player's ITEMeeple to the Courtyard.

The Human Player then gives their Player Card to the Zombie Player who flips it over to the Zombie side and places a new Horde Marker on the "1" space, gaining this card's abilities (the Zombie Player may never have more than 3 Zombie Cards). The Human Player draws a new Player Card from the unused ones in the box and then resets their Wounds to "0" and Ammo to "9." If this happens in the middle of a Turn, the Turn ends immediately. The Human Player must still flip their Search Card as normal, with the Zombie Player taking actions as normal.

Human Turn

1. Each Turn, you MUST Move 3 times. Each Move could potentially consist of the following actions (A, B and C):
   • A. Kill 1 Zombie
   • B. Use Room's Ability AND/OR Interact with a Token
   • C. Collect Items
2. Search Current Room

Zombie Turn

After a Human finishes their Turn, the Zombie Player checks to see if the Human "Made a Noise." Then the Zombie Player adds new Zombies to the Mall. After the Zombie has completed their Turn, the Human Player to the left of the last Human Player to have a turn now takes their turn. This will continue until the entire Search Deck has been depleted and all Search Cards have been revealed. After that, each Human Player will take one more Turn and the game ends.

Move 1 Room

You must Move into 1 adjacent Room. If a Room is connected to another with a flat wall, they are considered adjacent. This includes moving through walls into Rooms that are next to each other on an adjacent Mall Card, even if the wall doesn't have a door. Thematically, the Human is moving through destroyed parts of the wall.

Note: the Courtyard has 5 Rooms.

Even if you start your Turn in a Room with a Zombie (see Overrun), you MUST move first, even if this is into a Room with another Zombie.

The Golden Rule

Keep moving! You MUST make a Move first in order to take any additional actions. Zombies may be slow, but they are not going to let you sit around and wait.

A. Kill 1 Zombie

After moving into a Room, you may kill 1 Zombie. After a Zombie is killed, it is removed from its Room and placed into the general supply. There are two ways to kill a Zombie:

Melee Attack (using a Melee Weapon):

If you Move into a Room with a Zombie, you must kill it using a Melee Attack. To do so, roll the Melee Die. The die may have the following results (note the ability of the Melee Weapon you are armed with and any Human ability on your card).

Melee Die Results

• Splat: Overkill! You may immediately Move 1 Room for free. This is optional. If you take the free move, do not take any additional actions in the Room you have left. It is possible to have multiple Overkills in a row.
• Skull: No additional effect.
• 1 Wound: Take 1 Wound.
• 2 Wounds: Take 2 Wounds.

Note: No matter the result of the Melee Die, a Melee Attack always successfully kills the Zombie.

Ranged Attack (using a Ranged Weapon):

If you Move into a Room that does not have a Zombie, you may kill a Zombie in an adjacent Room using a Ranged Attack. To perform a Ranged Attack, pay 1 Ammo to kill the Zombie. You cannot perform a Ranged Attack on a Zombie in the same Room as you (note the ability of the Weapon you are armed with and any Human ability on your Card).

Human Abilities

Listed on each Human Card is an ability that is available to the Player with that card.

B. Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token

After moving into a Room (and killing a Zombie if necessary), and only if the Store is free of Zombies (the Store being defined as all 3 Rooms on the Mall Card), you may then use Room abilities and/or interact with Tokens. A Room may have abilities and/or an Objective Token (described on the Objective Card):

• Running Ability: Use this ability immediately, and then you may continue your Turn. This Room's ability may only be used once in a single Turn (you cannot perform it again if you return to the same Room this Turn).
• Stopping Ability: If you use this ability, your Turn is immediately over and you end your Turn in that Room. You still reveal your Search Card as normal (see Search the Room).
• Secret Passage: This Room is considered "adjacent" to any other Room with a Secret Passage for Movement purposes only (not Ranged Attacks or other effects). Secret Passages are only usable by Human Players.
• Pick Up Supplies: You may pick up a Supply Token from its Room and place it onto your Player Card to "carry" it. After you return to the Courtyard with the Supply Token, immediately advance the Barricade Token 2 spaces on its track (to a maximum of 6). You may then draw 1 card from the Supply Deck, collecting this Item instantly. Then return the Supply Token to its numbered starting space. If you decide not to take a drawn Weapon Card from the Supply Deck, return the card to the deck and shuffle. You may not draw a new card to replace it.
• Objective Tokens: See the Objective Card's details on handling an Objective Token.

C. Collect Items

Only if the Store is free of Zombies (the Store being defined as all 3 Rooms on the Mall Card) can you then freely pick up any or all of the faceup Search Cards that are beside your current Store's Card. There are 3 types of cards that can be collected:

• Weapons (Melee or Ranged): These are equipped to the slots on the bottom of the Player Card and the item is inserted into your ITEMeeple. Each Player may hold only 1 Melee and 1 Ranged Weapon at a time. During the "Collect Items" step, you may swap a Weapon you are carrying with one in the Store.
• Backpack Items: These are placed on the right side of your Player Card. They can be used anytime during your Turn and are then discarded after use.
• Pickup Items: These are used as soon as they are picked up and then immediately discarded.

At any point during their Turn, a Player may drop any Item Card they have. Drop it in the Store you are in and place it face up next to the Store's Card. If a Player is in the Courtyard, place the Item Card beside any adjacent Store (unless fulfilling an Objective). This is the only way for Players to exchange Items: by dropping and picking them up.

2. Search Your Current Room

After completing 3 Moves, the Human Player flips over the facedown Search Card in front of them and places this card face up next to the Store they are in. Human Players may collect this card later, once this Store is free of Zombies, but the current Player cannot collect this Item on the same Turn that it is revealed. If a Player is in the Courtyard, place the Item Card into any one of the 4 adjacent Stores.

If the card is an Event Card, immediately resolve the card and then discard it.

Zombie Turn

After the Human Player Searches the Room and reveals their facedown card, the Zombie Player takes their Turn. In order, follow these steps:

1. Check for Noise
2. Add New Zombies
3. Deal/Draw new Search Cards

1. Check for Noise

The Zombie Player looks at the Search Card that was just revealed at the end of the last Human Player's Turn, and notes whether that card's Entrance Symbol matches the Entrance of the Store that Human Player's ITEMeeple is in. If the card's Symbol:

• Does not match the Store that the Human Player is in, that Human does not Make a Noise. Add Zombies as normal (see below).
• Matches the Store that the Human Player is in, that Human Makes a Noise. Immediately, choose a Zombie Card (there may be more than one) and perform the action currently marked by the Horde Marker. If the Zombie Player has multiple Zombie Cards, only one card's action may be performed this way in a single Zombie Turn. Then advance the Horde Marker up 1 space on that card's track (if it is on the fifth and final space, do not move it any further). Then, the Zombie Player adds Zombies (see below).

2. Add New Zombies

The Zombie Player adds 2 Zombies from the supply into one or both Stores that match the Search Card's symbol. The Zombie Player decides whether they: Add both Zombies (one at a time) into the same Store OR add 1 into each of the 2 Stores that share the symbol.

When adding Zombies to a Store, each Zombie must be placed in the lowest numbered Room that does not currently have a Zombie. Only 1 Zombie may occupy any single Room at one time.

Example: The Zombie Player is adding 2 Zombies to this Store with only 1 Zombie in Room 2. They start by placing the first Zombie into the Entrance (Room 1) because it is unoccupied. Then they skip Rooms 1 and 2 because they are both now occupied, placing the second Zombie into Room 3.

Moving Between Stores / Into the Courtyard

When a Store is completely filled with Zombies (all 3 Rooms), then the new Zombie is instead added into the next Store or into the Courtyard:

• If it is a Corner Store (diagonal from the Courtyard), move to the lowest number Room (without a Zombie) of the next clockwise Store. If all 3 Rooms of that Store also contain Zombies, then the Zombie instead damages the Barricade in the Courtyard (see below).
• If it is a Center Store (adjacent to the Courtyard), then the Zombie instead damages the Barricade in the Courtyard (see below).

Damage the Barricade

When adding a Zombie to the Courtyard, do not place a Zombie on the Courtyard, but instead reduce the Barricade Token by 1 space on its track. If the Barricade Token ever reaches "0," then remove 1 of the Survivor Tokens in the Courtyard from the game, and then reset the Barricade to "2." If there are no Survivors left when the Barricade reaches "0," then the Humans lose.

Zombie Abilities

Be aware of any Zombie abilities listed at the top of all Zombie Cards. These abilities are always active, and may affect placing new Zombies or result in nasty effects for the Human Players.

Bleeding Out

If a Zombie must be added but there are none left in the supply, for each Zombie that the Zombie Player is unable to add, the Human Player with the fewest Wounds takes 1 Wound. If the Players are tied for Wounds, the Player with the most Ammo takes the Wound; if still tied, the Players decide.

Overrun

If a Zombie is ever added into the same Room with an ITEMeeple, that Human is Overrun. They immediately take 1 Wound. On the Human's next Move, they MUST move out of that Room (they may only Kill a Zombie after moving).

3. Deal / Draw Search Cards

After adding Zombies, the Zombie Player chooses 1 Search Card from their hand and places it face down in front of the Human Player who just revealed a Search Card. The Human may not look at this card until the end of their next Turn.

If you place the last card from your hand, then immediately draw 4 more Search Cards into your hand. If the Search Deck is exhausted (all Search Cards have been revealed), then each Human Player will take one more Turn and the game ends (see Game End).

After this, the Human Player to the left of the last Human Player to take a Turn now takes their Turn.

Completing Objectives

The Humans must complete 3 Objectives, use Objective Markers to mark their progress and follow the rules on the Objective Cards closely. If an Objective is complete, place the Marker on the "Completed" box. When all 3 Objectives are complete, the Human Players immediately win the game!

Game End

The game ends immediately when:

Human VICTORY:

• The Human Players have completed all 3 Objectives.

Zombie VICTORY:

• There are no more Survivor Tokens in the Courtyard and then either a Human is "Eaten Alive" or the Barricade Token reaches "0."
• After all cards in the Search Deck have been revealed, each Human Player has taken one more final Turn, and the Human Players have not completed their Objectives.

Other Game Modes

In addition to the Cooperative vs. Zombie Game Mode, Tiny Epic Zombies has 4 other exciting Game Modes.

Cooperative (2-4 Players)

There are some rule changes for a Cooperative Game without a Zombie Player. The Zombie actions are governed by an AI-controlled system.

SETUP CHANGES:

1. When placing Survivor Tokens, choose the number based on the desired difficulty.
   • 3 for an Easy Game
   • 2 for a Normal Game
   • 1 for a Hard Game
   • 0 for an Epic Game
2. Randomly draw a Zombie Card. Only the passive Zombie ability at the top of the Zombie Card is used. No Horde Markers are needed.
3. Each Player draws 1 random facedown card from the Search Deck and places it face down by their Player Card.

HUMAN CHANGES:

No changes. Gameplay is the same as Cooperative vs. Zombie.

ZOMBIE-AI TURN CHANGES:

1. Check for Noise on the revealed Search Card:
   • Does not match: The Zombie-AI adds 1 Zombie to each of the 2 Stores of the matching Symbols (2 total Zombies).
   • Does match: The Zombie-AI adds 2 Zombies to each of the 2 Stores of the matching Symbols (4 total Zombies).
2. The active Player then draws a card from the Search Deck and places it face down by their Player Card.

Competitive vs. Zombie (3-5 Players)

There are some rule changes for a Competitive vs. Zombie game. The Humans are competing with each other, each racing to be the first to complete all 3 Objectives and be the leader of the group of survivors. However, they are also facing a Zombie Player that is looking to tear apart the Humans' rocky "alliance."

SETUP CHANGES:

1. The 3 Objective Cards have the "Competitive Objective" side visible.
2. Flip the Courtyard over so its "Competitive Courtyard" side is visible. Place 1 Survivor Token in each colored symbol for each Player. If there are only 2 Human Players, stack 2 Survivor Tokens on top of each other in each colored symbol of each of the 2 Players.
3. Each Player's own colored Objective Markers are used to track progress on the Objective Cards.

HUMAN CHANGES:

If a Human Player is Eaten Alive, they give both their Player Card and 1 Survivor Token to the Zombie Player (the Zombie Player may never have more than 3 Zombie Cards). The Human Player then drops/places all cards beside their current Store, draws a new random Player Card from the box, and returns their ITEMeeple to the Courtyard (see Eaten Alive).

ZOMBIE CHANGES:

If a Zombie Damages the Barricade and reduces it to "0," they take 1 Survivor Token from the Player with the fewest Wounds who still has a Survivor Token. If there is a tie for the fewest Wounds, take from the one with the most Ammo. If there is still a tie, then amongst the tied Players, take from the Player who is going to be the next active Player.

GAME END CHANGES:

Human Victory: Complete all 3 Objectives on your own, and the game ends immediately. You become the Leader of your group of survivors and win the game!

Zombie Victory:

• A Human Player dies without any Survivor Tokens to give.
• The Zombie Player collects 1 Survivor Token from each Human (or 2 Survivor Tokens in a 2 Human game)
• All cards from the Search Deck are revealed and each Human Player has taken one more final Turn without winning the game.

Competitive (2-4 Players)

There are some rule changes for a Competitive Game without a Zombie Player. The Humans are competing with each other, each racing to be the first to complete all 3 Objectives and be the leader of the group of survivors.

SETUP CHANGES:

1. The 3 Objective Cards have the "Competitive Objective" side visible.
2. Flip the Courtyard over so its "Competitive Courtyard" side is visible. Place 1 Survivor Token in each colored symbol for each Player. If there are only 2 Human Players, stack 2 Survivor Tokens on top of each other in each colored symbol of the 2 Players.
3. Each Player's own colored Objective Markers are used to track progress on the Objective Cards.

HUMAN CHANGES:

Gameplay is the same as a Competitive vs. Zombie game.

ZOMBIE CHANGES:

Zombie actions are the same as a Cooperative game, but with one exception: If a Zombie Attacks the Barricade and reduces it to "0," they take 1 Survivor Token from the Player with the fewest Wounds who still has a Survivor Token. If there is a tie for the fewest Wounds, take from the one with the most Ammo. If there is still a tie, then amongst the tied Players, take from the Player who is going to be the next active Player.

GAME END CHANGES:

The Victory Conditions are the same as a Competitive vs. Zombie game.

Solo (1 Player)

In a Solo game, the setup is the same as in a Cooperative game, except that the Player controls 2 separate Human Cards with a separate ITEMeeple for each. Each Human Character should take alternating Turns.

Glossary and Clarifications

Bleeding Out - The Human Player with the fewest Wounds takes 1 Wound for each Zombie that the Zombie Player is unable to add due to a depleted supply.

Eaten Alive - A Human Player's Wound and Ammo Tokens meet or cross each other on the track.

Empty - If a Room or a Store contains no Zombies, that Room or Store is considered empty.

Overkill - One possible result during a Melee Attack. In addition to killing the Zombie, you may immediately Move 1 Room. This Move is free and does not count as one of the 3 Moves you MUST make on a Turn. It is possible for a free Move to result in another Melee Attack and therefore another Overkill, thus making it possible to chain several Overkills together without spending one of your 3 Moves.

Overrun - If a Zombie is added to a Room with an ITEMeeple, that Human Player immediately takes 1 Wound. On the Human's next Move, they MUST Move out of that Room. You are only able to kill a Zombie after Moving.

Room - One of the 3 walled-spaces on a Mall Card. Each Room has a number (to aid the Zombie Player) and one or more actions or Objective symbols.

Stores - The 8 Mall Cards with Entrance symbols that surround the Courtyard (the central Mall Card). Each Store has 3 Rooms.

Turn - A Human Player's Turn consists of making 3 Moves and revealing their Search Card. After every Human Turn, there is a Zombie Turn. Any reference to the "active Human Player" during the Zombie's Turn refers to the Human Player who took a Turn immediately before the current Zombie Turn.

Vehicle - Refers to the Motorcycle or the Police Car.

Credits

Designer: Scott Almes Illustrator: Miguel Coimbra Editor: Dylan D. Phillips Game Developer: Michael Coe Graphic Designer: Benjamin Shulman 3D Item Design: Emerson Matsuuchi

Honorary Producers: Stephen B. Eckman, Robert Corbett, Anuchit Chaiyaboon, Thomas E. Snyder, Randal Lloyd, Sean Marshall, Dorianne Bernier, Lei Ferretti, and Greg Whitten