Zadventure Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Brief Turn Overview
• Turn in Detail
• How to Fight Zombies
• Out of Lives
• Weapons
• Items
• Features of Circus Zombies
• How to Play as a Zombie
• How Zombies Move
• Example of Play
• End of the Game
• Disputed Situations

Components

Game board:

1. Four yard pieces, to be assembled around the house. The house is the bottom of the box.
2. Three walls: two long and one short. They divide the space inside the house.
3. Three locked-wall figures.
4. Three locked-wall fixers.
5. Four assembled cardboard figures: a yellow starting car, a green finish car, an axe, and a zombie scythe. They stand in the yard and can be used by you.
6. A spinner. It shows how many steps you can take, and decides how a fight with a zombie ends.

Characters and zombies:

7. Four plastic character figures.
8. Four double-sided character boards. They tell you what your character can do and how many lives they have.
9. 17 life tokens.
10. Five starting weapon cards. Some characters have one at the start of the game.
11. 24 zombie figures. They will chase you across the board.
12. 14 plastic zombie stands, so the figures stay upright.

Cards you will reveal on the board:

13. 24 zombie cards: ordinary zombies, zombie dogs, zombie rats, and zombie performers from the wandering circus.
14. 11 weapon cards: four firearms, four cold weapons, and three special weapons.
15. 12 item cards: survival items and, most importantly, the car keys and the canister of gasoline.

The assembly diagram on the printed page (section 5, "Assembly diagram") shows the cardboard figures being folded and fitted together, with the tabs marked A and B. The diagram is pictorial only; follow it on the printed page.

Setup

1. Assemble the house and yard. Put the yard pieces around the box like a puzzle. The porch in the yard must line up with the entrance door of the house; this means you have assembled the game board correctly. Set the walls inside the house so that the numbers on the walls match the numbers on the house. Place the yellow starting car, the green finish car, the zombie scythe and the axe in the yard, where the board shows each one belongs. Place the spinner next to the board. Place the locked walls next to the board. Place the zombie figures and plastic stands next to the board. As soon as you turn over a zombie card, put its figure in a stand on the square where the card was.

2. Prepare your characters. Choose a character. Each has a useful ability: the Police Officer and the Hooligan start with weapons; the Nurse has a first-aid kit; the Biker has the most lives. Take the figure and the character board, and remove the unused characters from the game. Place your character board in front of you with the living side up. The other side, with the zombie character, is for the advanced mode from the expansion. Place life tokens on your board: all characters have three lives, and the Biker has five. Put the extra life tokens next to the board; they may come in handy. Place the character figures on the squares next to the starting car. The roof of the car also counts as a square: you arrived in this car, and it stalled.

3. Take all the zombie, weapon and item cards. Find the cards with starting weapons and the starting first-aid kit: they are double-sided, unlike the other cards. Place them on the character boards: the Hooligan gets two knives, the Police Officer gets two pistols, the Nurse gets the first-aid kit. Remove the other starting cards from the game. Find the musket card and the axe card. Immediately place them face up on the board in the indicated places: the musket card on the square with the safe in the living room, and the axe card under the axe figure in the yard. Shuffle all the remaining cards face down.

4. Lay out the cards on the board face down. You may spread the cards anywhere in the yard and inside the house. A card is smaller than a square, and that is deliberate. The main rules are:

• Cards may only be placed where there are squares.
• One card per square.
• It is better to leave empty squares between cards. You may lay cards in a row and turn the yard into a minefield, and no one will judge you.
• Cards may not be placed around the starting car, on car roofs, under the safe, under the axe (cards already lie there), or under the zombie scythe.

In your next game, try laying the cards out quite differently, so that every game is varied and unpredictable.

That is all. Start surviving, and read the rules as you go.

Brief Turn Overview

Your turn looks like this:

• Spin the spinner. It shows the number of steps.
• Move your character that many squares.
• As soon as you step on a square with a card, stop on it (your steps end there) and turn the card over.
• If the card is an item, take it. If it is a zombie, fight it.

While you move, you may use the items you have picked up, trade them with other characters, or drop them.

As soon as you find the key and the canister of gasoline, gather in the finish car. These two items may be held by one player or by different players. When all the living characters are sitting in the car, you drive off into the sunset and win together. If all the characters die, you lose together.

Turn in Detail

The youngest player goes first. After that, play goes clockwise.

1. Spin the spinner and look at which number comes up.
2. Move your character by as many squares as came up, or fewer. You may not refuse to move.

How to move:

• Move anywhere, but not diagonally.
• You may pass through windows and doors if they are not locked.
• You may pass through a square with another player's figure, but you may not stop there. Stop on an adjacent square instead.
• As soon as you step onto a square with a card, stop on it. Your steps end there. Go to point 3.
• If you did not land on a card, pass the turn to the player on your left.

During movement you may:

• Drop an item or weapon (not a starting one). Leave the card face up on the square where you stand. This is useful, for example, so that another character can pick it up. This does not take a turn. You may not drop an item immediately after picking it up.
• Give or take a weapon (not a starting one) or an item to or from a character who stands on an adjacent square. After this you may continue moving. This does not cost a turn.

3. Turn the card over and see what you got:

• Item or weapon. Take it: put the card on your character board. You may have as many items and weapons as you like; stack them on the board. You may use items at any time during your turn. Weapons are used in combat with zombies. For how to use items, see the "Items" section on page 8. For how to use weapons, see the "Weapons" section on page 7.
• Zombie. Take the figure of the same zombie from beside the board, insert it into a plastic stand, and place it on the square where the zombie card lay. Put the card back into the game. You must fight this zombie by the rules in "How to Fight Zombies" below. You cannot avoid combat with a zombie.

4. Pass the turn to the player on your left.

How to Fight Zombies

Things to know before combat:

• Each zombie has one life.
• All weapons, including starting weapons, are single-use.
• Any zombie can be killed with any weapon, except the bear boss. The bear boss can only be killed with a poisoned dart or the zombie scythe.
• If you have no weapon, you can only flee.
• If it is a circus zombie (red background on the card), read its description in "Features of Circus Zombies" on page 9. Other zombies are ordinary (green background on the card) and have no abilities.

Spin the spinner and look at which picture comes up.

Exception: if you have a grenade or a poisoned dart, you may use it immediately against the zombie and do not spin the spinner.

Spinner results:

• Escape. Spin the spinner again to find out how many squares you flee from the zombie. Move your character that many squares, by the same rules as movement.
• Skull. The zombie bit you! Remove one life from your character board and place it with the other life tokens beside the game field. Spin the spinner again to escape from the zombie or deal with it, or, if you are unlucky, take one more bite. If you lost your last life in combat, act as described in "Out of Lives" below.
• Cold weapon. Check whether your board has a cold weapon: a sword, a knife, a machete or an axe. If not, spin again until something else comes up. If you do, check how your weapon works in the "Weapons" section. Then remove the zombie you fought from the game, remove the weapon from the game, and pass the turn to the player on your left.
• Firearm. Check whether your board has a firearm: a musket, a double-barrel or a pistol. If not, spin again until something else comes up. If you do, check how your weapon works in the "Weapons" section. Then remove the zombie you fought from the game, remove the weapon from the game, and pass the turn to the player on your left.

Combat ends when you have killed the zombie or fled from it.

Out of Lives

As soon as you have removed the last life from your character board, you are dead. Remove your character figure from the board. On the square where it stood, place a stack of all your items and weapons from your board. Put your board aside.

On top of the stack, place the figure of the zombie that took your last life. It guards these items. If other players want to take them, they must first defeat this zombie. If the zombie itself leaves this square, the items stay in place.

You now play as a zombie, starting from the next turn. Read the description of your turn in "How to Play as a Zombie" on page 10.

Weapons

Firearms kill any zombie except the bear boss, the first time they are used in combat when the spinner shows "Firearm". After use, remove the weapon from the game.

• Pistol. Simply kills the zombie.
• Musket. Simply kills the zombie.
• Double-barrel. Kills two zombies. You hit the first one; the second must stand next to you on an adjacent square, not diagonally. If there is no such zombie, it kills only the first.

Cold weapons kill any zombie except the bear boss, the first time they are used in combat when the spinner shows "Cold weapon". After use, remove the weapon from the game.

• Machete. Simply kills the zombie.
• Axe. Simply kills the zombie.
• Sword. Kills two zombies. You hit the first one; the second must stand next to you on an adjacent square, not diagonally. If there is no such zombie, it kills only the first.

Special weapons may be used in combat immediately, without spinning the spinner. They may also be used when the spinner has shown any weapon, cold or firearm.

• Grenade. Kills any zombie except the bear boss. After use, remove the grenade from the game.
• Poisoned dart. Kills any zombie, including the bear boss. After use, remove the dart from the game.

Items

You may use an item once you have picked it up, that is, once you found the card on the board and put it on your board.

You may keep as many weapons and items as you like. They may be traded between characters who stand on adjacent squares, not diagonally. Trading does not cost any player a turn.

Exception: the zombie scythe cannot be taken with you. There is no card under it, and it may only be used once per game.

• Boards. They can be used to block a window or a door, so that nobody climbs in: neither zombies nor characters. Stand next to the window or door, remove a locked wall from your board, and hang the locked wall on the window or door. You may break a locked wall with any weapon. To do this, stand on an adjacent square and spin the spinner. If a firearm or cold weapon comes up on the first try (a grenade may be used without spinning), discard the locked wall and the used weapon.
• First-aid kit. Adds one life, or two if you are the Nurse. This ends your turn. Remove the first-aid kit from the game and take one life, or two if you are the Nurse. With a first-aid kit you can get more lives than you started with. You may use it right after you pick it up, without waiting for your next turn. You may give a life (or two, if you are the Nurse) to another player if you stand with them on adjacent squares. This ends your turn, even if you still have steps left.
• Car key and canister of gasoline. They are needed to drive the car from the finish and win. They take up a place on your board, like other items. When you all sit in the car at the end of the game, you must have both items, held by one character or by different characters. Then the game ends and you win.
• Lasso. It can be thrown onto a zombie (except the bear boss) to tie it up. Stand on a square adjacent to a zombie and place the lasso under the zombie's figure. This ends your turn, even if you still have steps left. Now this zombie cannot move until it bites through the rope. A lasso is useless against the chained zombie, which cannot move anyway. A lasso does not cancel the abilities of circus zombies: a tied zombie still bites the eight squares around it, and a hypnotist still holds characters under hypnosis.
• Smoke screen. Lets you pass through squares with zombies and squares with cards as if they were empty. It acts on one square only. Remove the smoke screen from the game when you stand next to a zombie or a card. Now you may pass through that square without entering combat and without turning over the card. You may not stop on this square.
• Antizombie. Keep this medicine on your board. If a zombie bites you while you have an antizombie on your board, the zombie dies immediately and you keep all your lives. It works on ordinary and circus zombies. It does not work on the bear boss.

Features of Circus Zombies

These descriptions will help you know your enemy better in combat.

• Zombie scythe. As soon as you step on it, roll across it four squares or fewer in any direction. All zombies on this path die, even the bear boss. You may turn while moving. You may not drive through living characters or closed cards, and you may not stop on them. Place your character where the zombie scythe ended its movement, and remove the scythe from the game.
• Chained zombie. When a "Skull" comes up in combat with it, it bites you and all characters around it, as shown in the picture. It bites through a door and a window, but not through a wall. It does not bite zombies or zombie characters.
• Hypnotist zombie. Fight it as with an ordinary zombie, but with one change: when "Escape" comes up in combat, step back one adjacent square instead. Escaping further is impossible. If you begin your turn on a square adjacent to a hypnotist, you do not spin the spinner. Instead you step onto the hypnotist and fight. Hypnosis does not work if there is a wall between you. And when you stand diagonally from the hypnotist — (the printed sentence is incomplete here, ending without a verb; it is transcribed as printed).
• Kamikaze zombie. When it dies, it "explodes" and takes one life from a character.
• Nurse zombie. After you kill a zombie nurse, take one life. This lets you collect more lives than you started with.
• Monkey zombie. Fight it as an ordinary zombie.
• Bear boss. Almost invulnerable. The bear boss can only be killed with a poisoned dart or the zombie scythe. All other weapons have no effect on it: spin the spinner until "Skull" or "Escape" comes up.

How to Play as a Zombie

1. Choose the zombie you will play this turn. You may choose any zombie that is on the board, that is, any zombie whose figure stands on the field. Each turn you must choose a different zombie. The same zombie cannot move two turns in a row. That is, if you or another dead player moved a zombie, the zombie necessarily skips the next turn.
2. Spin the spinner. Exception: the monkey zombie moves without the spinner.
3. Move the zombie by as many squares as came up on the spinner.

Some zombies do not move exactly by the spinner, but more or less. See "How Zombies Move" below.

How zombies move:

• Zombies move in a straight line in any direction, not diagonally.
• Zombies may pass through windows and doors if they are not locked.
• Zombies may walk across squares with cards, but they may not turn the cards over or stop on them. They may not stop on a square with another zombie or an item.
• If you step onto a character, stop and fight, even if steps remain. Pass the spinner to the player whose character you stepped onto, and that player fights you by the ordinary rules. Exception: if the character is in the finish car, the zombie cannot step onto it.
• A zombie may break a locked wall if it stands on a square adjacent to it, and may bite through a lasso if the lasso has tied it up. To do this, spin the spinner. If "Skull" comes up on the first try, remove the locked wall or the lasso from the board. If it does not come up, you may repeat the attempt on your next turn.

4. Then pass the turn to the player on your left.

How Zombies Move

• Ordinary zombie. Moves one square fewer than the spinner shows.
• Zombie rat. Moves exactly as many squares as the spinner shows.
• Zombie dog. Moves one square more than the spinner shows.
• Kamikaze zombie. Moves one square fewer than the spinner shows.
• Nurse zombie. Moves one square fewer than the spinner shows.
• Monkey zombie. Moves without the spinner: simply move the monkey through one square in a straight line, as in the picture. It may not move diagonally or turn during the leap. You may turn to the direction you need before jumping. It may jump through windows and doors if they are not locked, but it may not jump over walls.
• Hypnotist zombie. Moves one square fewer than the spinner shows.
• Chained zombie. Instead of moving, it bites everyone on the eight squares around it, as in a fight with a character. Details are in "Features of Circus Zombies" on page 9.
• Bear boss. Moves one square fewer than the spinner shows.

Example of Play

Anya, Vova and Gosha are playing. Anya and Gosha play zombies, and Vova plays the Nurse. It is Gosha's turn. He points at the zombie nearest the Nurse and says he is moving it. He spins the spinner and three comes up. An ordinary zombie moves one square fewer than the spinner shows, so Gosha moves the zombie two squares. That is enough for Gosha's zombie to step onto the Nurse. Now they will fight. Gosha passes the spinner to Vova. Vova spins and "Skull" comes up, so the zombie bit the Nurse. Vova removes one life from his board and spins again. "Cold weapon" comes up, but he has no cold weapon on his board, so he spins again. "Escape" comes up. Vova spins once more and gets three. He makes three steps toward the car and ends up on a square adjacent to the chained zombie. Vova forgot that a zombie turn is coming next, and the chained zombie can take one life from him from the adjacent square.

The turn passes to Anya. She also plays zombies. She wants to attack Vova with the same zombie he just ran away from, but she cannot, because one and the same zombie cannot make two turns in a row. So Anya decides to move the chained zombie. For this she does not even need to spin the spinner. She simply says: the chained zombie moves, and since Vova stands on a square adjacent to the chained zombie, it simply bites him. Vova removes one life from his board.

End of the Game

As soon as you find the key and the canister, move toward the car. The key and the canister may be held by one character or by different characters.

As soon as all the living characters are in the car and have the key and the canister between them, the game ends and you win. While you are in the car, zombies cannot fight you; they can only snarl at the windows.

If all the characters have died, you lose.

Disputed Situations

Q: I am playing a zombie and want to move the hypnotist zombie. Before, it held the biker under hypnosis, and the biker fought it every turn. What happens to the biker now that the hypnotist has moved away? A: Once the biker is no longer on a square adjacent to the hypnotist, he is free of hypnosis and may move normally again.

Q: I was fighting a zombie and "Escape" came up. I flee two squares and stop on a card. Can I turn it over? A: Yes. You must turn it over when you step onto a card.

Q: Can I throw a lasso on a zombie after I fled from it in combat? A: No. You may throw the lasso on your next turn, and only if you stand on a square adjacent to the zombie.

Q: I stepped onto a square with several items left behind by another character. Do I take them all at once or one by one? A: You take the whole stack.

Q: I stopped to board up a window. May I then move further? A: No. Your turn ends there.

Q: I am playing the Nurse and want to heal the biker with a first-aid kit on an adjacent square. Do I give him one life or two? A: Two lives, from the supply beside the game field.

Q: A kamikaze zombie bites me, and I have an antizombie. Does the zombie take my life? A: No. The kamikaze zombie simply dies.

Q: In combat "Skull" came up, and I am about to lose my last life. May I use a first-aid kit before that? A: No.

Q: In combat "Escape" came up for two squares. Can I flee one square, then return to the zombie's square and fight again? A: Yes, that is allowed.

Q: In combat "Escape" came up, and I have a grenade. May I use it now? A: No. A special weapon may be used instead of spinning the spinner, or when any kind of weapon has come up. Now that the spinner has decided, run.

Q: We have all gathered in the finish car, but the rules say you may not stand on a square with other characters. What do we do? A: In this case you may stand as a crowd on the roof of the car.