Best Zombie BoardGames
Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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That's right, this list is NOT an attempt to catalog all zombie board-games. Nor will you find here any games that feature other forms of undead (e.g., vampires, the demonically possessed, mummies, etc.), cute zombies, or funny zombies, or any of that kind of bull chips. These are my personal favorite zombie board-games that I'm recommending just for zombie fans.
The order of appearance is first according to the base game of highest praise (according to yours truly), but all expansions (if any) follow the listing of the base game and do not necessarily reflect a superiority to later games on the list. And since this has proven to clutter things up a bit, I shall here provide a listing of just the base games in the order in which they appear in the list itself:
1. Last Night on Earth
2. Mall of Horror
3. Resident Evil
4. Eaten by Zombies!
5. ZOMBIES!!!
6. Zombie Plague
I've broken down each game according to five different rating categories, each on a scale of 1 to 5 drooling zombies: Game Mechanics (How well does the game actually play, is it balanced, etc.?); Graphic Presentation (Is it pretty, er, I mean, does the gore make you want to vom?); Replay Value (Does it get old fast, or is it good for years to come?); Community Gaming (How many people can play, and how does that impact the game?); and Budget Cost (Can you even afford to buy this game?).
Polarization Update: The first zombie game to be commercially published was Dawn of the Dead—released in 1978 in conjunction with the movie of the same name, by George Romero—and it instituted what has become the same bare-bones mechanics for most zombie games, viz., the board is a grid across which the humans can free-roam in order to get to special 'search areas' that will help provide them with the means to win the game, while dealing with the zombies who also tend to roam. And that's the majority of zombie games in a nutshell, which means that all one needs to do is find out which of these games does this the best, and all other games that follow these basic mechanics can essentially be ignored. The answer is Last Night on Earth, and all you need to do if you want more is to buy expansions for it instead of buying any of the following games that use the same aforementioned mechanics:
• Zombie Plague
• ZOMBIES!!!
• All Things Zombie
• Dead of Night
• The Walking Dead
• Dawn of the Dead
• Zombiegeddon
• ZombieTown
• Maul of America
• Zombicide (?!? To be determined.)
• Zpocalypse (?!? To be determined.)
All obsolete in the shadow of the Last Night on Earth franchise.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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The magnum opus of zombie games. Here's the rating breakdown:
• Game Mechanics 
• Graphic Presentation
• Replay Value
• Community Gaming
• Budget Cost
Last Night on Earth will make you feel like you're in a zombie movie more than any other entry on this list. (It even comes with its own soundtrack.) The board's imagery is high quality, and the graphics on the cards are photographs of characters with appropriate setting, costumes, makeup, and props (much like those depicted on the box cover). The zombie figurines come in three different styles, and two different colors as well (in order to differentiate between zombies in the instance that two players are controlling them), and each of the hero figurines has a unique appearance according to each hero character.
The mechanics of the game itself are a good balance of complexity and practicality. There is a random factor dictated both by dice and card-draw, but do not suppose that this game is void of strategy or tactics; if you do something stupid, you will die. Teamwork, while not absolutely necessary, can greatly increase the hero's likelihood of victory, provided that they can agree on a sound strategy.
Replay value is second-to-none. The board is semi-modular, and changes to a certain degree with every game. Hero characters each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and are chosen randomly. But better than anything else are the various scenarios; the goal of each game is dictated by a randomly selected (or previously agreed upon) scenario with different winning conditions for both the hero players and the zombie players. Add to all of this a whole slew of expansions with more modular board pieces, more hero characters, more game scenarios, etc., and you'll be pulling this game off of the self on a regular basis.
Last Night on Earth is great for community gaming. It supports two to six players as follows: 2 players = 1 zombie controller and 1 player with four heroes; 3 players = 1 zombie controller and 2 players with two heroes each; 4 players = 2 zombie controllers and 2 players with two heroes each; 5 players = 1 zombie controller and 4 players with one hero each; and 6 players = 2 zombie controllers and 4 players with one hero each. I've personally found that the game is best played with five people, followed by three people, followed by two people. Playing with four or six people is a little more awkward as you really only need one person to control the zombies, and thus in four player games my group sometimes has one zombie controller and three hero players, each with their own character, and alternating control of the fourth hero.
The one downside to Last Night on Earth is the price of the game: $50. And the better expansions also tend to be the most expensive as well. Be prepared to spend well over $200 if you want to collect all available content. But compared to collectible card games (e.g., Magic: The Gathering) and miniature games (e.g., Warhammer 40,000) that's nothing.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Easily the best expansion for Last Night on Earth. More of what we love from the base game; thirty-five more cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck, four more hero characters, three more scenarios, and–my personal favorite–two more modular board segments. All of which add plenty of extra variety to flesh out the base game and send replay value through the roof.
But along with all of these additional features familiar from the base game, there's also something new as well: Scenario Special Rules. These new rules can add a bunch of different optional effects to any given scenario, some benefiting the heroes, and others the zombies, all of which are based on a point system so that the odds stay even. For example, you could give the heroes the "Free Search Markers" rule which gives each building a "Free Search" token at the beginning of the game and allows a hero who ends their movement in a building that still has a "Free Search" token to discard that token in order to get an additional search phase that turn. This rule is worth three points for the Hero Players, and so to even the odds you could add, for example, the three point rule, "Zombie Grave Dead" (my personal favorite Scenario Special Rule), which gives the Zombie Player seven non-replenishing grave dead zombies (which have their own red figurines that come with the expansion) with various additional abilities that are determined randomly.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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After you get your hands on the Growing Hunger expansion, Survival of the Fittest should be the next on your list. Together, these will form the essential core of the game, and everything else is optional.
You only get eight more cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck, but what really stands out are the three whole new decks that this expansion brings to the table: Unique Items are, as the deck name suggests, beefed-up weapons and items that you'll occasionally get your hands on; the Survival Tactics deck offers glorified event cards and useful items; and, my personal favorite, the Grave Weapons deck equips the zombies with an arsenal of their own, including bloated zombies, zombies wrapped in barbed-wire, fresh zombies that still have a spring in their step, and much more. I highly recommend integrating these decks into every scenario.
Tired of zombies always crawling through the windows while you're stuck only being able to use the doors? Another awesome new mechanic that has become a standard element in all of our games are the barricades. Pretty self-explanatory.
Now top that off with four new scenarios and enough chits and counters that you've have to buy a bead organizer from your local craft and hobby shop in order to keep your game organized and you've got what may well be one of the best zombie board games that you'll ever play. It certainly has been for us.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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While not an essential expansion, you may notice after obtaining Survival of the Fittest that there are some cards which have special effects for specific heroes that aren't there. . . . Four new hero characters (plus their unique models, naturally), five new cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck, and a new scenario. These, plus the heroes in Growing Hunger, will bring you up to double the amount of heroes you get in the base set.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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I'll be blunt: This expansion is fluff. It's more like an expansion of an expansion rather than an expansion to the base game. On the one hand, you'll get a bunch of new zombie models, each depicted as using the various Grave Weapons provided in the Survival of the Fittest expansion, and you'll get two copies of a new Grave Weapon card (the Crawling Torso, my personal favorite). On the down side, the figures only add aesthetic appeal and have no impact on the mechanics of the game, so as far as functionality goes, you're paying about $25 for two cards.
If you can't budget getting all of the expansions and supplements, then let this be your first cutback.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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One new scenario and five new cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck. We've found that this scenario is great for introducing new players to the game; certainly much better than the "Die, Zombies, Die!" scenario suggested in the rule-book.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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One new scenario and five new cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck. At first glance this scenario may appear horribly slanted in favor of the Zombies, but we've found that the Heroes' win condition really balances the odds.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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One new scenario and five new cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck. The more expansions and supplements that you have, the greater the challenge for the Zombie Players given that their goal with this scenario is to empty the Hero Deck...
I like a challenge.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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This supplement comes with a new scenario. Unfortunately, the scenario is detailed on a simple piece of paper as opposed to the thick, glossy cards that all other scenarios (with the exception of the downloadable/printable freebie web-based scenarios) are printed on, and therefore you can't simply draw it at random from the stack.
The scenario features a new type of Grave Dead zombie, 'Radioactive.' But with minimal ingenuity, we integrated these into the rest of the game so that you can utilize them outside of this single scenario: In any other scenario that uses a random roll to determine which type of Grave Dead to use, instead of rolling a six-sided die, roll an eight-sided die; treat the rolls of 1 through 6 as you normally would according to the rules on page five of the Growing Hunger rulebook, treat a roll of 7 as Radioactive Grave Dead, and a roll of 8 as the Zombie Player(s) choice.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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The name says it all. Only to be purchased if you've already obtained the Survival of the Fittest expansion and Radioactive Grave Dead supplement. This supplement just adds aesthetic appeal, and a couple cool, new promo cards. Totally optional bells and whistles.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Four new cards each for the Hero Deck and Zombie Deck. One advanced ability card for each hero character from the base game, the Growing Hunger expansion, and the Hero Pack One expansion (sixteen cards total). Four advanced ability cards for the zombies. Rules sheet with two different ways to use the advanced ability cards (I recommend the "Experience System").
This is another take it or leave it expansion. You're not missing out on a whole lot if you don't get it, but the advanced abilities can come in handy (especially for the heroes).
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Last and least for Last Night on Earth is the special edition soundtrack. The base game now comes with this item, so the only thing it has to offer are the two exclusive promo cards (and therefore I'd only recommend this one to a collector).
Also, it's not a very good soundtrack. I recommend taking your favorite tracks from this album and then getting on Amazon or iTunes to download cheap singles from soundtracks of your favorite zombie movies in order to make your own custom CD all to better set the mood. I went with selections from the soundtracks to Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), Snyder and Gunn's Dawn of the Dead (2004), Zombieland, etc.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Not your typical zombie game. Here's the rating breakdown:
• Game Mechanics
• Graphic Presentation
• Replay Value
• Community Gaming
• Budget Cost
Visually, Mall of Horror is right up there among the best. The artwork for all of the components is very well done and really adds to the zombific ambiance. Like all zombie games (with the exception of Last Night on Earth), the zombie figures only come in one style, so if you already have ZOMBIES!!! and/or Zombietown, then go ahead and mix up the pieces for some added variety and eye-candy.
The game mechanics here are simple, but efficient. And unlike most other zombie games, you don't spend the game running around a large, complex map. Instead, the mall has six locations: The restroom, the lingerie shop (only used in games with five or six players), the toy-store, the parking-lot, the security room, and the supermarket. Some rooms have special characteristics (both good and bad), while others are only defined by the maximum number of occupants they can hold. Players will spend the game having their characters (each with their own abilities) run about from room to room, and while there are cards that can be used to kill the zombies and thin out their undead ranks, players will be focusing more on having strength in numbers in order to keep the zombies out of the various locations. Inevitably, though, the zombies WILL overwhelm any given location, and that's where the game's real key-mechanic comes into play: Voting. Who will be thrown out as a meat-snack in order to appease the zombie horde and make them go away for a while? Each player gets a number of votes that they all secretly cast, and the outcomes will be dictated by (A) how many characters each player has in a location that's voting, (B) what kind of characters they are, (C) whether or not players have any cards that effect the voting, and (D) players' attempts to guess how their opponents might vote and how this may determine their own voting decision. You certainly won't find another zombie game that functions like this one, and the difference is rather refreshing at times.
Replay value is where this game suffers the most. It doesn't have a modular board, and there isn't a particularly large variety of cards to draw from the deck. Therefore, the game's strength lies in being an occasional break from the norm (e.g., our regular games of Last Night on Earth tend to be punctuated with a round of Mall of Horror here and there).
Due to the voting system, two-player games are not feasible. And three player games don't really give you the full effect, either. Four players is good, though five or six is optimal.
There are no expansions to Mall of Horror, and nor would such be necessary as the game is very well balanced and complete straight out of the box. And as a positive consequence, you won't need to spend money on extras.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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It surely lives up to its name. Here's the rating breakdown:
• Game Mechanics *
• Graphic Presentation **
• Replay Value
• Community Gaming
• Budget Cost
* The Game Mechanics rating here is assuming that you're properly implementing expansions (More on that in a moment), otherwise you're looking at...
Game Mechanics
** The Graphic Presentation rating is assuming that you're using the second edition of the game, as opposed to Twilight Creations Inc.'s first edition or the old Journeyman's Press edition, in which case you're looking at...
Graphic Presentation
The imagery for the older editions of the board/tiles was good, but a little on the cartoonish side, whereas the new graphics are more vivid and gritty. The pictures on the cards are well done and pleasantly gory. The zombie pieces are nice little figurines that come in two different styles, male and female (though the older sets only include the male type), but I like to mix in some of the figurines from Zombietown and Mall of Horror for additional variety.
There are a few deficiencies in the game mechanics if you're playing with only the base game. The biggest and most frequent complaint is over the difficulty in getting around the board. Solution: Get the Zombies!!! 3.5: Not Dead Yet! expansion, which allows you to customize the play deck and add a lot of movement enhancers, and get the Zombies!!! 6: Six Feet Under expansion, which adds same extra elements to the base game that'll get you around town more easily. Also, the combined effects of dice-rolling and card-drawing tend to tip the scales of balance a little more towards the chaotic and random luck, and bit less towards strategy and tactics. But despite these drawbacks, if one takes the proper precautions, ZOMBIES!!! nevertheless functions well enough to prevent frustration or to be ranked among the "broken." There are two winning conditions: Either survive until the helicopter arrives (and be the first one to get to it), or go freaking nuts and kill twenty-five zombies.
Replay value is very high here. The board is fully modular and consequently will be totally different every time you play. There are also a whole slew of expansions, which can add whole new areas to explore outside of the base town tiles, and, better yet, customizable card decks (e.g., you could focus on getting all kinds of implements of destruction with which to butcher zombies, or cards that mess up other players, or cards that allow you to stack the tiles in your favor, etc., though I always recommend plenty of movement enhancers).
You're looking at two to six players here. Pretty standard, though a higher number of players tends to effect the length of ZOMBIES!!! a bit more than other games, and the board will get very large very quickly if you have a lot of players (which isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you've got a generous amount of table space to utilize).
As for price, on the one hand, for each set, you get a lot of bang for your buck, but on the other hand, you'll need to buy at least a few of the expansions in order to optimize the game's playability (as noted above).
Polarization Update: Once upon a time this game was at the top of my list, but for reasons explained in the header, it has fallen from grace. ZOMBIES!!! now serves as a watershed; if a new zombie game can't rank higher on Board Game Geek than this one, then it isn't worth your time.
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Vincent Streuner
United States
Whittier
California
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The first expansion to Zombies!!! caters to the zombie fans by letting them do what they love most: Blow mass quantities of zombies into smoking rotten bits.
More tiles. More cards. And more replay value.
Card to enhance movement in a customized deck:
Two copies of Breakthrough. (Which could hurt you.)
Two copies of I See the Helicopter. (Which doesn't even come into play until the end of the game. And besides, victory by helicopter runaway is for pansies, right?)
But check out these implements of destruction:
Two copies of Dynamite.
One copy of Mine Field. (Powerful.)
Two copies of Rocket Launcher. (My favorite.)
And cards to keep you going so that you can keep killing zombies and rack up twenty-five for the win:
Two copies of Adjusting Nicely.
Two copies of I Feel Alive!!!.
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Posted Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:38 pm
Midlothian - Richmond
Virginia
Even though the theme of Zombies!!! 4: The End includes dogs, and not humanoid zombies, I would add it anyway. It offers a couple new wrinkles, and I LOVE the new tiles. Plus, you can add it right into the old game.
I do have a dream of playing a massive Zombies!!! game with the base and all 4 expansions. Someday.
Lawrence
Kansas
You may be thinking of Attack of the Mutants!. It was part of Yaquinto's Album Game series. Also, it had a demo release in a two-page cardstock foldout.
Michigan