Another zombie game? Yes, but this one is different...

I'm sure you've all heard that before. Except this time, I *think* it actually is different...at least from what I could tell from browsing boardgamegeek for hours.

So here's the story: A few months ago, I was at the Fire & Ice convention in Manitowoc, WI. A friend was running a session of The Downfall of Pompeii, and I happened to walk by. For some reason I had zombies on my brain (no pun intended...well, sort of), and I thought, "How cool would Downfall be if it were re-themed and developed into a zombie game"? From there, ideas started to flow. Now, I'll freely admit that you might recognize mechanics from other games...they happen to be games I like, and I've drawn ideas from them to fit my vision.

Tentatively titled "Zombiepocalypse: NYC", my game is about citizens surviving a zombie plague outbreak on Manhattan Island. I'll spare you all the backstory for now, because I'm mainly looking for feedback on the idea. After searching and reading about all the zombie games on BGG, it seemed like most/all of them were about *fighting* the zombies. I don't know about you, but if there is a zombie apocalypse, I'm getting the hell out of dodge and living to fight another day.

So here's the basics: The map of Manhattan Island is divided into districts (Financial District, Soho, Upper East Side, Central Park, Harlem, etc.), which are further broken down into sections.

The first phase of the game consists of players placing "citizens" onto Manhattan Island. They have a hand of 3 cards, and play 1 per turn, drawing back up to 3 afterward. This represents the citizens of NYC going about their daily business in Manhattan. The hand of cards gives the players some strategic options, as you will notice when I discuss the second phase. Amongst the draw deck of the citizen cards are 3 "zombie infection" cards. Each time one of these comes up, 2 zombies are placed on the board in random spots. This represents the spread of the infection as discussed in the backstory. (Which I'll post in a reply). Once the third zombie infection card is drawn, the round finishes and then the second phase begins.

The second phase consists of players turning over "movement/zombie proliferation" cards, and attempting to save as many of their citizens as possible. The cards are kept face down (a stack of 5 per player to start), and players have the option of turning over up to 3 cards, one at a time, on their turns. These are numbered 1 through 4 (with varying distribution) and the total is how many spaces the player may move his citizens. For example, if a total of 5 is revealed, that player may move any number of citizens up to a total of 5 spaces (1 citizen 5 spaces, or 1 three and another 2, etc.). The object is to get the citizens to the escape routes (Holland Tunnel, Queensboro Bridge, Brooklyn/Manhattan Bridges, etc.) Once a player finishes his movement, he replenishes his deck based on how many cards he played. Played 3? Replenish zero. Played 2, replenish 1, and so on, up to replenishing 3 cards and taking no movement. The player then places 2 zombies on the board, in a space containing a zombie or adjacent to any space containing a zombie.

Shuffled in with the movement cards are "zombie proliferation" cards. When one appears, the turn pauses, and any space with a zombie in it gets another zombie, and 2 additional random spaces gain a zombie.

At any time during the game (except when resolving movement), if the number of citizens in a space is outnumbered by zombies, those citizens are considered "dead", as in the zombies got themselves some dinner.

Overall, the playtests have gone very well...the zombies proliferate slowly at first, then faster and faster as the game plays, which adds some tension. Player placing zombies tends toward some "screw your neighbor", but not overly so...there is safety in numbers, as in not being outnumbered by zombies.

So, thoughts on my concept? I'd love to hear your input, and add it to the feedback that I've already received. I feel like with some more fleshing out, and a ton more play-testing, I have a pretty solid idea.

Thanks for reading so much if you made it this far!

-Brent