Zombies!

You'll have noticed that I've not been as active on this blog as I normally am. I'll confess that my gaming mojo has temporarily deserted me, denying me a source of useful posts. On top of that it's been a busy week generally, with work, a major family medical issue and (on a positive note) my starting some dancing lessons. Hopefully things will calm down in a week or so and some form of normality will be restored.

Anyway, I have downloaded a couple of print and play solo games and thought I'd run through one here - Zombie In My Pocket. I think that this has been around for a while, but I'd not come across it before, so it's new to me. It looks like there's a simple solo version (which I have) and a more involved co-operative version for 1-8 players. The Boardgame Geek entry can be found HERE.

And here it is. Three decks of cards, and a neat folding-up rules booklet; it all prints out on three sheets of A4, so is very compact:

So what is the objective? Well, the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us, and only you can stop it! You must enter a house in search of the Evil Temple therein, find teh Zombie Totem, then bury it in the Graveyard that's in the garden. Obviously zombies will be swarming around trying to stop you. Oh, and you have to do it against the clock.

Exploring the house is done via drawing tiles from a deck as you move from room to room. You are hping to find not only the Temple tile, but also the Dining Room, as this offers egress to the garden. You then switch to the garden deck, and are then hoping to draw the Graveyard. As you enter each tile you draw an event card and resolve it. When the deck runs out you reshuffle it and the clock advances one hour. You have three hours to complete the task; 9pm to Midnight!

So let's go! I start in the Foyer. You can only exit a room through a doorway; you can see one just beyond the token.

It leads into a bedroom were I slip on a strange goo, and take damage. Not a good start.

Fortunately I then wander into the dining room, so at least know where I have to go in order to reach the garden. Unfortunately that's my first encounter with zombies, and I take some more hits. There is an option to take a breather (cower) and heal damage. This costs time, but I felt I was doing well at this stage, so I took the opportunity to rest. I moved on through the family room and then into the adjoining Evil Temple. Needless to say there were zombies there.

Defeating the zombies I searched for the totem, and found not only it, but a Mars Bar as well, which restored a little of my lost health.

I moved back through the house as the clock struck 10pm, finding a board with nails through it in the family room (don't we all have one of those?). I got to use it in the dining room, taking on more zombies. And then I was off into the garden. On the patio I found a machete. I was now a formidable zombie-killing machine - I hoped.

I got to try out my weaponry as I explored the yard, slicing my way through more zombies. Again, with an hour to spare, I chose to have a rest.

The clock struck eleven, and I found the garden after fighting my way through more zombies. Ending the turn here normally restores a point of health, but the lettuce I picked had caterpillars on it and I lost a point as well. Oh well. I had another rest, them moved on. And found the Graveyard!

And that was it. Yes, it was swarming with zombies, but I fought them off and, despite being on my last point of health, was able to bury the totem without further incident, ending the Apocalypse.

I think I had it relatively easy in this game, finding the temple and exit fairly quickly, as well as some useful weaponry. I'd played two games previously, dying in one, and running out of time in the other (where the temple and the graveyard were both at the bottom of their respective decks).

This is a nice-looking game, and reasonably fun. Not one you'd play again and again, but very portable, which is a big plus.

Next up, if I can get the cards to print and align properly, is a similar game called Desolate.