Revision as of 23:54, 15 May 2023

Zombies care not for your mindless capitalism!

A board game where a zombie apocalypse overruns a traditional Monopoly game, saving it from traditional end-game tedium

2-8 (or more?) players (optimal is probably around 4-6 players)

Equipment

Playable with a regular Monopoly set.

Although not required, it can assist to additionally have

• Alternate tokens (as a human/zombie identifier method)
• One or more extra D6 (for survival/team human movement)
• A pair of D4 (for zombie movement)
• A notepad and pen (really helps with working out team movement)

Gameplay TL;DR

CAPITALISM!

• Play normal monopoly (with some MonopoZombie specific houserules).
• After each player makes it around the board once, they become vulnerable to zombification on snake-eyes or go-to-jail.

OUTBREAK!

• Someone has become a zombie!
• "human" players continue with capitalism, but there are new ways to become zombified: sharing a square with another zombie, or unimproved zombie "owned" property.
• Zombies roll 2D4 and move either direction, and destroy improvements to properties.

APOCALYPSE!

• Zombies are half or more of all players and the economy breaks down. Capitalism is dead.
• Humans become survivalists - now move by choosing 2 from 3D6, and can travel in groups

Win by:

• humans win as a team when all remaining humans simultaneously are on the same human-owned IMPROVED property
• zombies win individually only once all players are zombies, and then the first zombie to 'jail' square wins.

During play, should uncertainty arise in rules, then the banker (or other designated player) acts as adjudicator. They should strive to remain impartial in this role, and consider the tropes of human/zombie/apocalypse logic of the game (eg: consider the nature of slow zombies, safe houses, and so on). They may also act as a GM and storytell elements of the game (especially during outbreak/apocalypse stages)

Gameplay basics

This section should provide sufficient detail for the main gameplay. Clarifications and advanced options are provided in a later section.

The game is divided into three distinct stages. Capitalism, Outbreak and Apocalypse.

Stage One: Capitalism

This stage of the game is the traditional Monopoly microcosm of capitalism, with a few custom houserules. The Capitalism stage lasts as long as ALL players are "human".

Whilst player tactics may differ based on knowledge of the later stages of the game, the game mechanism is Monopoly. Common house rules (eg: once around board before purchase, tax->free parking, and so on) are not used. The play is by genuine Monopoly rules, plus the following MonopoZombie specific houserules:

Houserules

MonopoZombie skips the initial game tedium and kickstarts being a landlord with the following setup:

• Excluding railways, utilities, and the first and last colour group, shuffle the remaining 18 property cards and deal one to each player
• Roll a D6 to select a bank-owned property on each side of the board upon which to place a house (re-roll if the dice selects a property dealt in the previous step)
  • These pre-improved properties now have a market value of original market value, plus HALF the price of a house. (Making them a great deal!)

Once play is underway, the following houserules apply

• House construction no longer requires ownership of an entire colour group. However, the requirement that development must be even remains. Thus, the first owner of the first property can immediately build one house, regardless of who owns the rest, or their state of house development. However, a player may not build a second house till all other properties in that group also have a house. Demolition need not be even however - properties may be demolished at any time for any reason (broke and need money, or zombies) without regard to other properties in the colour group.
  • Players may build a house on their seeded property before the game begins.
• After a player has traveled around the board once, they are vulnerable to being converted to a zombie

How you get converted into a Zombie

Each player is immune to becoming a zombie on their first time around the board by any method in the Capitalism or Outbreak stages of the game.

After a players first time around the board (once they arrive or pass "Go"), they are susceptible to the following zombie conversion methods:

• When a player rolls a double-one (for any reason: normal roll, jailbreak attempt, as instructed by card), then they are considered to be moving too slow and are converted. For the purposes of human/zombie interactions, they are human at the start of their movement, and arrive (two squares on) as a zombie.
• All methods that send a player to jail (Go To Jail square, card, or doubles thrice in a row) are instead interpreted as "Stay where you are (or take the third movement if a dice roll method) but become a zombie"
• "Get out of Jail Free" cards are instead interpreted as a one-time "infinite strength immunity to zombie conversion" card. This covers ALL zombie conversion methods at any point in the game.

The game enters "Stage Two: Outbreak" upon the first conversion.

Stage Two: Outbreak

Here the game begins to properly diverge from traditional Monopoly.

Outbreak stage begins with the first zombie conversion, and in 4+ player games, lasts while the majority of players are still human. In 2 and 3 player games, it either ends on the second conversion, or once all human players have done a lap of the board past their position when the Outbreak began.

Human players continue playing the rules of Stage One: Capitalism (however their tactics are increasingly likely to be influenced by the oncoming apocalypse), whilst zombies operate by entirely new rules.

How to be a zombie

Players who are zombies continue to take their turn in the same table position as before. However, they operate under new movement principles to reflect their shambling/mindless nature.

• Zombies move according to 2D4 dice. (if D4 are unavailable, use D6 and re-roll any result of 5 or 6)
• Zombies may move in either direction around the board. (Player rolls dice, then chooses from two potential target locations)
• Zombies check chance/chest cards, but ignore them. (Players may taunt human players with the results)
• Zombies do not follow any "teleport" movement instructions (go to nearest railway, jail, etc)
• Zombies do not get another go on a double dice roll.
• Zombies care not for your mindless capitalism, and do not participate in any normal commerce. Players should return their money to the bank upon conversion.
• Properties owned by a converted player now become zombie infection grounds. Mortgage status is ignored.
  • by convention, place these under their locations on the board as a visual reference
• If a zombie lands on an unowned property, it immediately goes to auction amongst the human players.
  • alternative to play test: the property becomes a zombie infection ground. It's better story logic, but will this tilt the game too far in favour of zombies?

New zombie conversion methods

Each zombie and each infection ground is counted as a 'conversion point'. Each human and each improvement (including those on zombie owned lands) are considered an 'immunity point'. Tally conversion vs immunity, with the tiebreak being in favour of conversion.

In practical terms, this means:

• Human on an unimproved zombie infection ground results in immediate conversion upon arrival, or if the location becoming an infection ground whilst the player is there
• Humans landing on an improved zombie infection ground are safe - unless there are equal or more zombies as there are houses.
• Multiple humans on the same location are safe from the arrival of a zombie, or the turning of their location into an infection ground while they're there. However in outbreak stage, humans are still playing at selfish capitalism and cannot move together - they will leave separately (and new zombies may arrive), increasing the chance of conversion.
• Most non-property board locations (Chance/Chest/Go/JustVisiting/Tax) cannot be owned, but conversion may still occur by sharing that location with a zombie.
• 'Free Parking' square is considered a safe zone - an infinite-strength immunity to conversion square throughout the game.
  • Note: you can still be converted by a double-one to or from Free Parking. Just not by sharing a it with any number of zombies.
• (not yet play tested) Railways are considered to have permanent structures and so always provide immunity to conversion, regardless of "zombie" ownership.

Properties and zombies

Houses are demolished by the conflict of zombies at human-owned-houses, or of humans at houses on infection grounds.

• Zombies demolish human-owned houses when they're vacant. They never demolish houses on infection grounds.
  • This occurs either at the arrival of a zombie on a vacant owned property, or the departure of a human from using the house for safety. If other humans or zombies arrive to the same property, then recalculate on each arrival or departure.
  • Each zombie only demolishes one house at a location (either on their arrival, OR a human departure) before needing to move on. They may then return to demolish again.
• A human arriving at a house on an infection ground may shelter at the house safely, but the house will be demolished when the last human abandons (flee!) it.
  • If the human is converted to a zombie by being overrun by other zombies on that location, then the house is demolished as part of the conversion
• Humans cannot manage properties with a zombie on it.
  • No obtaining rent
  • No building (rebuild only after all zombies have moved on)
  • No demolishing (a human using it as a safe house is protected against unexpected demolition)

Note: behaviour of bank-owned houses from the game setup is not yet defined (needs playtest: if the property is instantly owned by a zombie (see above note re: playtesting that variant), does the house get demolished or not?)

Zombie/Property lookup table

This table summarises the basic "when is a house demolished?" question and is otherwise based on "at most one human and one zombie" common case. Multiple humans (coincidentally or as a group) and/or zombies on a location can alter things.

Outbreak mode always lasts a minimum of one round - ie, every player is guaranteed one turn in Outbreak mode

The game then enters the Apocalypse via the following rules

• For 2 and 3 player games, outbreak lasts till the first of
  • A second zombie conversion
  • All humans have completed a full lap around the board back past their individual 'start of outbreak' positions
• For 4+ players, when the count of zombies is equal to or outnumbering the human players.
  • ie, the second zombie in a 4 player game. The third zombie in 5 or 6 player games, a fourth zombie in 7 or 8 player games, etc.
• If a threshold conversion occurs during the "minimum of one turn per player" round, then the Apocalypse is delayed till that is completed.

Stage Three: Apocalypse

By now capitalism has failed to protect against zombies. The economy collapses and the last vestiges of original Monopoly rules are swept clear. All remaining humans now move to survival mode.

• All commerce and economic-based activity halts. All money goes back to the bank - it's closed down.
• No more building of properties.
• No more demolishing for monopoly-rule reasons - demolitions are now zombie-based reasons only.
• We keep track of property ownership for-infection ground tracking. Mortgage status is irrelevant.
• Zombies continue as before
• Humans now move in survival mode.
  • Any humans that have not managed to make it around the board once (impossible in 2 player games, but otherwise viable with a short and fast Outbreak), ARE now susceptible to infection.

How to survive as a human

Nemo contemplates the impossibility of him winning whilst remaining human

• Humans now move with increased agility and tactics. This is achieved by allowing movement in either direction, and by rolling 3D6 and choosing two. This means each human has up to 6 possible target locations to choose from.
  • If a double is chosen, then roll-again is now optional. There are no longer any penalties or limits for repeated double-based roll-agains.
  • players may choose to self-infect if a target position would have that result, or if double-1 is a dice option.
• Community Chest / Chance cards are still checked - as they include the "jail" cards now treated as zombie infection/immunity. No other cards have any effect (including the "move to" cards)
• Humans may now group up and move together. This is beneficial for the following reasons
  • Moving simultaneous makes individuals less vulnerable to zombies, eg multiple humans gathering on a zombie infection grounds - they are safe so long as the number of humans is always greater than the number of zombies+1
  • Easier to meet the human winning conditions.
• A group is formed (or grown) when multiple humans are on the same square by normal movement mechanisms. The earlier member(s) of the group then 'delay' their turn till the normally-scheduled turn of the most recently joined group member, and then all members of the group roll 3D6 and trade the resulting dice in an attempt to equalise each members movements, and so be able to move as a group. It's also permissible to trade dice in a way that splits the group, whilst still maximising each individual (or smaller-group)'s chance of making it to a safe location. A notepad (or yet more dice) is advised for these negotiations.
  • If trade negotiations fails to allocate dice, then ultimately the original roller of each dice controls it for their own use.
  • A player may only remain part of a group for a maximum of three turns, after which point they must take their normal turn as an individual again.
  • After leaving a group, a player must have two normal independent turns before they can join a group again. Note: players may still aim to land on the same locations - useful for protecting buildings and winning, but must do so with individual dice rolls and turns - no trading.
  • If a new human joins an existing group with no obvious way of delaying turns to synchronise (eg: the turn order is: member-who-is-already-delaying, newly-arrived-human, member-who-group-takes-their-turn-on, then the two group members can elect to have a once-only zero-movement turn so to bring the new member into sync. Note that this does consume one of the three moves allowable to those players as part of the group.

Note: the following train rules have not yet been playtested. Feedback doubly appreciated

• A human (or group) on a train station is immune to conversion, but cannot win on a station location. Instead, they may choose to travel down the train tunnels, rolling a D4 to determine which station they come out at (number determines how many stations clockwise to move. A "4" means you remain at the same station)
  • After arriving at a new station (or back at the same, via "4"), the player MUST travel the board normally the following move.
  • Groups do not succeed at sticking together through the tunnels - each player rolls a singular D4 and must honour it. If multiple players happen to arrive at the same same station together, they start a new group (ignoring any prior group timetables)
• Zombies may also travel down train tunnels. Like humans they may only enter a tunnel if they start on one.
  • Like humans, Zombies roll a D4 to determine their exit station, however it takes a zombie two turns to arrive.
  • Unlike humans, a zombie newly arrived at a station via tunnel, may re-enter the tunnels again.

Winning conditions

Humans win collectively when all remaining humans are on an improved human-owned property, with no zombies also on that location. Note that humans do not need to be moving as a group to win - they can arrive on the location independently. However, group movement makes it easier.

Zombies win individually, and can only win when ALL players are already zombies, at which point the winning zombie is the first onto the "just visiting/jail" square. Should multiple zombies be already on 'just visiting' when the last human is turned, then the winning zombie is the one who was most recently human (they're least decayed = strongest).

• If multiple humans were turned to zombies simultaneously earlier in the game, and so are tied for age-since-conversion, then the tiebreak between them is the zombie who arrived on Just Visiting first.

Gameplay advanced

This section is for elements of the game which are either unnecessary for enjoyable basic gameplay, or unlikely to occur at all, and so explained here separate to keep the main rules simple. These are basically for folks who really enjoy the roleplaying elements of the zombie apocalypse, and want to consider additional scenarios.

Bodyguards

Only valid in Outbreak mode: Players may pre-pay for a bodyguard. $100/bodyguard/round. Each bodyguard acts as an extra human for the purposes of counting human/zombie interactions. Bodyguard(s) can only be purchased on a players roll, and remain active with the player (protecting them from zombie arrivals) till the players next roll. If they choose to continue with bodyguard (pay again), there is no break in guarding.

Bankruptcy / Homelessness

Effects all stages of the game. A player who becomes bankrupt (by normal monopoly means) in Capitalism or Outbreak stages, remains in the game and now plays as follows:

• They travel at the speed of 1D6 and still adhere to clockwise motion.
• They can never be turned zombie through the "moving too slow" (double-one) logic, with rationale being that homelessness lends a skill at being relatively invisible - and thus they can dodge zombies even when moving slow.
• They no longer take their turn in the normal play order, instead:
  • If they land on an un-owned property, it immediately goes to auction to the other humans
  • If they land on an owned property, they do not pay rent. Instead, they squat there till the owner of that property has their next move, at which point, prior to the owners roll, the homeless squatter takes their turn, repeating till they have found a property owned by another, or a non-property square).
  • If they are on a non-property square, they remain there, with their next turn occuring only when another player moves past them (or lands on the location)
• They check Chance/Chest cards as per normal, and honour them as far as is possible. Funds gained from this and also passing Go can rescue them from bankruptcy, at which point they resume normal 2D6 play in their original play position, pay rent as normal, etc. However, once a player is homeless once, it's likely they'll be homeless again soon.
• Outbreak/Apocalypse stages: Any player who has been homeless (regardless of current status) gains the ability squat in a zombie-owned house without causing that house to be demolished when they leave. This leads to a bonus winning condition where if the last human has was-homeless skills, they can win by landing on ANY remaining house, so long as no zombie is also on that property.
• Apocalypse stage: Any humans that were homeless at the time of the apocalypse now move by choosing one of 2D6 (still immune to double-one conversion), but permanently regain "two from 3D6" movement as soon as they join a group. (after which point they are susceptible to a double-one conversion again). They retain their "last human, but homeless" winning condition option.

Note: as of writing, Homelessness has been part of the rules for a few games, but has never actually occurred

Hospitals / Cure

Is the zombie virus curable? This game says yes!

Hotels are considered 'hospitals' in this game. They retain the same build/demolition/rent characteristics as per Monopoly hotels in Capitalism/Outbreak stages, but can cure zombies in Outbreak/Apocalypse stages.

In the Outbreak stage, a zombie landing on a hospital is immediately cured. However, any properties previously owned by that player remain infection grounds, and the player instead is immediately in 'homeless' mode.

In the Apocalypse stage, a zombie can only be cured at a hospital with a human present (order of human+zombie arrival at the hospital is irrelevant). The cured zombie again gains 'homeless' status, with the skills and restrictions that entails. However, unless the humans that cured them are a group on the verge of breaking up, the cured can join the group and immediately regain full movement options. Note that for this to work fully, it requires that zombies do not demolish Hospitals upon arrival at them. But they are bigger structures and still eventually succumb - they are demolished (down to 4 houses) when the zombie(s) leave.

Further gameplay ideas

These are ideas that have come about from after-testing discussions and document writing, but need playtesting before considering adding to the main rules.

The current rules are human-biased (Zombies almost never win), and the first three proposals here are considerations to balance that some.

• Zombies demolish all improvements without discrimination (ie: infection ground houses are demolished same as safe houses)
• When a player is converted, one house on each property they own is automatically demolished
• Just Visiting as an infection ground
• Zombies must choose direction BEFORE rolling dice. This would increase their apparent mindlessness and slow their ability to tactically target human-owned improvements for demolishing.
• Outbreak cannot occur till *ALL* players have been around the board once. Alternatively, this as a prerequisite for the apocalypse stage
• Roll for zombie conversion
  • Modify the conversion rules so each conversion opportunity is played as a dice roll. Each human/bodyguard/property earns the defence on D6. Each zombie/infection ground earns the attack a D6. Each side rolls, largest wins. re-roll ties.
  • note: new battle between all humans and zombies occur on any *arrival* to a property, but not on departures. (humans sneak out, zombies mindlessly shamble away)
  • I don't think this should include snakeeye/jail conversions. (they are already governed by chance)
• What about non-property locations? Free Parking is already a guaranteed infinite-immunity square, whilst GoToJail is an infinite-infection square.
  • What about Go/Chance/Chest/Just Visiting Jail/tax?
• unowned properties randomly turn into zombie infection grounds.
  • The proposal for this is: On each players second and subsequent travel past 'Go', one bank-owned property is chosen at random to become an infection ground.
  • Extended/balanced proposal: prior to the above, one bank-owned property is chosen at random and gets a +1 house (purchase price becomes property+house price? property+1/2house price?).
  • This would occur PER PLAYER on their SECOND and each subsequent time past Go - thus helping ensure that a lengthy capitalism phase is avoided :)
• Remove the homeless complication and simplify to bankrupcy=zombification
• This Fan made "Ultimate Monopoly" board is kind of insane, and proved to be fun for a longer game. See Apr2019 notes from the Playtest Log below
  • https://www.deviantart.com/jonizaak/art/Ultimate-Monopoly-Rules-425676962
    • from https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8l2r3n/friendship_killer/dzd0cq5/?context=3
    • https://www.deviantart.com/chadws/art/Ultimate-Monopoly-Action-Cards-Set-425506246
  • Further rule tweaking is recommended for such a board, but will not be covered in this writeup.
• Other fan extensions to Monopoly/Ultimate Monopoly from which MonopoZombie rules could (probably) be applied:
  • https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Monopoly_Mega_rules_clarifications
  • https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/317571/super-add-expansion-monopoly-monopoly-mega-edition
  • https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Monopoly/Stock_Exchange
    • https://www.deviantart.com/njr75003/art/MONOPOLY-Stock-Exchange-Add-On-Set-356805444
• Consider raising the threshold of minimum roll to avoid conversion as Capitalism/Outbreak progresses. eg, perhaps after everyone has been around once, conversion occurs also occurs if you roll 3. After everyone has been around twice, conversion occurs up to 4. etc
• Consider treating the "get out of jail" card not as immunity to conversion, but cure from conversion - and thus allowing zombie->human conversion at any time in the game (including apocalypse)
  • thinking that this card would one-time prevent conversion for a human with no change in abilities, but act as a reversion to human for zombies, who now operate under the homeless rules.
    • Consider making the homeless movement rules align better with zombie movement rules.

Playtest Log

• Jan 2023 - Four(?) person playtest.
  • Very long capitalism phase, leading to consideration of raising the conversion threshold after some time.
  • Game was unfinished - reached apocalypse phase but players left due to having other commitments.
• Dec 2022 - Four person playtest
  • very short capitalism and outbreak modes (two zombies in two moves, leaving two players not having even been around the board once!). Need to consider refining the rules to ensure adequate capitalism and (especially) outbreak timings
  • humans won as a team on a BANK owned property (some discussion as to whether this was a valid win condition)
  • post-game discussion: to consider for apocalypse mode:
    • stations as safe refuge, but not a win conditions
    • What do do with unclaimed (bank) properties at the start of apocalypse? In order of my preference best to worst:
      • they continue to be claimed on first visit, just like Capitalism mode, but without the capitalism - thus winnable condition since they're claimed on the win
      • they remain with the bank and be a winnable condition, but zombies can expand infection grounds by landing on an unclaimed property NEXT to an existing infection ground so to grow it
      • unclaimed properties (ie, bank) dealt to all players at start of apocalypse.

• July 2020 - Second known non-Nemo playtesting, first known outside Australia (UK) Suggestion to simplify bankrupcy=become zombie. Rule clarifications - will be folded in to here shortly
• April 2019 - Playtest of the triple-ring fan-made board: Ultimate Monopoly
  • Scaled up the pre-seeding to suit (I think we pre-allocated three properties per player, and pre-build three bank-owned houses per side of the board (one on each side of the traditional ring, and two on the outer ring)
  • Tunnel movement rules: capitalism humans treat the double-height train tunnel position as one square - trains are fast. Zombies and survivalist humans have to shamble/walk down tunnels, so treat them as two positions (a start and an end) Tunnels allowed even MORE targets per dice
  • (I think I have notes somewhere of this. Should find)
• 2018 Sep 16 - Playtest with 6 (two humans team won), then two further games with 4 (both won by a solo human).
  • 6 player game ended with suggestion of pre-seeding players with a property, and the board with a few houses. This was subsequently tested on the four players games and considered a success - added to the rules. Usage of 'Clue(do)' player pieces used to indicate zombieism
• 2018 Sep 1 - Playtest with 7. Notable for being the first game that Nemo wasn't part of (as far as he knows).
  • Won by a team of 3 humans won
  • Outbreak phase was quite short (by chance), and no conversions occured in apocalypse phase. No conversions by zombie-human interaction.
  • Observations that zombies not destroying infection grounds is confusing.
  • Suggestion of just visiting being an infection ground, and using human/zombie coin flip under pieces to assist in identification.
• 2018 Jul 14 - Playtest with 3. Several games utilising homeless/hospital rules. Found to work but no major change to tactics really. Included a game where each person played two characters for a 6player test. Humans won most (all?) games.
• 2018 Jun 16 - Playtest with 5. Outbreak occured as soon as in-game possible, and lasted only one turn, thus prompting the rule tweak that 'all players get one turn minimum on outbreak stage', and to clarify that in apocalypse mode, even not-once-around-the-board players are now susceptible. Bodyguard rule wasn't played. Idea for Hospital/cure was suggested and developed since. Discovered three-player group sync issues. Discovered 'two-zombies on jail simultaneously for winning' dilemma.
• 2018 Jun early - Playtest with 3. A human won by already being on their own property when the second-last human was converted
• 2018 May 27 - "board games and other fun stuff" group playtested with 4 people. Tweaked threshold for outbreak mode (guarantee a period of outbreak before apocalypse), and playtested human group movement rules to great success. (solved the 'when does the group move' issue, and limit on group lifetime was suggested). Bodyguard rule not played.
• 2017 Mar/Apr? - Playtest with four people.
• 2018 Feb 10 - Playtest with 3 people. Alter threshold for apocalypse mode (zombie count set at half total players, rounding down - so we had no outbreak mode. Capitalism direct to apocalypse), and played with new house building rules. A success (and possibly the first time a human has won?)
• 2017 Nov 25 - Novemberfest game with... 7 people? Generally enjoyed. Speculation about altering house building rules, and roll for zombie conversions - https://www.facebook.com/nemothorx/posts/10156002726323216
• 2016 Dec 25 - Second round of play testing
• 2016 Aug 23 - First play testing (3 person group) - https://www.facebook.com/nemothorx/posts/10154489150088216
• 2014 Jul 02 - Initial writeup - https://www.facebook.com/nemothorx/posts/10152542793653216

Trivia

• Let the record show that the very first roll in the very first playtest was a double-1 and so the game inventor became a zombie. (and so the second game introduced the "once around before zombie possible" rule)

• http://monopoly.wikia.com/wiki/House_Rules