MonopoZombie

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

Playable with a regular monopoly set with minimal (or no?) additional stuff.

"Zombies care not for your mindless capitalism"

Gameplay

The game is divided into three distinct stages.

Stage One: Capitalism

• This is played as per normal monopoly rules. Basically a capitalism microcosm.
• Players tactics may differ due to how the latter parts of the game evolve, but the game *mechanism* at this stage remains unchanged. House rules (once around board before purchase, tax->free parking, and so on) are discouraged in favour of actual Monopoly rules.
• However: Should a player roll a double-1 (ie, total "2"), they have moved too slowly, and are caught by a zombie of which players were previously unaware of.
  • That player turns into a zombie prior to enacting any actions required by the resulted position, and so enters the second stage
  • Note: players cannot become a zombie on their first time around the board.

Stage Two: Outbreak

• This is still largely played as per normal monopoly rules, but with an increased chance that a player may become a zombie.
• Zombie's continue to take their turn as before, however, their operate under new movement principles:
  • Instead of 2 D6 dice, zombies move according to 2 D4 dice (simulate from D6 with re-rolls as needed)
  • Zombies may move in either direction around the board, as per the players choosing.
• Human players continue to do commerce with each other and the bank as per usual, but the zombie cares not for your mindless capitalism, and create the following changes:
  • Zombies check chance/chest cards, but ignore them. They care not for your mindless capitalism
  • Zombies do not follow "teleport" movement (go to nearest railway, go to jail, etc)
  • Zombies do not get another go on a double
  • If a zombie lands on an unowned property it immediately goes to auction
  • Should a player land on a zombie property with no improvement, then the human becomes a zombie.
  • However, if the zombie property has improvement, the human survives, but at the expense of one level of improvement - so in time zombie properties will reduce to being unsafe. If multiple players occupy the same property at once, then only one demolition occurs, when the property is vacant.
  • If a zombie shares an unimproved space with a human, the human turns zombie.
    • Unless: there are more humans than zombies on that space - but only while that is true. Should another zombie join, or a player leave, then the balance may change.
    • exception: "free parking" remains as a rest space - cannot be turned to zombie there
    • also note: "in jail" and "just visiting jail" are seperate. (Zombies cannot go "in jail")
  • If a zombie lands on an improved player property even when no player is on there, then one level of improvement is demolished when the zombie (or last zombie if multiple) leaves. (note: this was not playtested)

Stage Three: Apocalypse

• Once zombies equal or outnumber human players, the economy collapses, and remaining humans move to survival mode.
• No economic transactions occur, including building properties (or demolishing for monopoly-rule reasons. Demolition now only occurs for zombie-rule reasons)* Zombies continue as before.
• Humans now move with increased agility, by rolling 3 D6, and choosing two according to their need
  • this increases the chances that a human can 'choose' a double and get a second roll.
  • this also allows for increased chance for a human to 'choose' a double-1 and become zombie
• Winning conditions for a human: be the last human alive, occupying your own property with a house, and have no zombies also on that location
• Winning conditions for zombies: all players are zombies, and be the first to land in 'jail' (justification: the last source of human brains)

To consider

These are post-testing ideas, and need testing before considered good or not

• In apocalypse mode: humans that land on their own multi-house property, may then "carry" a house with them, and deposit it on the first empty zombie-land they encounter - the player then claims that property (with the house), meaning it can no longer 'turn' a human. It will nonetheless get demolished should a zombie visit it.
  • Justification: provides a reason for players to build multiple houses in capitalism mode - however the 'demolition' rules added should also provide that motive, so this may just be unneeded complexity
• In Outbreak mode: vaccines - the idea that once "bitten" (double-1), you pay for a vaccine and continue operating as human. The argument is that this holds to the capitalism ideas of monopoly. However for the sake of avoiding monopoly end-game, there has to be a certain inevitability to a player turning zombie (so: increase cost of vaccine per turn? eg: cost of vaccine per turn = $50 × {turns since bitten} ?), which means the tactics of a player inevitably turning zombie would be... to demolish houses but keep properties and then suicide out to zombie? it's unclear... I like the idea from a capitalism point of view, but not sure it'll hold to playability.
• Should stations/utilities by default provide safe shelter

The following original ideas were not playtested

• Once there is a zombie on the board, remaining humans can choose to team up. They can only do this IF they happen to share a space. They do this by pooling their dice rolls (2 players = 4 dice, 3 players = 6 dice) for the round, and then sharing out the accumulated positional moves between team-members (however, each human must still move a minimum of 2 squares, just like regular two-dice rolls). Totals that do not divide evenly will result in a team getting split up, or they may deliberately split up to achieve shelter, or target properties to purchase (oooh, tactics!)
• There may be cards that modify any existing rules/behaviours? (eg "get out one zombie bite free")
• Should houses/hotels be fortified as an enhancement beyond the standard monopoly building code?

Changelog

• 2016 Aug 23 - First play testing
• 2014 Jul 02 - Initial writeup

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)

Links

• 2014 FB thread where idea first grew: https://www.facebook.com/nemothorx/posts/10152542793653216* 2016 FB thread after initial playtesting: https://www.facebook.com/nemothorx/posts/10154489150088216