Zombie Chickens

How to Play Zombie Chickens

In Zombie Chickens, you're a farmer fighting off nightly waves of zombified chickens. Build defenses on your Farm during the Day, then hold the line against zombies at Night. The game plays in three modes: Competitive (2–4 players), Cooperative (2–4 players), and Solo (1 player).

There are three card types: Day Cards (your defenses), Night Cards (zombies and Events), and Life Cards.

Objective (Competitive)

Survive more waves of zombies than any other player. The last farmer standing is the winner and sole survivor of the bok-bok-alypse!

Setup

1. Shuffle the Day Cards and deal 5 to each player. Place the rest face-down in the center of the table as the Day Deck.
2. Turn the top 2 cards of the Day Deck face-up, separately, next to the Day Deck.
3. Shuffle the Night Cards and place them face-down in the center of the table as the Night Deck.
4. Give Life Cards to each player: 5 each in a 2-player game, 4 each in a 3- or 4-player game. Put any extra Life Cards back in the box.

Taking Turns

Choose a player to go first. Player 1 always starts each new Day and each new Night, and play moves clockwise. A new game begins with Player 1's Morning turn.

Day: Morning and Afternoon

Every Day, each player gets two turns (Morning, then Afternoon) to build defenses on their Farm, the area in front of them. Once everyone has taken a Morning turn, Player 1 begins the Afternoon, which works exactly the same way. Each turn has 3 actions:

1. Discard 1 card (optional). Discard 1 card from your hand and immediately draw the top face-down card of the Day Deck as its replacement (you can't take a face-up card for this).
2. Place 2 cards from your hand onto your Farm, in separate "stacks" (see Card Stacks below).
3. Draw 2 cards to end your turn: either the top 2 face-down cards of the Day Deck, or the 2 face-up cards. If you take the face-up pair, flip the top 2 Day Deck cards over to replace them.

You should have 5 cards in your hand at the end of each turn.

Day Cards (Your Defenses)

• Hay Bale – stack 3 Hay Bales to build a Hay Wall.
• Scarecrow – scares away Timid zombies. It stays on your Farm to be used again (unless the zombie is also Exploding).
• Shotgun + Ammo – combine to blast a zombie. Ammo is 1-time-use.
• Booby Trap – terminates 1 zombie (1-time-use).
• Shield – shields a stack from an Exploding zombie (1-time-use). It can't defeat a zombie by itself. Place it on your Farm as its own stack; at Night you choose which stack it protects.
• Flamethrower + Fuel – combine to roast a zombie. Fuel is not 1-time-use, so a loaded Flamethrower can roast zombie after zombie.
• W.O.L.R. (Weapon Of Last Resort) – destroys any 1 zombie plus everything else on your Farm (1-time-use).

Only Ammo, Booby Trap, Shield and W.O.L.R. are 1-time-use: discard them from your Farm as soon as they're used. You may place incomplete stacks (like a Flamethrower with no Fuel yet) and add to them later.

Night

Once every player has had their Morning and Afternoon turns, Night begins. Each player is dealt Night Cards face-down: 1 each on Night 1, 2 each on Night 2, 3 each on Night 3, and so on.

Player 1 flips over 1 Night Card and must either defeat the zombie or lose 1 Life Card. Then play moves to the next player. Players keep taking turns flipping 1 Night Card at a time, with each pass around the table starting again with Player 1, until all Night Cards have been played (or only 1 player remains). Then the next Day begins.

To defeat a zombie, you need a Day Card on your Farm that can stop it. Once Night begins, you can't use any cards in your hand. Defeated zombies, and any 1-time-use cards you used, go in separate discard piles to the side. You never have to stop a zombie: you may choose to give up a Life Card instead (for example, to save a big stack from an Exploding zombie).

Zombie Traits

Each zombie has one or more traits that limit which defenses can stop it:

• Invisible – overcomes Shotgun and Flamethrower.
• Flying – overcomes Hay Wall and Booby Trap.
• Climbing – overcomes Hay Wall.
• Bulletproof – overcomes Shotgun.
• Fireproof – overcomes Flamethrower.
• Timid – frightened by Scarecrows.
• Exploding – destroys the whole stack used to defeat it (unless you use a Shield to save that stack).

A Timid zombie doesn't have to be stopped with a Scarecrow; any defense that can stop it works.

Example: You flip a Flying, Timid, Exploding zombie. Flying beats your Hay Wall and Booby Trap. Your Shotgun (with 3 Ammo) could stop it, but the explosion would destroy that whole 4-card stack, so you use your Scarecrow instead. Because the zombie is Exploding, the Scarecrow is discarded with it.

Event Cards

The Night Deck also contains Events that affect all players. When one is flipped, every player still in the game follows its instructions as best they can, then play continues to the next player. You don't draw another Night Card in its place. A Shield can't protect against Events.

Card Stacks

A stack can be a single card or a group of cards that must be used together (like 3 Hay Bales, or a Shotgun with its Ammo). You can have more than one of the same kind of stack. You may rearrange your stacks during the Day on your own turn, but never during the Night.

If the Day Deck or Night Deck runs out, shuffle that deck's discards to make a new deck.

Winning the Competitive Game

The game ends when every player but one has lost all their Life Cards. The last farmer standing wins! To keep it fair, all players get the same number of turns: if Player 1 is eliminated on their second card of Night 5, Player 2 still plays through their own second card of Night 5. If players tie, the one with the most cards left on their Farm wins. If that's also a tie, nobody wins and the zombies win!

Cooperative Version (2–4 players)

Learn the Competitive rules first. In Co-op, everyone defends a single shared Farm and tries to survive seven Nights of zombie attacks, until a rescue party arrives at dawn on the eighth day. The changes are:

• Put the Day Deck and Night Deck to the side, leaving room for the group Farm in the middle of the table.
• The group shares one stack of 5 Life Cards. Each player still gets their own hand of 5 Day Cards.
• Each player gets 1 turn per Day to build the group's Farm, instead of separate Morning and Afternoon turns.
• During the Day, players may trade any number of cards from their hands, as long as everyone ends each trade with 5 cards.
• At Night, the group as a whole receives as many Night Cards as the Night number (Night 3 = 3 cards total). Flip them one at a time and decide together how to handle each zombie.
• Talk it over! Sharing information is encouraged; some groups even play with their hands face-up.
• Events that say "all players" treat the group as one player. For example, "discard 3 cards from their Farm" means the group chooses 3 cards total.
• The starting Night depends on player count: 2 players play Nights 1–7, 3 players play Nights 3–9, and 4 players play Nights 5–11.

The game ends when the group runs out of Life Cards or survives its final Night. Score your team (Night numbers are for 2 / 3 / 4 players):

• Chicken Feed – died during (or before) Night 4 / 6 / 8
• Early Eggs-it – died during Night 5 / 7 / 9
• Hen-orable Mention – died during Night 6 / 8 / 10
• Special Forces – died during Night 7 / 9 / 11
• Team Terminator – survived Night 7 / 9 / 11

For an easier game, start with 6 shared Life Cards; for a harder one, start with 4.

Solo Version (1 player)

Learn the Competitive rules first. Take on the zombie chickens alone and try to survive seven Nights. Set up as in Competitive, with 5 Life Cards. You play just like Competitive, except you don't wait for other players: take your Morning and Afternoon turns, then face Night 1 (1 Night Card), Night 2 (2 cards), and so on. The game ends when you run out of Life Cards or make it through the end of Night 7. Score your performance:

• Died during (or before) Night 3 – Bird Brain
• Died during Night 4 – Easy Pickins
• Died during Night 5 – Better Cluck Next Time
• Died during Night 6 – Hard to Kill
• Died during Night 7 – Survivalist
• Survived Night 7 – Zombie Slayer

For an easier game start with 6 Life Cards; for a harder one, start with 4.

Full Rules and FAQs

For the complete printable instructions, download the official Zombie Chickens rules (PDF). Still have questions? Check out the Zombie Chickens FAQs.