25th Nov2020

Game On! Review: ‘Zombie Kidz Evolution’

by Jason Brigger

A little about our family… My wife and I love playing video games, board games, card games and any tabletop game we can get our hands on. In the last several years, we have been including our 10-year-old son and our 6-year-old daughter, and sometimes our 3-year old son, in our game nights. With so many choices out there, it is difficult for families to know what a good game is for family game night and this is where we come in. We review a game to help make this decision easier and hopefully help you make a good choice for your family! All suggestions are welcomed! Please comment below.

Who We Are

  • Jason Brigger, aka the Dad: Co-host of the weekly pop culture centric podcast, The History of Bad Ideas along with a weekly review of the television series, Black Lightning, which are both on Nerdly!
  • The Boy: My 10-year-old son who enjoys all types of games, from video games to board games to card games, as long as it makes him think.

Officially, What Is It?

Per the official website, Scorpion Masque: “ZOMBIES have invaded your school! Gather your friends together for this co-operative game and come up with the best strategy to beat back these foul creatures! The more you play, the more the game TRANSFORMS! Fulfill SPECIAL MISSIONS and mark your progress using STICKERS! Open MYSTERY ENVELOPES that will enrich the game! Give POWERS to your heroes! MUTATE your zombies!”

What’s Included:

One (1) double-sided Game Board, One (1) Zombie Die, Four (4) Hero Tokens, Eight (8) Zombie Tokens (teachers, librarian, gym teacher and a custodian), Four (4) Lock Tokens, 13 sealed Evolution envelopes, and a rulebook which includes a sticker sheet and a Zombie Hunter Passport.

How Do You Play?

Setup:

Players are placed in the center of the game board, or better known as the hallway, while one zombie is placed at each outside area near the gate.

Gameplay:

The game is designed for 2-4 players as they are trying to stop their school from being overrun with a hoard of zombies. In order to do this, the players must travel through five areas of the school, the cafeteria, the gym, a classroom, the library, and the hallway, in order to reach one of the four outside areas in order to lock the main gates surrounding the school and stop the hoard from invading. Sounds easy right? It is until the zombies begin to spawn inside the school and the numbers begin to overwhelm the players!

There is a “Night” side of the board for 2 players and a “Daytime” side of the board for 3-4 players. The only difference is the “Night” side has a few additional doorways connecting the rooms as opposed to the “Daytime” board.

To start, a player rolls the custom die, which has six different colors (red, green, purple, yellow, blue, and white) that determines where a new zombie is placed on the board. The die only has one side that benefits the player, the white side, which relates to no zombies being placed on that turn. It’s not great odds but at least it’s a chance for the player to catch their breath from an ongoing wave of zombies.

As long as there is a doorway connecting the rooms, players move around the board, if they want, one space at a time. If a room has three zombies occupying it, the room is locked down and the player is not allowed to enter. Moving into a room allows the players to kill up to two zombies in that location and removing them from the game board. Don’t think they are gone long though, as they may come back on the next roll of the die!

If two players are able to make it to the outside of the school where the gates are located, they can put a padlock on the gate, stopping the zombies from entering that side. Do this at all four gates, and you win the game.

The gameplay is pretty straight-forward until you finish the game for the fifth time, then the mysterious envelopes come into play. For every five games played, one of the 13 sealed envelopes is opened, which adds new rules, special powers to both players and zombies, and other fun twists to the game.

How Do You Win?

As noted above, two players must make their way through the school and reach the same outside area. Once there, the players high-five each other and are able to lock the gate, stopping the zombies from entering the school. Do this at each of the four locations and the players win the game.

Unfortunately, if the group of players cannot work well together, it provides the opportunity for zombies to overrun the school and once all the zombie tokens are used/on the game board, the school is lost, and the players lose the game. It is essential all players learn how to work with each other in order to stop the zombies and protect the school!

In addition to just “winning” the game, the Zombie Hunter Passport provides a plethora of goals or “missions” for the players to achieve, which allows players to earn trophies and speeds up the opening of the envelopes. These goals include everything from “winning the game with two players” to “winning with no zombies present in the school”, and also adds another highlight of replayability.

What We Liked About The Game:

Dad: While Zombie Kidz Evolution is not technically a “legacy” game, it does include a total of 13 sealed envelopes that changes the gameplay. As noted above, and to avoid any real spoilers, the envelopes give each character a unique ability, like being able to move zombies to different locations, as well as giving each zombies abilities, along with adding missions to the game. The envelopes add a strong replayability factor to the game and my children cannot get enough of playing the game in order to see what mysteries are in the envelopes.

The Boy: The special powers that are added to the characters allows more options to the game. I enjoy each character having a unique special ability that causes the players to adjust how they play the game and adding the special abilities to the zombies really increases the difficulty in the game.

What We Didn’t Like About the Game:

Dad: No issues here. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and my appreciation for the gameplay grows with each game I play.

The Boy: I wish the game board was a little larger, but I understand the smaller board makes for quicker gameplay. I hope an expansion board is added later in order to change the environment and add a little more uniqueness to the game.
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Replay Value: High. The gameplay is easy to pick-up and play, fun and lighthearted. Zombie Kidz Evolution is a great family game, and the addition of the sealed envelopes provides the motivation for the family to play the game multiple times in one sitting.

Recommended Age, Per Developers: Seven (7) years and older

Our Recommended Age: If your child has played any other tabletop games we have discussed in this column before, than they will have no problem learning this game. My four-year-old can play this game with limited assistance and my six-year-old daughter grasped the rules of the game within the first several games played. Overall, any child five-years-old or older, with limited adult assistance, should have no problem playing this game.
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Final Score:

Dad’s Grade: B+
The Boy’s Grade: A

Zombie Kidz Evolution is a fantastic family game and has quickly become one of my children’s favorite games. The gameplay is initially easy to pick-up and play, but once the sealed envelopes begin to open, players must adapt to the new rules or the losses will pile up quickly. Another nice feature is the low cost of the game ($20 USD), which is relatively cheap for all the add-ons included in the game. Overall, we can’t recommend Zombie Kidz Evolution enough as the quick and easy gameplay, the fun of opening the mysterious envelopes, and the cute graphics of the characters will keep families coming back multiple times!

Have you played this game? If so, let us know what you thought of it below in the comments below!

You can catch Jason Brigger on the geek-centric podcast, The History of Bad Ideas, as new episodes are released every week at www.nerdly.co.uk or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other podcasting apps. You can listen to their latest episode right here.
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