In Card of the Dead, players have two simple objectives: get out of the zombie-infested city and don’t get eaten. This is simpler said than done when the undead are everywhere. While the game does manage to turn many zombie tropes into actual gameplay, the experience as a whole does have a few faults that stop it from reaching its full potential.
Rounds start off with players determining their starting load-out. Each is dealt 10 cards, and they can choose up to three action cards that are worth one movement point each to have handy. But what if your hand doesn’t have any action cards? Tough luck. Through this process, some players will likely have an advantage over others; just like a “real” zombie apocalypse. I like the concept of this mechanic, though it’s slow to execute. In particular, after finishing a heavily-contested round, having to take five minutes to recalibrate really kills the momentum.
Once the action starts, players draw a card and play one. Through this process, you’ll likely collect more action cards, which can be used to either deal with zombies or run away from the city. You might draw an event card, which dramatically shakes up the game. For instance, the Cornered card forces you to discard all of your action cards. Of course, there are zombies in the deck too, which will make your life problematic. Once you’ve drawn a zombie, they stay on the table in front of you. If you reach the first zombie threshold, you’re considered surrounded and you can’t use your movement points to run away. In this case, you have to use your action cards to get rid of them. Worse, if you reach the second threshold, you get eaten and are eliminated from the round.
This conflict forms the crux of the experience. Do you deal with the zombies as soon as they come in? If you do, you can’t use your action card’s movement points to run away. However, if you try to run away and get dealt a series of zombies, you may not have the actions required to get them off of your tail. Making matters worse is the fact that other players are constantly thwarting your plans by playing action cards that help themselves while screwing you over. As you can see, the notion of the zombie apocalypse not being fair is one that carries throughout.
While it’s mechanically competent, it didn’t do much to create drama. Part of it is the fact that it stays so close to its zombie tropes that it almost feels like I’ve already played this game before in other forms. Also, due to the nature of the action, you rarely feel like you’re making forward progress. Most of the time, you’re digging yourself out of a hole and you either die or not get very far. Sure, part of that is the nature of the game itself, though I personally had a hard time getting jazzed about the action when I don’t feel like it’s going anywhere.
Card of the Dead does reach its goal of turning the zombie apocalypse into a playable card game. However, the slow start-up times and stilted action fail to create any excitement beyond that. I think there’s room for this concept to grow, but it’s not there yet. I may play this a few more times, though this definitely won’t crack my rotation.
In Third Person 