Zombie Dice

Zombie Dice, by Steve Jackson Games, takes about twenty minutes to learn and play, and the entire game fits in a dice cup. You’re a zombie roaming for brains, but every victim might be carrying a shotgun. Collect three blasts and you’re out — along with every brain you gathered that turn. First zombie to 13 brains wins.

The dice and how you roll

There are 13 dice in the cup, in three colours that mark how dangerous they are:

• 6 green dice — the tastiest: three brain faces, two footprints, one shotgun.
• 4 yellow dice — the middle risk: two brains, two footprints, two shotguns.
• 3 red dice — the deadliest: one brain, two footprints, three shotguns.

Every die has the same three symbols in different amounts — a brain (you eat it), a shotgun blast (you take a hit), and footprints (the victim ran; the die stays in play). You draw dice without looking, so you never know a die’s colour until it’s in your hand.

How to play

On your turn, shake the cup and draw three dice at random, then roll them. Resolve the faces:

• Brains — set these dice aside; each is a brain banked if you survive the turn.
• Shotgun blasts — set these aside too; they count against you. Three blasts in a turn and you’re shotgunned — your turn ends and you score zero brains for it.
• Footprints — keep these dice in hand; they’ll be rerolled next throw.

After each roll you choose: stop and bank your brains, or press on. To continue, you always roll three dice — keep your footprint dice and draw fresh ones from the cup to top the hand back up to three. If the cup runs low, banked brain dice are returned to it (blast dice stay out for the turn). When someone banks their 13th brain, the round is finished out so everyone has equal turns, and the most brains wins.

Winning strategy & the odds

Because each die carries its risk in its colour, you can read your danger at a glance:

So a green die is three times likelier to feed you than to shoot you, while a red die is the reverse. The single most useful habit is to track the colours already drawn. If the greens are mostly used up, the cup is now weighted towards yellows and reds — the same “one more roll” is far riskier than it was at the start of your turn.

• Count your blasts, not your brains. With zero blasts showing you can almost always roll again. With two blasts, a single unlucky throw ends everything — be very cautious.
• Look at your footprint dice. Rerolling a green footprint is friendly; a red footprint you’re forced to reroll is a live threat.
• Read the cup. Lots of reds still inside means pressing on is safer; a cup drained of greens means stop sooner.
• Mind the score gap. If you’re behind and it’s the final round, keep rolling past your comfort zone — you need brains, not caution. If you’re ahead, bank early and let others gamble.

As a simple guide: banking with two blasts on the table is rarely wrong, and continuing with zero blasts and green dice in hand is rarely wrong. The interesting decisions live in between.

Common mistakes

• Ignoring the colours. New players roll on autopilot; the whole edge is in noticing how many reds and greens are left.
• Pushing on two blasts. One more shotgun and the turn is void — the potential brains rarely justify a coin-flip on your whole turn.
• Forgetting footprints reroll. A footprint die isn’t safe — it comes straight back next throw, so its colour still matters.
• Banking too early when behind. Caution loses you the endgame; adjust your risk to the scoreboard.
• Not topping up to three. You draw fresh dice to refill your hand each roll — players sometimes reroll only their footprint dice by mistake.

Want to practise weighing risk against reward? Toss a few dice in your browser and see how often the “safe” roll bites.

Keep reading: the six-dice push-your-luck classic Farkle.