Dawn of the Dead (game)
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 Cover art by John H. Butterfield | |
| Designers | John Butterfield |
|---|---|
| Illustrators | John Butterfield, Redmond A. Simonsen |
| Publishers | Simulations Publications Inc. |
| Publication | 1981 |
| Genres | Zombie apocalypse |
Dawn of the Dead is a science fiction board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1981 that is based on the zombie film released the same year, Dawn of the Dead.
Victory conditions
Dawn of the Dead is a two-player game set in a shopping mall on the day after a zombie apocalypse. One player controls four humans — two SWAT team members armed with M16 rifles and a man and woman armed with pistols — trapped in the mall and surrounded by zombies.[1] The other player controls the zombies that try to either kill the humans, or infect them, causing the humans to become zombies themselves.[2]
The humans start in different areas of the mall and must first link up in order to survive. Their advantages in combat are their relatively high speed and their firearms. Zombies move slowly and have less combat ability, but can go berserk, which increases their combat strength; this may cause one or more of the humans to panic, ending the panicked character's weapon fire for the rest of the turn. The zombie player can also "hide" up to five zombies to ambush unwary humans.[2]
The game comes with a rulebook, an 11" x 17" map of the mall, and counters representing four humans and fifty zombies. The rules also include a solitaire game.[2]
The human player wins if the human team can arm the civilians with hunting rifles, lock all the mall doors to prevent new zombies from entering, and then kill all the zombies left in the mall.[2]
The zombie player wins if three of the humans are killed or infected; this requirement is reduced to only two humans if one of the victims is the woman.[2]
Publication history
In 1980, SPI was one of the two largest wargame publishers in North America, but the wargame market abruptly began to soften, and SPI tried to pivot to licensed board games. They first produced The Big Red One, a licensed game based on the movie of the same name. The Dallas role-playing game, based on the popular television series, was much less successful. In 1981, SPI tried again, acquiring the board game license for the film Dawn of the Dead. John Butterfield designed the game as well as the box cover art, and it was released by SPI in 1981.