The Walking Dead television series satisfied my need for more zombie media, and as I’ve been making my way through the Telltale episodic adventure video-game series, this dice game also conveniently made it to the table. Accessing zombies across all the entertainment media was not on my bingo card this year, but we’re embracing it anyway.
The Walking Dead: The Dice Game is a dice-rolling game for 2-4 players that takes about 30 minutes to play. The best experience is with three players so everyone can get through the deck of cards in a reasonable amount of time.
Gameplay Overview:
The game takes place during a supply run, and players take turns going through the Exploration Deck as far as they can while battling Walkers and Survivors. The deck contains Location Cards, which potentially have supplies and enemies, while Event cards have a set of special instructions to follow.
The player’s turn begins with all Attack Dice, the blue Special Die, and three Wound Cubes. The top card of the Exploration Deck is revealed for the player to resolve. If it contains Walkers or an enemy Survivor, a battle begins and the player must attack until they defeat that newlt drawn opponent or are knocked out.
To attack, players roll the blue Special Die and up to three other Attack Dice which have varying strengths. The blue die has different faces that either hinder or augment the attack result. If the attack score for the roll matches or beats the fight value on the card, the player has successfully defeated the enemies, and the card is placed in front of them in their Stash. If the attack score does not match or beat the fight value, the player will lose wound cubes equal to the number of bites shown on the card and the fight continues on.
Once a player has lost all three Wound Cubes or if they run out of Attack Dice to roll, they are Knocked Out and their turn immediately ends, scoring nothing. Play then passes to the next player.
However if the player still has wound cubes and attack dice available after a successful attack, they can choose to continue through the Exploration Deck and take their chances on more supplies until they are defeated (scoring nothing), or they can choose to end their turn with their existing stash.
The gameplay continues until one player ends their turn with a running total of 15 or more supplies in their stash. All other players then get a final turn to try and beat that score. In the event of a tie, gameplay continues until a winner is found.
Game Experience:
Unlike the fairly predictable world we live in, The Walking Dead vibe is all about extreme scarcity and small windows of survivability. No one likes to hunt for supplies, especially when most of the world has turned into Walkers that occupy all manner of streets and buildings. The gambling tactics in this game illustrate this vibe well because venturing further into an area could bring the promise of more supplies but also mean higher chances of death.
It’s always up to the person to decide how far they want to go, but the dice add that extra vulnerability of limited resources. It feels great to be able to overcome Walkers or Survivors and make it out alive with a big stash of supplies, but chasing that feeling is definitely playing with fire. For players who love that kind of rush and excitement, any dice rolling game satiates that need for energy.
For those who are a fan of The Walking Dead universe, you’ll get to encounter some of your favorite characters on different cards throughout the Exploration Deck. There isn’t much more to this than their cards having a small impact on your turn, so you will need to use your imagination and maybe dig deep into the roleplay to make it more interesting. The distribution of these cards works out well thematically and has you thinking “You again?!” during your run.
Some may argue that gambling in these types of games doesn’t necessarily have a lot of strategy, but the fact that you can quit at any time does require a bit of thought on your turn. The dice may beg to differ of course, but if you’re already interested in a dice-rolling game, you know what to expect and how to meter your emotional reaction to foiled plans.
As much as I wish that The Walking Dead theme could carry this game to a high final score, the inconsistent rulebook as well as the imbalance in card types brought down the enjoyment quickly. This isn’t one of those games that you can just read at the table, so I recommend a reliable game-teacher read the rules once before your groups attempts a game night with this.
As for card imbalance, it’s disheartening to encounter difficult enemy fights with very little reward, combined with the risk of giving up an entire run of wins, simply because you ran out of steam at the wrong time. Overall I don’t see the game being one you’ll replay at the same table with the same group of people, but if you enjoy this game and want to play more of it, you can certainly bring it out with a new group without it feeling stale.
Final Thoughts:
This game is for fans of both The Walking Dead and dice-rolling games who are looking to add another small box game to their collection. You’ll get a taste of what it’s like to go on a supply run to survive the apocalypse and gamble your life for crumbs, possibly running into your favorite Walking Dead characters along the way.
Knowing when to end your run is the best part of this game to master and as long as you have new folks at the table you could arguably play The Walking Dead: The Dice Game forever. However, for those who rely on a well-written rulebook or balanced gameplay this game may not be for you.
Final Score: 2 Stars – Experience the world of The Walking Dead and take your chances during a supply run in this dice rolling game.
Hits:
• Survival illustrated through gambling tactics
• Revisit favorite Walking Dead characters
• Fun mix of strategy and luck
Misses:
• Inconsistent rules language
• Imbalanced mix of card types
• Lacks replay value
