It's not often that I have a game that one my kids begs to play, but that was certainly the case here. From when we opened the game Christmas morning to our final envelope opening on January 8th, we played the game a total of thirty times. But, why? Was the draw for her enough to make it a good game? How did it feel for a parent playing it with her?
First, an overview of the game. You play cooperatively as a group of kids protecting your school from zombies. On your turn you spawn new zombies, move, and then remove/kill/scare- away/insert -your-age-appropriate-verb-here zombies. Your job in an individual game is to get two kids(you can play up to four players) in a entranceway together and lock the gates. If all four gates are locked, you win. If the pool of zombies is empty (i.e. they're all on the board), you lose. Without spoiling anything, as you play the game multiple times and complete missions, you open secret envelopes (13 in total) that change the rules of the game and add more elements. This, to my knowledge, is the first legacy-style game geared towards kids. How successful was it? Let's find out!
TOTAL PLAYS: 29 cooperative, 1 solo
COMPONENTS
There's nothing that stands out here. There are no miniatures or unique game pieces. You've got your sturdy, standard cardboard chits and standees. The lock pieces that took a dive into the milk were wiped off and you can't tell the different, so they've got a decent constitution. The artwork is really vibrant, playful and fun which is unique in a zombie game but works perfectly when you're playing with kids and don't want to deal wit nigh terrors at bed time. 4/5
RULES
I think the rules are one of the best parts about this game. Things start off really simply, my four and seven year olds caught onto the basics really easily. As the game progresses and the rules change, though, there are enough games played in between that the starting rules are understood and just build upon. I wish there were more kids' gams like this where the complexity slowly builds and teaches the child along the way. 5/5
GAMEPLAY
Don't let the kid graphics and simple rules fool you - this game is not easy. If you're not on top of things, bringing the best team of kids together for the mission, you're dead. We definitely lost a few times, which isn't always common in a cooperative children's game. The basic template of the game is spawn-move-kill/lock. Simple, but there are a lot of ways you can go with those steps, a lot of rooms to jump into, a lot of zombies to kill. Will you jump in now and lock a door, risking being overrun by the zombies in the school? Or do you kill a few more first and hope for a better opening? As the game changes this strategy becomes even more complex. But, not too complex for my daughters (7 yo). Even without me helping and guiding her, she would be able to make smart choices and win games.
Even though it's not part of the gameplay, per se, opening the envelopes was a big motivator to continue to play. Yes, as the game progresses, you can start to predict pretty closely what each envelope will have in it, but it's still a cool surprise every time. When I asked my daughter about the game, opening envelopes was by far her favourite part.
What do most parents hate? Kids games. I refuse to suffer through any more games of Snakes and Ladders or Raccoon Rumpus. Ok, that's not entirely true, I will stay play Raccoon Rumpus, but I'm basically asleep at the wheel. Why aren't there any games geared towards kids that are engaging for adults as well? To me, this is that game. There are layers of strategy and choice and team building that you can make that your child will never think about, but can get you really engaged in the game. I thoroughly enjoyed that piece. 5/5
REPLAYABILITY
This game has a high replayability...to a point. Once all of the envelopes are opened, the motivation to pull it off the shelf drops off significantly. The game just isn't that deep or different enough each time to make you want to play it more. That's not to say there is no motivation to play it still (you'll just have to play it yourself to find out why), but just not as much. But hey, we got 30 plays out of a game that cost me $24? I'll call that pretty good bang for your buck! 4/5
FUN
Why do we play games if not for fun? A good kids' game is fun for them to play, but a great one is also enjoyable for their parents. There is so much fun in this game. The characters are goofy and ridiculous. Opening envelopes is exciting and engaging. Deciding on the best way to make use of the rule changes to win is a fun challenge. Finding out how to outsmart the zombies takes both luck and skill. This is a game that I would even play solo because I enjoy the challenge (because there are some missions/challenges that are crazy hard) of beating the game. Playing a few games in a row can be a bit of a drag because each game is basically the same with the same win conditions, but we played three or four games a day for a few weeks and loved (almost) every second of it! 8/10
TOTAL SCORE: 26/30
Zombie Kidz: Evolution is by far the best children's game I've played and also the best bang for your back. We got 30 plays out of $24 and I'm sure we'll play it a handful of more times as well, especially when some of the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted and we can play with our friends again. I think that I would play this with my more lightweight game group as well. If you have kids in the 7-10 ranges, do yourself a favour and buy this game (even if they don't like Zombies - like my kids - they will likely still enjoy this one).
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