™

The Game of Zany Zombie

Defense!

®
rulebook
 To watch a Zombies Keep Out
video tutorial, visit:
www.privateerpress.com/tutorials/ZKO

Credits:
President: Sherry Yeary
Chief Creative Officer: Matthew D. Wilson
Creative Director: Ed Bourelle
Project Director: Bryan Cutler
Director of Business Development: William Shick In Zombies Keep Out, the goblin bodgers find
Director of Operations: Jason Martin themselves in a whole new sort of pickle when their
Original Game Concept: David Carl and William Shick workshop comes under attack by an army of the living
Game Design & Development: David Carl dead! Fighting back in the best way they know how, the
Graphic Design Director: Josh Manderville bodgers barricade the workshop and frantically tinker
Graphic Design: Richard Anderson and Laine Garrett with any parts they can scrounge up. Only by assembling
Layout: Richard Anderson, Bryan Cutler, and a dizzying array of outlandish contraptions can they hope
Josh Manderville
to turn the tide of the zombie apocalypse.
Art Director: Mike Vaillancourt
Illustrations: Manny Trembley
Editing: Bryan Cutler and Darla Kennerud
Contents
Print Manager: Shona Fahland 1 game board 45 zombie figures:
Playtesters: Diana Anderson, Michael Anderson, Richard Anderson,
Oren Ashkenazi, Ed Bourelle, David Carl, Leo Carson, Johan Cea, 15 grey 10 blue
Jack Coleman, Bryan Cutler, Matt DiPietro, Cody Ellis, Runners Leapers
Shona Fahland, Dianne Ferrer, Bill French, Laine Garrett, Matt Goetz,
Doug Hamilton, Dan Henderson, Michelle Horton, Michael Jenkins,
Darla Kennerud, Tony Konichek, Lyle Lowery, Caitlyn McKenna, 10 yellow 10 red
Chris Mcleroy, Michael Plummer, Erik Reierson, Chris Ross, Creepers Brutes
Michael Ryan, Michael Sanbeg, Ben Sanders, William Schoonover,
Nate Scott, William Shick, Jason Soles, Jacob Stanley, Gabe Waluconis,
Matt Warren, Matthew D. Wilson 5 progress
tokens

13 bite 48 barricade
tokens tokens
1 rulebook
15 contraption 40 Terrible
cards Things cards 55 part cards
cRaB gRaPPLE
BLUEPRINT

Lever Piston

Piston Lever Gear

For customer service, Lever Gear Piston

please call (425) 643-5900 Ext. 300 or Completion bonus!

email frontdesk@privateerpress.com Draw 3 supplies and push the button twice.

When you push the button on this contraption:

Choose a space within 2 spaces of this location.
Destroy 1 zombie in that space. Draw 1 part card.

www.privateerpress.com
1
 Board Layout
The Zombies Keep Out game board represents the bodgers’
workshop as well as the surrounding junkyard. The workshop
itself is split into 5 location spaces: the cellar, a window, the
door, another window, and the balcony. The columns of spaces
below these 5 locations are sometimes referred to as the cellar
column, window columns, door column, and balcony column.
The row of spaces in front of the workshop is referred to as the
top row(spaces 1 through 5). When a zombie is in the top row
of the game board, it will attack the corresponding location
the next time it would move closer to the workshop (an effect
called shambling described in the Zombies Close In section).
The row of spaces farthest from the workshop is referred to as
the bottom row.
Spaces on the game board have color-coded arrows as a
reminder of how the different colors of zombie figures move
when they shamble.
WORKSHOP
Game Basics
Zombies Keep Out is a fully cooperative game for 1-6
players, who work together to build 3 completed
contraptions in the bodgers’ workshop before the
zombies breach the workshop door or destroy 3 of
their projects.
Each turn in Zombies Keep Out consists of a Zombies
Close In step and a Bodge step. When the zombies
close in you will draw a card from the deck of Terrible
Things. Terrible Things include additional zombies
showing up, existing zombies shambling towards
the workshop, or even zombie bites! In the Bodge
portion of your turn, you’ll take one action. Actions
include scrounging for new parts, bodging parts
onto contraptions according to the blueprints, or
reinforcing the workshop’s barricades.

cellar window door window balcony

Starting the Game
To set up for a game of Zombies Keep Out, first shuffle
the deck of Terrible Things and the deck of parts
and place them beside the game board. If the deck
top
row
of Terrible Things or the deck of parts runs out of
cards during the course of the game, shuffle the
corresponding discard pile to create a new deck.

cellar window door window balcony

Next, randomly select 5 of the 15 contraption cards
column column column column column and place one contraption beside each location (the
balcony, window, door, other window, and cellar)
with the blueprint side facing up. Place a progress
bottom
token on the “Start” space of each of the 5 selected
row contraptions, and return the other 10 contraption
cards to the game box. You will not use them during
zombie
the game. Place all the zombie figures in the zombie
pool pool area of the board, and place the bite tokens
within easy reach of all players.
Next, place a number of barricade tokens on each
location as follows:
• Door: 10 Barricade tokens
Get ready—here they come!
• Balcony and Cellar: 8 Barricade tokens each
• Windows: 6 Barricade tokens each

2 3
 Then gather 2 Leaper zombies
(blue), 2 Brute zombies (red), 2
BOARD SETUP
Creeper zombies (yellow), and
ScRoUNgE-o-maTIc PUNch LEvELER cRaB gRaPPLE FRENZy BEam ZomBIE ScaNNER
BLUEPRINT BLUEPRINT BLUEPRINT BLUEPRINT
progress
BLUEPRINT

4 Runner zombies (grey). Place

Lever tank tank Lever Lever Piston Lever Piston Gear Gear
tokens
contraption
two zombies in each column of
Gear tank Lever PiPe tank Lever Piston Lever Gear Lever Piston PiPe Piston Lever Piston

tank Lever Gear Lever PiPe tank L cards

G P PiPe Lever Piston Gear Piston Lever

the game board as follows:

ever ear iston

Completion bonus! Completion bonus! Completion bonus! Completion bonus! Completion bonus!
Draw 3 supplies and push the button. Draw 4 supplies and push the button twice. Draw 3 supplies and push the button twice. Draw 5 supplies and push the button twice. Draw 5 supplies and push the button.

• Balcony column: 1 Leaper

When you push the button on this contraption:
Draw 3 part cards.
When you push the button on this contraption:
When you push the button on this contraption:
Choose a space within 2 spaces of this location.
Destroy up to 2 zombies in this column.
Destroy 1 zombie in that space. Draw 1 part card.
When you push the button on this contraption:
Choose 1 zombie in a space within 2 spaces of this location.
Destroy all other zombies in that space.
When you push the button on this contraption:
Look at the top 3 cards from the deck of Terrible Things.
Discard 1. Return the other 2 in any order. Draw 1 part card.

in each of the bottom 2 rows

of the Balcony column bite
barricades
• Door column: 1 Brute in tokens

each of the bottom 2 rows

of the Door column
• Cellar column: 1 Creeper in
each of the bottom 2 rows
of the Cellar column terrible
parts
things
• Window columns: 1 deck
deck

Runner in each of the

bottom 2 rows of both
Window columns
Lastly, deal part cards to each
player based on the number discard discard

of players:
• 1 or 2 players: 5 cards
• 3 players: 4 cards starting zombie pool
zombies
• 4 players: 3 cards
• 5 or 6 players: 2 cards
There is no limit to the number of cards a player
can have in hand during the game. These numbers 1. Zombies Close In
only set the starting hand for each player. The living dead just won’t go away! They seek out every
opportunity to claw their way into the bodgers’ junkyard
or smash through the makeshift barricades. Should the
Gameplay bodgers falter in their vigilance, eager zombies will bite
The first player to take a turn is the player most our hapless heroes, weakening their defenses or even
prepared for a real-life zombie attack. After that turning them into bodger-zombies!
player’s turn, play proceeds clockwise around The first thing a player must do on his turn is draw
the table as players take their turns. Players a card from the deck of Terrible Things, choose one
continue to take turns until the group wins the of three terrible options, read it aloud, and do what it
game or the zombies defeat them. See the Victory says. Note that some cards’ options are much worse
& Defeat section for additional information. than other cards. While resolving a Terrible Things
Each turn has 2 steps: Zombies Close In and Bodge. card, do not show the other players what the card says.

4 5
 They’ll know which Terrible Thing you chose, but they
won’t know the options you did not choose. It’s tough
enough surviving the zombie apocalypse without the
other players second-guessing your decisions!
When you are done resolving the Terrible Things
card, discard it face down.
Adding Zombies
One of the most common Terrible Things is the
instruction to add zombies to the board. Adding
zombies to the board simply means taking one of the
zombie figures from the zombie pool and placing it in
any space on the board. Some instructions will require
a specific type of zombie ( Runner , Leaper , Creeper ,
or Brute ). Some will require the player to put the
zombies in specific columns or rows of the board. If
the instructions do not specify a type of zombie, you
can choose any zombie from the zombie pool.
Shambling
Another very common type of Terrible Thing is
the instruction for zombies to shamble. Shambling
is how zombies move toward the workshop and
is a bit more complicated because not all zombies
are the same. Leaper zombies shamble toward the
balcony, Brute zombies shamble toward the door,
and Creeper zombies shamble toward the cellar. The
arrows on the game board indicate if a particular
color of zombie will shift left or right 1 column as
it shambles closer to the workshop. Runner zombies
always shamble straight toward the workshop.
Some cards are specific about the type of zombies that
shamble or the location of zombies that shamble. Be
sure to read the card carefully to see which zombies are
affected and which spaces are affected. When a zombie
shambles it will move 1 space (including diagonally) as
indicated by the arrow corresponding to its color.
When moving zombies that shamble, move them in
the order of the space they occupy, beginning with
the zombies in the lowest-numbered space. This will
ensure that you do not accidentally move a zombie
twice or forget to move a zombie.
6 7
Gaining Bite Tokens
Several Terrible Things involve players being bitten
by zombies. Bite tokens hinder your ability to make
progress on the contraptions needed to turn back the
zombie horde, and they even diminish your ability to
work with the other players! When you have:
1 bite token, you can no longer trade cards
(see page 13) with other players and must use
slurred speech when talking.
2 bite tokens, you can no longer perform
tinker actions and must grumble your words
using barely intelligible speech.
3 bite tokens, you can no longer choose your
own Terrible Things. Before drawing a card
from the deck of Terrible Things, hold up 1, 2,
or 3 fingers. Then draw the card and perform
the first, second, or third Terrible Thing
respectively. Additionally, you can no longer
use any words when speaking, only grunts,
grumbles, and hand motions.
4 or more bite tokens, you are fully zombie-
infected. Instead of performing an action
each turn, draw a second card from the deck
of Terrible Things! Additionally, you must
now moan like a zombie when you are not
grunting or grumbling.
Well, that’s not so bad.
This is gonna hurt.
Add 2 Runners to the board.
Add 5 zombies
to the board.
Add 1 Leaper
to the board.
Each player discards 2 cards.
All zombies in the balcony
row shamble.
Take 2 bite tokens.
 Other Terrible Things When you remove the last barricade token from a
Some of the other Terrible Things include discarding location, an overrun occurs. Remove the contraption
a specific quantity of parts cards, moving one or in that location from the game. Additionally, if a
more progress tokens backward on the contraption zombie would smash into a location that is already
blueprints, or immediately removing barricade overrun, it instead smashes into the next location over
tokens from a location. in the direction of the workshop door.
Remember, if the workshop door is overrun the
Shoving zombies win, so keep that door protected!
After completely resolving a Terrible Thing that adds
zombies to the board or causes zombies to shamble, Shambling, Shoving, and
if there are more than 3 zombies in any space, the Smashing example
zombies start shoving each other. Beginning with the
lowest-numbered space with more than three zombies,
SHAMBLING & SMASHING
the active player chooses which zombies in that space -1 The chosen Terrible
Thing causes all
shamble until it contains no more than 3 zombies. zombies in the door
Repeat this process for each space with more than 3 column to shamble.
zombies, in number order. Following the numbers,
the Runner in space 3
After resolving the zombies shoving each other in shambles first, and he
the highest-numbered space that had more than 3 smashes into the door.
zombies, there may be new spaces with more than 3 Remove 1 barricade
from the door, and
zombies! Repeat the shoving process until no space place the Runner in
contains more than 3 zombies. the zombie pool. The
Brute and Runner in
If a Terrible Thing includes two instructions, resolve space 8 shamble next.
all shoving before resolving the second instruction. Then the Leaper in
For example, if the Terrible Thing says “All Runners space 13 shambles
shamble; then all Runners shamble again,” First toward the balcony.
shamble the Runners , then resolve shoving, then
shamble the Runners a second time, and then resolve SHOVING
shoving again. After the Leaper
shambles, there are
too many zombies in
Smashing space 7, so the zombies
If a zombie shambles while it is in the top row, it will start shoving! The
smash into the barricades at that location. Remove 1 player whose turn it is
chooses to have one of
barricade token from that location, and then return the
the Runners shoved
zombie to the zombie pool. There are three exceptions: forward toward the
• When a Leaper smashes into the balcony, remove window. If there were
2 barricade tokens before removing the Leaper . already 3 zombies in
space 4, they would
• When a Brute smashes into the door, remove 2 shove again.
barricade tokens before removing the Brute .
• When a Creeper smashes into the cellar, remove 2
barricade tokens before removing the Creeper .

8 9
 Impossible!
Sometimes it will not be possible to do one or more of the Terrible
Things listed on a card. For example, a player cannot choose “Add
2 Brutes to the board” if there are fewer than 2 Brute zombies in
the zombie pool. He must make a different choice instead. In order
to choose a particular Terrible Thing, a player must be able to do
exactly what the Terrible Thing says to do.
Additionally, a player cannot choose a Terrible Thing that has no
effect. For example, a player cannot choose “All zombies in the
balcony column shamble” when there are no zombies in the
balcony column. He must make a different choice instead.
If none of the Terrible Things on a card are possible, then all
zombies shamble instead. Likewise, if a player with 3 or more
bite tokens holds up the number of fingers for a Terrible Thing
that is not possible, then all zombies shamble.
Tinker
1
PART CARDS
1 part type
DefenD RepaiR
repair
2 zombie types
2 3
OR
3 barricades
2. Bodge!
In the face of imminent danger, the bodgers work frantically to
find the needed parts to complete their bizarre, zombie-stopping
machines. All their hopes rest on their ability to amass a
sufficient arsenal of contraptions to turn back the walking dead.
Once the Zombies Close In part of a turn is over, the
current player performs 1 action. There are 5 actions
to choose from, but a player can perform only 1
action each turn.
• Tinker • Defend • Repair
• Scrounge • Push the Button
10
Tinker: To perform a tinker action, the current player
discards one part card matching the next part listed
on a contraption card’s blueprint and then advances
that contraption’s progress token. A contraption
is complete when its progress token moves to the
last spot on its blueprint. Because players need 3
completed contraptions to win the game, tinker
actions should be a top priority!
Completing a Contraption
When a player performs a tinker action that completes a
contraption, the contraption grants a completion bonus. The
completion bonus allows that player to draw a certain number
of part cards as supplies. Unlike scrounge actions, when a
player draws supplies, he can immediately give any of those
cards to other players (even if they have bite tokens).
Completion bonuses also allow the player to push the button
(see below)—sometimes more than once! After resolving
the completion bonus, remove the progress token from the
contraption and turn the contraption over to its completed
side. Once completed, it stays completed for the rest of the
game unless the location is overrun.
Defend: To perform a defend action, the current
player chooses any 1 space on the board. He then
discards any number of part cards and destroys
zombies in that space matching the zombie types
and quantities listed on the discarded cards. Return
destroyed zombies to the zombie pool.
Repair: To perform a repair action, the current
player chooses 1 location on the board. He then
discards any
number of
part cards and
places a number
of barricade
tokens on that
location equal
to the number of
barricade symbols
on the discarded
cards. A location
cannot exceed its
starting number of
barricade tokens.
11
 Scrounge: To perform a scrounge action, the current Some push the button effects refer to spaces “within
player draws 2 part cards. Note that scrounging is the 1 space” or “within 2 spaces” of that contraption’s
main way players draw cards in Zombies Keep Out. There location. When counting out distances from a
is no draw step, so scrounge actions are very important. location, spaces adjacent to the current space
(including diagonally) are considered 1 space away.
Push the button: Once at least 1 contraption has
been completed, players can begin making push the
button actions. To perform a push the button action,
the current player chooses a contraption that has been WINDOW

flipped to its completed side and follows its push the

button instructions.

CONTRAPTION CARDS

cRaB gRaPPLE CraB GraPPlE

BLUEPRINT COmPlETE!
Lever Piston
These spaces are within 1 space of the window.
1Piston Lever Gear

Lever Gear Piston balcony

Completion bonus! PUSH THE BUTTON!

Draw 3 supplies and push the button twice.

2
When you push the button on this contraption:
Choose a space within 2 spaces of this location.
3
Choose a space within 2 spaces of this
location. Destroy 1 zombie in that space.
Destroy 1 zombie in that space. Draw 1 part card.
Draw 1 part card.

1 blueprint 3 push the button

2 completion bonus

These spaces are within 2 spaces of the balcony.

Trading
Once a turn during the Bodge step, either before or after
performing an action, the current player can trade one
of his part cards with one other player. You cannot give
cards away, only trade them on a one-for-one basis.
Trading cards can give players the right part type for a
Tinker action, right zombie types for a Defend action, or
more barricades for a Repair action.
12 13
Victory & Defeat
Bitten, bruised, and barricade-busted, the weary goblin
bodgers fight to find the last required parts for their anti-
zombie creations. Will they complete their machines in
time to secure their workshop from the zombie invasion,
or will the horde of brain-hungry shamblers outside
their door completely overrun the workshop?
If the zombies overrun the door location or if the
zombies overrun 3 total locations, they win the
game. Additionally, if each player has 2 or more
bite tokens, the zombies win the game.
If the players complete 3 contraptions before the
zombies win the game, then the players are victorious!

Easier & Harder Game Variants

Warm-up Mode: This game mode is
recommended for players new to Zombies Keep
Out. Adjust the number of starting barricade
tokens in each location. Instead of the usual
number of barricade tokens (8, 6, 10, 6, 8), use
the following quantities:
Door: 12 barricade tokens
Balcony and cellar: 10 barricade tokens each
Windows: 8 barricade tokens each
Challenge Mode: Players who have played
Zombies Keep Out several times and are looking
for a bit of an additional challenge can instead
use the following numbers of barricade tokens:
Door: 8 barricade tokens
Balcony and cellar: 6 barricade tokens each
Windows: 4 barricade tokens each
Impossible Mode: Players looking to face a truly
formidable zombie horde can use the following
numbers of barricade tokens:
Door: 6 barricade tokens
Balcony and cellar: 4 barricade tokens each
Windows: 2 barricade tokens each