Zombie Bus: Le raton laveur
- 2–5 players
- 20–30 min
- 2021
- BGG rank
- BGG #15,760
- BGG rating
- 6.4
Zombie Bus
2018
Rules assistance for Zombie Bus
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–5 players
- 20–30 min
- 10+
- Complexity 2.0/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Zombie Bus
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Zombie Bus is a board game released in 2018 for 2–5 players, 20–30 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Christophe Lauras and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Push Your Luck, and Dice Rolling.
Expansions
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About the game
A dice game with Yahtzee like rerolls, where players aim at cooperately defending a school bus against Zombies while helping cheerleaders to escape. In addition, players may flee from the scene, betraying the others to win the game on their own or be turned into zombies themselves. Zombies have different abilities, like stealing a die from the players when in play. They all require different die values and numbers to be rolled to be discarded. Some will be attracted by players, who attack them, others ignore them and stay focused on the bus. Each zombie attacking a player reduces their capability to reroll by one. If this is decreased to zero, the player is turned into a Zombie him- or herself and will stay in front of the bus for the rest of the game, eliminated unless another player finds a cure. Whenever there are four or more zombies next to the bus at the end of a turn (including players turned into zombies), the players lose. So distracting zombies from the bus, is sometimes a necessity. In addition, player gain loot tokens, whenever a zombie is killed in front of them. However, the winning condition is not killing the zombies, but rescuing all cheerleaders from the bus. For this, rolling star symbols is required. Cheerleaders are tokens, placed in two stacks on the bus, each showing two to four stars. Only cheerleaders on top of a stack can be rescued any given time, rolling the corresponding numbers of stars. Some zombies make use of stars impossible, while they are in play. In addition to the stars and different symbols, required to kill the zombies, there is also a die face with half a bullseye. One die rolled on that side is worthless, but two could be used as a wild for any symbol to kill a zombie. Players also have a special character ability, e.g. one gets two loot tokens instead of one for a zombie killed in front of them, one can ignore the "no star" restriction of particular zombies, etc.
Designers
Publishers
- Sweet Games
Questions and answers
Zombie Bus supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Zombie Bus is 20–30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Zombie Bus for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Zombie Bus has a complexity rating of 2.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Zombie Bus belongs to these categories: Dice, Horror, and Zombies. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Push Your Luck, and Dice Rolling. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Zombie Bus are: Christophe Lauras. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Zombie Bus as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.