
- BGG rank
- BGG #20,917
- BGG rating
- 6.1
Scavengers
- 2–4 players
- 30 min
- Complexity 1.7/5
- 2011

2010
Rules assistance for Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead is a board game released in 2010 for 2–5 players, 180 minutes per game, and ages 13 and up. It was designed by John Werner and its main mechanics are Area Movement, Dice Rolling, and Area Majority / Influence.
The world is too late. The virus known as MV1 has gone global. You, the leader of your people, have moved quickly to consolidate your local governments in hopes that you are not too late to carve some chance of hope out of what appears to be none. Rushing to develop effective technologies and retrain your military against this new threat proves difficult but is your only chance at salvation. Resources will prove important and become continually scarce as MV1 continues to sweep through your territory. Do you have what it takes to keep your people alive? Or, better yet, can you eliminate the threat of the walking dead from your territory completely? Many technologies lay at your disposal if you test them successfully, but the true strength of these technologies lie in the versatile combinations that you choose to use. Will you rely on military strength, physics and science, or research medicine to find a cure? Perhaps your survival lies in utilizing combinations of these technologies. Either way your fallen countrymen have only one form of diplomacy and that is that they are at peace only when they are feeding. Feeding on you and your people and spreading the deadly MV1 viral infection. Welcome to The Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead. Game Play: You are the world leader of a group of nations. Each turn zombies feed and randomly spread throughout your territory, quickly reducing your population and increasing the number of zombies. At the beginning of the game you have no technologies or military that are effective against the viral threat on a worldwide scale. Each turn you must maximize the use of resources to draft and use military, test technologies, and then strategically use these successfully tested technologies. As the game progresses, outbreaks and the spread of zombies makes the game more difficult through a loss of population, resources, and freedom to act. However, if you have been an effective leader you will have developed effective technologies that you may use to try and eliminate the threat from your territory completely. Otherwise leaders will find the game ends with the total conversion of their population into the walking dead.
Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead 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 State: Diplomacy of the Dead is 180 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 State: Diplomacy of the Dead for ages 13 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 State: Diplomacy of the Dead has a complexity rating of 3.2 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight 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 State: Diplomacy of the Dead belongs to these categories: Zombies, Medical, and Industry / Manufacturing. Its main mechanics are Area Movement, Dice Rolling, and Area Majority / Influence. 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 State: Diplomacy of the Dead are: John Werner. 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 State: Diplomacy of the Dead 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.