It’s October.
That means we see an increasing interest in decorating for Halloween.
When I was young, all those long years ago, Halloween was a carved pumpkin, and a night dressing up to wander the neighbourhood collecting candy.
Today, thanks to advertising campaigns and the creativity of companies to create lawn and house decorations dedicated to the season of ghosts and ghouls, we seem to decorate more, like a preseason warm up to what is to come in December.
So who am I to buck the trend. I figure I might as well dedicate the month to ghoulish gaming choices.
The first offering is Zombie In My Pocket (ZIMP).
With ZIMP I actually get to touch on three areas of interest.
The first is that ZIMP, created in 2007 by designer Jeremiah Lee, is a print ’n play offering.
You can download the rules, and game components to print and use at www.boardgamegeek.com searching the game name. The components can be simple paper print-outs, or you can be creative in mounting the play pieces and giving the game more permanence in your collection. Just don’t go to elaborate in the sense as the name implies this is a game that is supposed to ‘fit in your pocket’ so you can take it to the coffee shop easily.
The components are nine cards, best sleeved and backed with an old playing card for strength, and 16 tiles.
Fashioning PnP games is great fun on its own as it takes your mind to a different place. As evenings grow dark earlier, and the weather chills more, it’s a great diversion.
Secondly, ZIMP is a solitaire offering.
There are not hundreds of games you can play alone (board games at least), so finding one that is fun is a bonus for those nights the better half is watching some love story on TV, and your buds are too busy to game.
And thirdly, for this month at least, ZIMP certainly fits the idea of a game well-suited to the month of Halloween.
The concept of ZIMP works nicely. You are searching for the secret of the evil temple where you can find the item to destroy the zombies rising from the dead. Find the zombie totem, then bury it in the backyard graveyard before midnight and you’ve saved the world.
Fail and you lose.
The rules are simple enough, based on pulling tiles and cards and following straight forward rules. Re-play comes from the random lay out of the tiles as they are played out.
I’ll note the game has been re-themed a lot, with the same general idea of play, but instead of zombies you are along against of opponents within the game (just in case you are not a zombie fan).
Overall the game is quick, easy, slightly addictive, and definitely worth the effort to print, play and enjoy.
