With the rise of Zombie genre films and Tv shows, board games have taken it up with aplumb. Now before you hunt down my currently, life filled corpse, to feast on my innards, let me just acknowledge that many zombie games have passed before THE WALKING DEAD. Most explored the post apocalyptic world, where the stumbling lifeless corpses of zombies, shuffle toward fleshy goal. THE GOLFING DEAD deos it a bit different…
THE GOLFING DEAD
Players 2-6 / AGE 7+ / Playtime 30 mins
Right despense with that golf club as weapon to fell any carrion and instead focus on the more important feat of getting a golfing score that will be the talk of the town! Get the lowest possible score to win!
THE GAME
There are two lovely videos to understand how to play, one for 2-6 players from Board to death (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF-DCrx3kAw) and the other a solo fair (https://youtu.be/_rKW4eia2kM ) but my simple summation is this. 
Players start with a 3×3 tableau (a set of cards) face down in front of them. These are stroke cards. They have dark green backs. You then are given three action cards, which you hold in your cold dead hands (these have blac k backs, like your soon to be zombie soul, I guess…). The game plays in two phases: a Stroke phase and an Action phase. A stroke phase is simple. You reveal a face down card from the 3×3 tableau, or you replace one of the cards in their tableau with one from the Stroke deck or Stroke discard pile. Simples. The second phase, the Action phase is also simple. 
Play an action card in your hand. Sacrificial Caddy as an example, allows you to block anoter action against you. Night Vision Goggles, well they let you sneak a peek at two cards on the table, helping you to judge moves and scores. Be alert on the first phase, as reveal three cards that are the same and you receive a fat 0! Yep, its cold but so is the flesh of the zombies… Wild Card are also worth nought! Good sometimes, bad on others. Once a single player reveals their last face down Stroke card, the other players have one more turn to complete their rounds. All cards are revealed and the strokes in each players tableau are totaled up. Again simple enough to understand! The winner is the player with the lowest total score after two rounds (or three as we did, with three players).
REVIEW
At its core, THE GOLFING DEAD appears to be style and simplcity over any great gaming experience. Firstly the box. The shelf selling piece. It has a simple statement on the back and condensed art work. 
Looks good and is attractive. Then the cards. Lovely art work. Well finished and above expectation quality. They play well and hold up to kids! Finally the booklet. A little dense but I dont mind this. It takes as long as a single game to read to a group but…well let me get to it. THE GOLFING DEAD is a broad. It has no issue with this and seems to go out of its way to be an easy game that translates well. Play is fluid, phases and rounds are fast and intuative. Actions are tangible and the 3×3 set up, aids comprehension. I cant understand people wanting too much from a game about a zombie apoclaypse golf game. This is not a euro gamer and has no pretense to be. It is a nice entry level game for a family, fun for friends and nice starter for a game club.
