In the fast-paced and morbidly kitschy game Hit Z Road, you and your fellow players embark on a road trip going south from Chicago along America's famous Route 66 — now infested by zombies. As you travel though a deck of adventure cards rife with dangers, you battle zombie hordes, drive abandoned school buses, scavenge for gas and bullets, and explore a darkened, tainted American countryside full of shambling undead, haunted carnivals, and plumes of toxic gas. Your goal is to stay alive until you reach the safe, sandy beaches of the California coast.
Three different stages of adventure cards create an experience of increasing difficulty and ensure that each playthrough is unique. Each round begins with an auction that determines both player order and which cards you will encounter. Since the resources used for bidding are the same as those used to battle the oncoming zombie hordes, your survival depends as much on your resource management as it does upon winning those bidding wars. The player who either accumulates the most points or survives the longest wins.
Zombies of all types await, with cannibals, anti-personnel mines and radioactive wastes also being among the hazards awaiting the players. Who will survive the zombie onslaught?
—description from the publisher
- Thematic decaying Americana setting that pulls you into the story
- Excellent solo mode
- Simple rules with meaningful decisions
- Strong narrative framing improves engagement beyond a math puzzle
- Short playtime suitable for quick sessions
- If the theme doesn't hook you, it may feel like a basic auction/resource puzzle
- Limited catch-up mechanics
- Player elimination can be off-putting for some groups
- zombie survival with a child-perspective road-trip narrative
- Family road trip through the zombie apocalypse along Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, framed by a decaying Americana backdrop
- from the perspective of a kid on a family road trip, turning a survival scenario into a story-driven experience
- Dead of Winter
- Dawn of the Zeds
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction — bid for turn order with escalating bids each round
- deck_based_progression — three decks used to form the route deck and drive the game flow
- dice_combat — spend ammo tokens to roll dice to defeat zombies, with crosshair outcomes
- push_your_luck — choose high-risk routes for greater rewards at greater risk
- resource_management — manage resources: ammo, gas, energy, and survivors
- route_selection — draw and pair cards to form routes; players select routes they can use
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the best thing about this game is the decaying americana theme and how it sucks you into the game's story
- Hit Z road could have been another mechanically fine but kind of dull math puzzle of the game
- theme matters
- it's suitable for solo players with its excellent solo mode