Protect or Infect is a turn-based strategy board game set in the early stages of a zombie outbreak. This game takes place several weeks into the infection at a point where the zombies seem to have the upper hand; not only in numbers but also in mutated ability. Four humans surviving together have taken refuge in a country side manor. On the run, down to just knives and pistols, and being stalked by countless zombies that are leading a monster directly to them, the survivors hold themselves up and wait for rescue within the halls of the zombie manor.
The game pits a team of 4 survivors against a team of zombies; each team consists of at least 1 player per side with up to 4 players on each team. The game takes place on a grid based board detailing the basement, first floor, 2nd floor, and grounds of an abandoned manor.
The goal of the survivor team is to hold out within the manor grounds for 20 rounds at which point a rescue vehicle spawns. They must then make it to the rescue vehicle with at least 2 survivors making it to safety in order to win. The survivor team can scavenge for items, barricade doors and windows with furniture and wood, and seek out strategic locations within the manor or its grounds to help aid them through the game (60+ weapons, health items, equipment, zombie traps, and weapon upgrades).
Alternatively, the survivor team can kill the zombie team boss character, The Harvester, thereby ending the zombie teams ability to spawn more zombies. Once all zombies are cleared the survivor team wins.
The goal of the zombie team is to kill all of the survivor characters in order to win. The zombie team gains 'spawn points' at the beginning of every round that can be saved up or spent on the 7 different classes of zombies available. Each class costs a varying number of spawn points depending on their stats: movement speed, health, attack dmg, and special ability. The zombie team also controls a zombie boss character, The Harvester. The Harvester is the strongest and most versatile zombie of the game but if it is destroyed the zombie team can no longer spawn zombies.