Hug Me Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Components
• The Phases of the Game
  • 1. Table Setup
  • 1.1. Deployment
  • 1.1.1. Dawn
  • 1.1.2. Day
    • Movement and Actions (Search, Steal, Barricade)
    • Movement
    • Search
    • Steal
    • Barricade
    • Items
    • Human Play
    • Infected Play
    • Rolling the Zombie Die
  • 1.1.3. Night
    • Assault
    • Escape
    • Zombie Play
  • Victory
• Glossary of Terms
• FAQ
• Rules in Brief

Aim of the Game

Players in Hug Me all start as Humans. But life is hard in Evans City, and during the game they may become Infected and later Zombies.

If you are a Human, your goal is to escape the Shopping Mall. To do so you must first find Gasoline, then the Keys (or the Spare Keys), and bring them to the Minivan.

If you are Infected, your goal is to blow up the Shopping Mall, preventing the Horde from spreading outside. To do so you must first find Gasoline and then the Lighter, and bring them to the Boiler Room.

If you are a Zombie, your goal is to hug all the Humans and make Love win! Zombies win all together when there are no more Humans in play.

When a Zombie player manages to hug a Human player, they must really hug them, otherwise the effect of the Hug is void!

Components

• Keyrings: 8 keyrings in different colours, used as pawns. If you wish, you may write each player's name inside their keyring. It is handy, so do it!
• Zombie Die
• Location Cards: Two Location decks, each made up of: one Hall card, one Hardware card, one Sporting Goods card, one Kids' Area card, one Gardening card, one Clothing card, one Bathroom card, one Pharmacy card and one Supermarket card. In addition: two Escalator cards, one Minivan card and one Boiler Room card.
• Character Cards: 14 Character cards, with the Human version on one side and the Zombie version on the other.
• Item Cards: 48 Item cards.
• Zombie Cards: 37 Zombie cards.

The Phases of the Game

1. Table Setup

Each player chooses a Keyring. Then shuffle the Character cards and deal one to each player, at random.

Take one of the Location decks and remove the Hall, the two Escalators, the Minivan and the Boiler Room from it. Place them face up on the play area in the following layout: the Hall in the centre, the Escalators in the top-left and bottom-right positions, the Minivan in the top-right position and the Boiler Room in the bottom-left position.

Shuffle the remaining Location cards of the deck and lay them out at random, also face up, around the Hall, until you reach a layout similar to the example shown in the rulebook. The example in the rulebook shows the Locations arranged in rows around the Hall, with the Escalators, Minivan and Boiler Room in the outer positions.

Take the Item cards and separate them by colour, forming eight decks. Place each deck next to its corresponding Location, face down, on the play area.

Take the eight Special Item cards, shuffle them and place one at random on top of each of the eight Item decks. Shuffle the Item decks and place them back in the positions they were in. Be careful not to swap them!

Take the Zombie deck, shuffle it and place it face down next to the play area. You are ready!

1.1. Deployment

Starting with the player whose Character card has the highest Human value and proceeding clockwise, one at a time, place your Keyring in one of the Locations. From this moment, your Keyring shows which Location your Character is in. In case of equal values, look at each other. Who is REALLY the biggest? It is best not to contradict them and to let them choose first where to start.

From the Location where you deployed, you will begin playing. It is possible to deploy in more than one player's group in the same Location. You cannot deploy in the Boiler Rooms, in the Minivan or in the Escalators.

The phases of the game are three: Dawn, Day and Night.

1.1.1. Dawn

The Dawn phase is only triggered when one of the Humans becomes a Zombie (see the Zombie Play section). At the start of the game, when everyone is still Human, nothing happens during this phase.

1.1.2. Day

Starting with the first player in turn order, the Humans, one at a time and in the order in which they deployed, may move and act.

Movement and Actions (Search, Steal, Barricade)

Humans and Infected may make one Movement and one Action. You may also choose to do nothing.

Movement

You move around the Shopping Mall. You move one Location at a time. You cannot move diagonally, nor enter the Boiler Rooms or the Minivan, unless it is the Movement that leads to victory. Movement may take place before or after Actions, and you may also choose not to move. From one of the Locations next to the Escalators, you can reach the other Location next to the other Escalators with a single Movement. You cannot move from or into a Barricaded Location.

Humans and Infected may choose one of the following Actions:

Search

Rummage through the shops looking for something useful! Draw the top Item card of the Item deck matching the Location you are in. If you decide to keep it, place it to the left of your Character card, face down or face up, as you choose. If you already have one, you must choose which one to keep. The card you discard goes to the bottom of the Item deck of the Location you are in.

If you found a Special Item card, you may declare it immediately and place it, face up, to the right of your Character card.

Normally a player may keep only one Item to the left of the Character card. The exceptions to this rule are the Student and the players who find the Shopping Cart, as indicated on those cards themselves (Yes, the effects can be combined!!). To the right of the Character card you may keep as many face-up Special cards as you like, provided that the first one declared is a Gasoline.

Steal

Choose a Human or an Infected in the Location where you are, and declare that you want to rob them. If your value is higher than theirs, the Theft succeeds. The victim of the Theft may choose to reveal their own Item card and use it to defeat you, and you may do the same.

The winner may choose to take all the Item cards equipped to the left of the victim and, subject to the rules on space, keep whichever of these they want. The others Drop. Alternatively, the winner may choose to make the victim drop all the Item cards they have to the right, without being able to keep any of them.

If the winner of the Theft finds Special Items on the left, they may keep them normally.

Barricade

Barricade the Location you are in. From that moment on, anyone in the Location with you can no longer leave, and no one else can enter. For the following Night, for the Assaults that take place in that Location, the Humans have a +2 bonus against the Zombies. You cannot Barricade a Location that is already Barricaded. At the following Dawn, all Barricades are cancelled. The Zombies have knocked them down.

Important! If you have found everything you need to win and want to reach the Boiler Rooms or the Minivan, you may do so even if the Location you are moving from has been Barricaded.

Items

Items are of three types.

Weapons. When a Human or an Infected equips one of these Item cards, by revealing it, the value shown on the card is added to that of the Character. The sum of these two values is the Character's total strength in Assaults or Thefts. These items do not Drop, unless explicitly stated on the Item card, and they may be used during the Day as well as the Night. Only one Weapon may be used at a time, even if you possess more than one. It is possible to reveal Weapon cards in response to an Assault or a Theft, keeping them secret until that moment.

Items. These cards may only be used during the Day, at any time, except for some exceptions noted on the Item cards themselves. They are kept to the left of the Character card, one at a time. Face down, they are not in use; face up, they are equipped and can be used. They may be revealed at any time.

Special Items. These are the Items that allow Humans and Infected to win. They may be kept face down or face up, to the left of the Character card. Alternatively, once revealed, they may be equipped to the right of the Character card. There is no limit to the number of Special Items you may equip on the right. However, you cannot equip Keys or a Lighter on the right unless you have at least one Gasoline canister on the right (if you lose the Gasoline, you do not lose the Special Items you had on the right with it, but you will not be able to equip new ones until you find another). If you find the Keys, the Spare Keys or the Lighter without having first found a Gasoline, you may still reveal them, but they will remain to the left of the Character card. Once a Special Item has been equipped on the right, it cannot be moved back to the left.

When a Character decides to reveal an equipped Item, the card remains active from that moment and cannot be turned face down again.

Human Play

The Humans who have found the Gasoline and the Keys must bring them to the Minivan of Old Pop. To reach the Minivan, you must make a Movement from the adjacent Location. If they succeed, they escape, leaving everyone else in the lurch, and they win.

Infected Play

When a Human is hugged and becomes Infected, they act and move during the Day, following the turn order, exactly as before. Their goal, however, is now to find the Gasoline and the Lighter and bring them to the Boiler Room.

At the start of their turn, first of all, each Infected rolls the Zombie Die. They have a one in three chance that the infection progresses. If it does, the Infected loses their turn, becomes a Zombie, removes their Keyring from the board, and begins playing as a Zombie from the Dawn of the following turn.

The Infected is ignored by the Zombies. They do not take part in Assaults, and their value does not contribute to their resolution. Their Human abilities remain active. To reach the Boiler Room, you must make a Movement from the adjacent Location. If they succeed, the Shopping Mall blows up, and with one last heroic gesture before the end, the Infected has won.

Rolling the Zombie Die

Life is hard in Evans City. Chance can change everything. When a player must roll the Zombie Die, they have a one in three chance that things go badly for them. You may change this ratio if you want an even more fierce challenge.

1.1.3. Night

When all the Humans have acted, Night falls. You have Barricaded, Stolen, and perhaps insulted each other a little. Now the Zombies arrive...

Assault

The Humans must face the Assaults of the Zombies. At this point, still following the turn order, for each Location occupied by Humans, one Zombie card is drawn from the Zombie deck. The number shown on this Zombie card is the number of Zombies that the Humans in that Location must face during the Assault. If the total value of the Human Character cards, plus that of their revealed Item cards, is greater than or equal to the number of Zombies, the Humans have managed to defend themselves. Discard the Zombie card, placing it next to the deck, and draw the next Zombie card for the next Location. Conversely, if the number of Zombies exceeds the sum of the Humans' defences, the Zombies have won. The Humans may only attempt to Escape.

Attention! Some Zombies are cleverer than others!

If the Zombie Nursery card comes up, before drawing any other Zombie card, reshuffle the Zombie deck together with its discard pile.

If the Sly Zombie or Few Zombies (But Very Clever) cards come up, poor Humans! If they are drawn at Night, draw another Zombie card and add it to the Assault. If instead they are drawn by a Zombie Character at Dawn, they are deployed normally, but during the Night, when the Zombie cards deployed are revealed, in the Locations where these cards are found, the effect of the weakest Weapon will be cancelled.

Escape

The Humans attempt to Escape one at a time. In turn, they roll the Zombie Die. Everyone who fails the roll has been unlucky. They have not managed to Escape. The Zombies have reached them and hugged them, and the poor things become Infected. All the others drop every Item in the Location they are escaping from (Yes, even the Special ones) and move their pawn to an adjacent Location of their choice (Yes, even by way of the Escalators). If there are other Humans in this Location, and the Zombie card for the Assault has not yet been drawn, the escaped Humans will face another Assault together with their new companions.

It is not possible to Escape from a Barricaded Location. In that case, the Humans are automatically hugged and become Infected.

Attention!! If you become Infected, you do not lose any Items, and your abilities remain those of the Human, until the Infection progresses...

Zombie Play

What happens when someone becomes a Zombie?

From the turn after the one in which an Infected Player becomes a Zombie, a third phase comes into play, which comes before Day and Night. That is, Dawn.

At Dawn, the first Zombie Player in turn order draws a Zombie card from the Zombie deck, without revealing it to anyone. The value on the card represents the Zombies who will move with them during the Night to Assault the Humans. Then they take the second Location deck and choose one or more Locations in which to deploy this Zombie card and their own. Having chosen the card corresponding to the Location, they place it on the table face down and place on top of it the Character card or the Zombie card they have decided to deploy. They may put both cards together in a single Location, deploy only one of them, or choose to deploy them in different Locations. When they have finished, they pass the Location deck to the next Zombie in turn. This Zombie may choose whether to deploy in other Locations, choosing new cards from the deck, or to deploy everything, or just one of their cards, in the Locations already used by their companion. The Zombies may communicate with each other, but they may not look at the Location cards chosen by their companions.

Once this is done, Dawn ends and Day begins. Humans now play normally, knowing that during the Night, in the Locations selected and still hidden, Assaults will be carried out by the Zombie Characters.

When Night falls, first of all, the Location cards are revealed and with them the deployed Zombie cards. Always in turn order, in the Locations where Zombie cards and Zombie Character cards are found, Assaults take place, between the Zombies deployed at Dawn and the Humans who are in the Locations.

If the Zombie Characters win, the Human Characters may attempt to Escape. If they fail, they are hugged and become Infected.

If the Human Characters win, the Zombies involved in the Assault may, for the following Dawn, deploy without drawing Zombie cards.

If at the end of these resolutions there are Human Characters who have not suffered the Assault of the Zombie Characters, they normally draw a Zombie card from the deck and face this Assault.

Victory

A Human wins when they bring a Gasoline and the Keys, or the Spare Keys, to the Minivan of Old Pop. Attention! There are two exceptions:

• the Virgin wins automatically if she remains the only Human in play;
• the Little Girl wins automatically if she remains the only Human in play and equips the Teddy Bear.

An Infected wins when they bring a Gasoline and a Lighter to the Boiler Room.

The Zombies win all together when there are no more Humans in play. Long live love!

Glossary of Terms

Use and Drop: Cards marked Use and Drop have an effect once, and then Drop.

Drop: When an Item Drops, it is placed at the bottom of the Item deck of the Location you are in, unless otherwise specified.

Equip: When an Item is equipped, it is placed to the left or, if it is Special, to the right of the Character card. It has an effect only when revealed. It may be revealed at any moment during the Day.

FAQ

• Can I drop an Item for no reason? No. You must have replaced it, lost it to a card or a theft, or, if it is a Use and Drop card, used it.
• What if an Item falls into the Hall, where do I put it? In the Item deck of the last Location your Character visited.
• Can any revealed Gasoline, whether to the right or to the left of the Character card, be used as a weapon by the Gas Attendant? Yes, provided that, of course, it is revealed.
• If the Cheerleader takes me with her, can I move normally on my turn? Yes.
• If I wear the Free Hugs T-Shirt and I am Human, do I still suffer Assaults? Yes, of course. So why should I use it? Well...
• Can I use the Mannequin if during the Day there were no other Locations to reach from the one I was in? Yes. But you will not be able to move, so it will be of no use.
• If I have the Fishing Rod, where do the Items I discard go? To the Location in which you are, even if you drew them elsewhere.
• Is the effect of the Barbed Wire cumulative with that of the Guardian? Yes.
• When the Teddy Bear or the Remote-Controlled Car moves one or more Zombie cards into a Location, do the Humans there face these Zombies even if they have already suffered an Assault? Yes.
• And if they have not yet suffered one, will they then draw Zombie cards normally for the Assault that is due to them? Yes.
• To that of the Character.

Rules in Brief

Dawn: If you are a Zombie, draw a Zombie card, choose a Location card, and deploy your card and the card you drew in one or more Locations.

Day: In turn, the Humans make one Movement and one Action of their choice among: Steal (confront one of the Humans or Infected in the Location with you, to take an Item from them); Barricade (close a Location, preventing anyone from entering or leaving for the rest of the Day and the following Night, and gaining a bonus during Zombie Assaults); or Search (draw from the Item deck of the Location you are in, looking for something useful).

Night: The Location cards selected by the Zombie Characters are revealed. If they indicate Locations where Human Characters are, the Assault takes place. If Human Characters survive the Assault of the Zombie Characters, in turn, they draw one Zombie card for each Location they are in and face the Zombies selected. If the Humans lose an Assault, they attempt to Escape. If they fail, they become Infected, and from then on, each turn, they roll the Zombie Die to determine whether they become Zombies or not. If an Infected becomes a Zombie, they remove their Keyring from the game and from then on play as a Zombie, deploying themselves and the Zombie card they draw at Dawn.

The Humans win if, having found a Gasoline and a Key, they reach the Minivan. The Infected win if, having found a Gasoline and the Lighter, they reach the Boiler Room. The Zombies win when there are no more Humans in play.