Zero Hour: Survival Horror Card Game (2014)

Zero Hour is a survival horror game for 2-6 players. Players take turns competing against one another to see who will last from midnight to sunrise. Each player must keep their children alive and sane through the night.

The school bus sat waiting in front of the fairgrounds. Children from all parts of Harlington County were excited to start their trip, eager to see the Blue Mountain Campground on its opening weekend. It was late evening when the Mayor wished the kids luck as they rose from their picnic tables, hurriedly shoving bits of cake into their mouths as they climbed aboard the old school bus. Songs and the laughter of children would fill the first few hours, only to be cut short when one of the children called out "I just saw a dark man standing in the road ahead of us." As the laughter subsided and the children strained their eyes to see into the darkness, tree limbs burst through the windows, sending tiny glass fragments into the air that found their way into the soft flesh of the children. Metal groaned and cried out as the bus pitched over onto its side, sliding before finally ending up in a ditch on the side of the road. Screams echoed out of the interior of the bus as the children begun moving and freeing themselves from the wreckage. The driver lay dead against the wheel. It was almost midnight, and the children were alone in woods that could swallow them from every angle. It would be daybreak before anyone would even begin looking for them...

Players choose 1 card from the six gifted children cards and 4 random cards from the 24 children and assemble their survivors. Each child card displays the child's name, age, sanity level and "end game" point value. Your goal is to keep as many children alive and as sane as possible by sunrise. The gifted children have high sanity values and a special ability to help their group survive. These special abilities include the power to absorb a creature’s damage, evade enemy attacks and even pass damage meant for you onto your opponent's survivors. Survival is key and differs from child to child. Some kids are young and low on sanity, while others may have increased sanity due to age or street smarts. Each child card contains a simple descriptive term like Bully, Class Clown, or Doll Baby to give insight into each child and add flavor to the core game.

The goal of Zero Hour is to survive from midnight until dawn. Each turn, a card from the Hour deck is flipped over, advancing time forward by one hour. The player with the highest point total at sunrise is declared the winner. Each child has a point value indicated on their card that comes into play once the game is over. Each player adds together whatever cards they are still holding to determine their point value total. This number will be between 0-25 points.

The Game contains:
6 Gifted Child cards
24 Child cards
30 Sanity cards
8 Clock cards
1 black/white Creature die
1 white Escape die
1 rules booklet
100-card Exploration Deck (The Slender Man)