A Marvel Zombies board game just arrived on crowd-funding platform Kickstarter, and it's blown past its target within hours. Starting out with a goal of $500,000, this adaptation - which uses the Zombicide system - is now sitting at around $3.5 million just a few hours after launching the campaign.
This total shows no signs of slowing down; in the time it took to write this piece, the Marvel Zombies board game received thousands more dollars in funding. It still has 15 days to go until the Kickstarter campaign ends.
Players: 1 - 6
Game type: Co-op strategy
Price: From $130
Release date: June 2023
Developed by: CMON
Announced late last year and designed for one to six players, the Marvel Zombies board game takes place in a world where Earth's mightiest heroes have been consumed by 'the Hunger' - a plague that gives them the taste for human flesh, seen most recently on the Disney Plus series What If. Because it's powered by mechanics from the Zombicide series (which is often cited as one of the best board games for fans of the genre), you'll be battling an AI-driven foe that grows more powerful as you level up. It also features modular tiles which provide a different setup for each session.
However, the core Marvel Zombies board game doesn't challenge you to outlast waves of the undead like normal. Instead, it casts you as a necrotic hero wreaking havoc on New York. As a result, your opponents are SHIELD agents or survivors such as Spider-Man, while your targets are classic characters ranging from J Jonah Jameson to Pepper Potts. It's still a co-op experience though, so Marvel Zombies remains a contender if you're looking for cooperative board games for your table.
The standard Kickstarter pledge gets you the base game and all stretch rewards for $130. There's also a 'Resistance' pledge of $240 that provides Marvel Zombies along with an X-Men pack that flips the script by letting you play as still-living superheroes holding off the horde. Finally, the 'Galactus' pledge of $410 provides all of the above alongside a massive Galactus model, a new game mode where you have to stop him from consuming the world, and a Silver Surfer challenge.
We don't have a precise date for when this Marvel Zombies board game (or any of the sets above, for that matter) will launch, but the Kickstarter page notes that the estimated delivery window is June 2023. Although that's a long way away, it's possible this will change in the coming months. We've seen that happen before.
Speaking of which, it isn't the first time we've seen this sort of runaway success on Kickstarter board games for adults either. Back in 2020, the dungeon-delving fantasy adventure Frosthaven became the most successful board game Kickstarter ever after starting with the same $500,000 target. By the time it was done, it hit $12,969,608 in pledges overall. We'll have to wait and see if Marvel Zombies can pull off a similar trick.
Want something to keep you busy until Marvel Zombies arrives? Browse our list of board games for 2 players or the best card games. And if you want to catch up on the Marvel universe, you can do so with Disney Plus sign-up deals via our guide (just be sure to consult our advice on how to watch Marvel movies in order first so you know where to start).
