Zero Hour: Survival Horror Card Game

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 stay ahead of The Pale One and the deadly creatures of the night.

Players choose 5 random cards from the deck of 30 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. 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 to give insight into each child and add flavor to the core game.

In addition to the regular children, 5 gifted children hidden in the player deck. These gifted children are not only high in sanity but have special abilities that can change the outcome of the game. These 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. 

The deep dark woods are host to a variety of dangers your children may encounter. Sometimes they are abstract shapes and sounds that serve only to frighten, while other times, deadly creatures will reveal themselves to the player. The most dangerous entity is one that causes extreme sanity damage and goes by many names. Sometimes he is called The Pale One, The White King or The Slender Man. Very few have stood face to face with this dark entity and lived to tell about it. 

The story of The Pale One is told through the exploration deck included with the Deluxe Game.

Every turn is an opportunity for each child to face their fears exploring the woods around them. Anytime a child is exposed to The Pale One or other creatures of the night he or she risks losing sanity. Once a child's sanity is reduced to zero, it is lost to the darkness, though an attempt can be made to retrieve the lost child the following turn. Gifted children can alter the attacks and damage caused by various creatures. The Gifted can also increase your chances of retrieving lost children. 

The goal of Zero Hour is for as many children as possible to survive from midnight until dawn. Each round a card from the Zero Hour deck is flipped over, advancing time forward by one hour. At sunrise, each player totals the point values of their surviving children plus their total remaining sanity (and special point cards in the Deluxe game) and the player with the highest point total wins.

The Zero Hour Standard boxed game contains the following:

-30 children cards (including 5 gifted) 

-30 sanity cards, 

-7 Zero Hour clock cards 

-1 event die

-1  damage die

-1 outcome die  

-rules booklet 

The Zero Hour Deluxe edition includes everything in the Standard game as well as:

100-card "The Pale One" exploration deck

100 sanity tokens

3 Additional Zero Hour Clock Cards

You know you want to play this game, but in order to do so you first need to help support this project. Please click the pic, and help make it happen!

There are plenty of terrific perks available in return for your pledge to this project. Here are just a few of them:

-1 Zero Hour deluxe boxed game

-A signed and numbered 11x14” print

-1 Zero Hour plush toy