The Hollowing: a free co-op zombie survival board game you play in the browser

One night the town went hollow. They still walk. They still wear their name tags. They follow any sound. Finish the mission and get everyone out.

What is The Hollowing?

The Hollowing is a cooperative survival board game by Rucksy. It looks and plays like a board game on a table: painted miniature standees on a town of map tiles, dice for every fight, a deck to search and a horde deck that decides what comes out of the drains. It runs in any browser, and it is free.

Play alone and you lead the whole team, 2 to 6 survivors, each yours to play. Or invite up to five friends: everyone joins on their own phone and takes a survivor, and AI companions can fill the other seats. A mission takes about 45 to 60 minutes.

How a round goes

1. 

   Everyone acts at once

   Each survivor gets three actions a turn: move, search a building, fight, open a door. Talk it over, then do it.

2. 

   Then the horde moves

   The Hollows walk toward whoever they can see, or toward the loudest noise. A shotgun saves you and calls the street. A baseball bat is quiet.

3. 

   You get stronger, and so does it

   Survivors level up and pick new skills. The stronger you get, the bigger the horde gets. Finish the mission before the round track runs out.

Ten missions, ten different nights

The first five missions are about finding things and getting out: fuel for the school bus, insulin for the chapel, fuses for the substation. The second five change the shape of the night: a split start, a last stand, a lure, work under pressure and a hunt.

• 
  First LightLight three of five rooftop flares to lead the nearby horde, then run for the field.
• 
  Last Bus OutThree heavy fuel cans carried down two blocks of Main Street to the bus.
• 
  Pharmacy RunThree cool boxes of insulin, each on a five-round clock once it leaves the freezer.
• 
  Radio SilenceAny three of five breakers: each lights a drain and moves where the horde comes from.
• 
  Lights OutThe long night: four fuses hidden somewhere in the biggest town. Search for them.
• 
  SeparatedThe team starts split on opposite edges of town, the horde between you.
• 
  Last CallA last stand: board up the roadhouse, or don’t, and hold it until the convoy comes.
• 
  Track MeetA lure: switch on the stadium PA, then slip away while the horde goes to listen.
• 
  FloodgatesCrank three loud, stiff valves while the night shift comes, then flood the town and run.
• 
  Hollow HillA hunt by lantern light: find a lantern, find the Choir, put it down.

Read every mission’s briefing and rules

A new town every game

Each mission keeps its landmark, like the bus depot or the radio station, on the same edge of the map. The rest of Marrow Falls is dealt from twelve town tiles, each turned at random: Main Street, the trailer park, the Starlite Motel, the creek. So the streets you learned last time will not be where you left them.

Each game also deals a twist, unless you turn them off: Blackout (the streetlights are out. Guns, flares and firebombs reach only the next zone, and the horde hears a zone further), The Pack (the two Hollows farthest from you are Sprinters, and two more Sprinters wait at the spawn points), Walking Wounded (two survivors start with two wounds each), and more.

The survivors

Six people from town, each with a starting skill and something in their hand. Fights earn experience. At level 2 a survivor gets an extra action, and at levels 3 and 4 you choose new skills.

• Dana ReyesParamedic, off shift. Starts with Medic and a crowbar.
• Marcus BellHigh school football coach. Starts with Tough and a baseball bat.
• Ivy TranSkater, 16. Starts with Slippery and a kitchen knife.
• Walt OkaforRuns the hardware store. Starts with Handy and a nail gun.
• June CastellanosNight-shift deputy. Starts with Marksman and a pistol.
• Theo ParkPizza delivery driver. Starts with Sprint and a kitchen knife.

The horde

• Hollows. Patient, and quicker than it looks: up to 2 zones a horde step. One good hit puts it down.
• Sprinters. Fast: up to 3 zones a horde step. One good hit puts it down.
• Brutes. Heavy. Up to 2 zones a horde step. Only a heavy hit (damage 2) stops it.
• Behemoths. What the town made of itself. Slow: 1 zone a horde step. Damage 3, or fire.

The campaign, Hard mode and the daily mission

The campaign plays all ten missions in order as one long night, in two acts. Survivors carry their chosen skills and one item from mission to mission. Lose a mission and you try it again, but each act only has so many spare tries.

Hard mode draws the horde a level stronger every other round. The daily mission deals one town, one mission and one twist for the whole world each day. How the daily mission works.

Watch the trailer

At a glance

Questions

More from Rucksy: Play The Hollowing · Play Candlewake · The Hollowing’s ten missions · The daily mission · Solo board games online · Candlewake: haunted house board game · Hidden traitor games online · Board games to play with friends online

The Hollowing and Candlewake are original games by Rucksy.