I find myself in the tricky situation of wanting to share my love of zombies with my children, but finding that most entries into the world of the undead are not appropriate for anyone under the age of 10. When I saw Zombie Dice on sale at my local gaming store on Free Comic Book Day, I knew I had finally found what I was looking for: a game in which I could pretend to eat the brains of innocent people with my eight year-old boy without scarring him for life.

This is a game that's based on luck and a risk-vs-reward mechanic that can lead to some tense moments. It's a simple game to learn to play, giving it a wide appeal for younger players and anyone who loves the undead. Let's take a look.

All we want to do is eat your brains

The game is simple. You get a tumbler and 13 dice. Each die is covered in a differing number of three possible icons: the brain, the shotgun blast, and running feet. You like the brains. The running feet are neutral. The shotgun blasts are bad. There are three different colors of dice: green, yellow, and red. The green has more brains than shotgun blasts, the yellow is slightly more dangerous, and the red has three shotgun blasts, two feet, and only one brain. By glancing at the colors in your hand, you can tell how dangerous your next roll is going to be.

Play begins with a player shaking the tumbler, drawing three dice randomly, and then rolling. The brains are set aside, the shotgun blasts are set aside, and the feet are kept in the middle. The goal is to eat as many brains as possible while avoiding the shotgun blasts. You can roll as many times as you like, but if you get up to three shotgun blasts, your turn is over, with no score. You can quit your turn at any time before that happens, and bank the number of brains you've eaten. The first person to eat 13 brains is the winning zombie.

Let's walk through a sample round. I roll three dice, and get one shotgun blast and two runners. The shotgun blast is put to the side, and now I only need to roll two more to end my turn without scoring. I draw one more die, add it to the feet to get three, and roll again. I get two brains and a shotgun blast. The brains go into my scoring pile, and the shotgun blast joins the first pile. Now, I have a choice: do I pick three more dice and hope to avoid the third shotgun blast that would end my turn, or do I stop, bank my two brains, and let my opponent play? The trick is to keep your turn going as long as possible without rolling shotgun blasts, and knowing when it's in your best interest to bank your points and move on.

Again, this is all based mostly on luck, although the three levels of danger inherent in the dice add a very nice layer of information. If you're rolling a handful of green, you know you're likely to score high. If you see mostly red, you can kiss your brain-pan goodbye.

There is a great post on the SJGames website that describes how you can use the rolls to actually tell a story and roleplay the game. "Tell stories about your intended victims. A red and two greens all roll feet? Obviously they're running and setting up an ambush," the post explains. "But if you haven't been shot yet, what are the odds that the SWAT sergeant, the old lady, and the Girl Scout can actually take you down when you round the corner?" The answer is 1.9 percent, with the added note that "sometimes the Girl Scout has a Glock .45 concealed in that box of Thin Mints."

Some players may be put off by the amount of luck involved, and how simplistic the play can be, but if you're in the mood for a fun, quick game with a zombie theme it doesn't get much better than this. Goading someone into rolling just one more time when they're already showing two shotgun blasts is fun, and I'm the type of person who tends to push bad situations. That means I often lose, but when I win? It's pretty epic.

This game has been out for quite a while, and should be available in most hobby stores for around $13. If you're a stay-in-the-house type, you can also find it online. If you told me a week ago I would be enjoying a family-friendly game about zombies... well, I live in a better world now.