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Q: In a two-player game, if one player has the Zombie Repellent, does Larry essentially not move when the Goal changes?

…So the other player is just stuck with him all the time?

A: Yes, sadly, that is indeed the case. We look to the wording on the Zombie Repellent, which states that Zombies are instantly moved away from the player with that Keeper. Instantly means that there is no time when the Zombie is in that player’s possession and, there being no “in between” place or “in between” time for him to be in any other place, the instant he is moved away when the Goal changes, he is instantly repelled back to the only other player in the game.

Though Larry is particularly punishing in some respects, when he stops moving, he becomes, in many ways MORE like all of the other Zombies – and, while you won’t be able to MOVE him away from you, there are plenty of other ways to KILL Zombies in the deck. You’ll just have to break out the Shotgun, or declare open Zombie Season, or invoke that Weapons Bonus to use some Lumber on him so you can take him out of play entirely.

Hey, at least he’s not like the Quartet, that never hits the discard pile. If they were in play, you’d have to nullify or destroy your opponent’s Zombie Repellent in order to get anywhere…

Q: If I trade my Zombie Repellent with the Car owned by a zombie-afflicted player, can I win with I Alone Survived?

…Player A only has the Zombie Repellent sitting in front of her while Player B has the Car and a zombie. The Goal I Alone Survived is played, requiring just the Car and everyone else having zombies. During Player A’s turn, she plays Exchange Keepers and trades her Zombie Repellent for Player B’s Car. Some of the players in the game believed that Player A won instantly because at the moment she was the only one without zombies and met the Goal, but the others believed that Player B’s having received the Zombie Repellent would go instantly into effect – and he would have transferred his lone Zombie to Player A…

A: Player A does not win. Although it could be argued that there is a slight lag in both in story and gameplay while Player B sprays his repellent and decides where his zombie goes, we would rule that technically those things are simultaneous in terms of gameplay, and moreover, even story-wise the lag would not affect the long-term outcome: the car thief would not be the only one surviving. Here’s how we see the story playing out:

Sure, it makes sense that the repellent would take a little time to take effect, but this is irrelevant. If someone (Player A) literally ran up to you and your zombie and your car, and stole your car, tearing off with it into the distance, while tossing you their can of zombie repellent, saying “So long sucker!” who would win?

One might argue that Player A wins because you were temporarily “with zombie” and they were driving off with the car. That’s one answer – but we think you would survive in the end, since you have the repellent, so your car thief, player A, is not “Alone Surviving” to meet the stated intent of the Goal.

Q: How does Zombie Repellent interact with the Zombie Victory UnGoal?

If the Zombie Victory goal is out and there are 5 or more Creeper cards on the table and one person has the Zombie Repellent card and a zombie gets passed to the person with the Zombie Repellent, is the Zombie Victory condition fulfilled? Or does “instantly” imply that the person never actually gets the zombie card? For example, the Zombie is given to him, and he passes it on to somebody else before he sets it down?

A: The game continues, Zombie Repellent keeps you from ever truly being in possession of a Zombie. You may be the player responsible for redirecting them as they approach you, but the intent is that Zombie Repellent keeps you permanently free of Zombies.