Army Of Zero
Encyclopedia
Army of Zero is a puzzle
and two-player card game
, published by Point Zero Games. A cash prize is on offer to the person who can provide the best solution to the puzzle. Army of Zero is an armchair treasure hunt, similar in concept to Masquerade
and The Key To The Kingdom.
and a deck of ninety-nine cards. The cards are made up of eighty-four character cards, eight attack/defend cards, six cards defining the rules and one card which acts as an entry form into the puzzle competition.
Point Zero Games has stated that the puzzle requires all eighty-four character cards, and that at least part of the solution is related to arranging the cards in a particular configuration.
The outcome of each round is determined by the rolling of six-sided dice and adding the appropriate character statistics. Each character card has four statistics: speed, combat, weapon and armour. Each of these is an integer number, and each can range between -2 and +2.
The statistics used to resolve combat depend on whether each player chose to attack or defend.
When a character is defeated, he or she is out of the game. When all ten of a player's characters are defeated, the other player is the winner.
clan are all vampiric in appearance.
The various clans are as follows:
Each character also has a name and a rank, or title. Each character's name is unique, but there are only five ranks. The five ranks are:
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
and two-player card game
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
, published by Point Zero Games. A cash prize is on offer to the person who can provide the best solution to the puzzle. Army of Zero is an armchair treasure hunt, similar in concept to Masquerade
Masquerade (book)
Masquerade is a children’s book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, which sparked a treasure hunt by concealing clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare, created and hidden somewhere in Britain by Williams...
and The Key To The Kingdom.
Game contents
The game includes two six-sided diceDice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
and a deck of ninety-nine cards. The cards are made up of eighty-four character cards, eight attack/defend cards, six cards defining the rules and one card which acts as an entry form into the puzzle competition.
Puzzle
The design of the eighty-four character cards includes a series of interconnected puzzles. The objective is to work out what the objective of the puzzle is, to solve it, and to submit the answer to Point Zero Games. A prize of £1,000 is on offer to the person providing the best solution by the closing date of April 30 2010.Point Zero Games has stated that the puzzle requires all eighty-four character cards, and that at least part of the solution is related to arranging the cards in a particular configuration.
Card game
The cards can be used to play a two-player game. Each player receives ten character cards, dealt at random. In each round, both players put forward one of their characters, and these two characters battle each other. In each round of combat, each player can choose to attack or defend, but no character can attack for more than two rounds in a row. Players can gain an advantage by successfully predicting whether their opponent will attack or defend.The outcome of each round is determined by the rolling of six-sided dice and adding the appropriate character statistics. Each character card has four statistics: speed, combat, weapon and armour. Each of these is an integer number, and each can range between -2 and +2.
The statistics used to resolve combat depend on whether each player chose to attack or defend.
When a character is defeated, he or she is out of the game. When all ten of a player's characters are defeated, the other player is the winner.
Characters
Army of Zero has eighty-four character cards, depicting a series of odd fantasy characters. Each character is depicted as belonging to a particular "clan", each clan being named after an animal. The character designs are representative of the clans, so for example, the members of the BatBat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
clan are all vampiric in appearance.
The various clans are as follows:
- AlligatorAlligatorAn alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
- AntelopeAntelopeAntelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
- ArmadilloArmadilloArmadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
- BadgerBadgerBadgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
- BatBatBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
- BearBearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
- BeetleBeetleColeoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
- BuffaloBubalusBubalus is a genus of bovines, whose English name is buffalo. Species that belong to this genus are:* Subgenus Bubalus** Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis*** Carabao, Bubalus bubalis carabanesis...
- CamelCamelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
- ChameleonChameleonChameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
- CheetahCheetahThe cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
- CrocodileCrocodileA crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
- CrowCrowCrows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
- DolphinDolphinDolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
- EagleEagleEagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
- ElephantElephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
- FoxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
- FrogFrogFrogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
- GazelleGazelleA gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
- GorillaGorillaGorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
- HorseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
- HyenaHyenaHyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
- JackalJackalAlthough the word jackal has been historically used to refer to many small- to medium-sized species of the wolf genus of mammals, Canis, today it most properly and commonly refers to three species: the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of...
- JaguarJaguarThe jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
- KangarooKangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
- LeopardLeopardThe leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
- LionLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
- LizardLizardLizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
- MoleMole (animal)Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
- MonkeyMonkeyA monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
- PandaPandaPanda or Panda bear most often refers to:*Giant panda, an animal in the Bear familyPanda may also refer to:*Red panda, the only living member in the Ailuridae family-In biology:* Species related to the Giant panda...
- PantherPantheraPanthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
- PorcupinePorcupinePorcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
- RabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
- RatRatRats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
- RhinocerosRhinocerosRhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
- SnakeSnakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
- SpiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
- TigerTigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
- TurtleTurtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
- WalrusWalrusThe walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
- Wolf
- ZebraZebraZebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
Each character also has a name and a rank, or title. Each character's name is unique, but there are only five ranks. The five ranks are:
- Thegn
- Guardian
- Commander
- General
- Lord
Solution
Tim Pickup won the game. The objective was to find the missing character, who was General Voleda of the Crocodile Clan.External links
- Official Army of Zero pages at the Point Zero Games web site
- Army of Zero's entry at Board Game Geek
- Review of Army of Zero at IGUK