The word “zombie” has its origin in the Haitian language where it refers to a corpse that has been animated using magical means. The 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead featured zombies as “undead horrific beings” and since then zombies have created a niche in modern story telling. Software developers have also picked up the theme of zombies and have created some fantastic, though visually gruesome, slot machines. This article reviews a handful of them.

Alaxe in Zombieland is a Microgaming instant play online slot game. It creates added interest by spoofing characters from Alice in Wonderland as zombies. Alice becomes Alaxe and the other zombie characters include the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse. The slot game also features creepy high value card icons and zombie style animations during win combinations. The watch carried by the white rabbit triggers the Tea Party free spins feature. Players choose from teapots and win free spins and multipliers. The key that Alaxe uses to enter Zombieland triggers the Red Queen’s Adventure feature. The player has to go through five tombstones for a chance to win the bumper payout from the Red Queen.

Zone of the Zombies is an online slot game from Cryptologic’s Frightmare series. The zombie is a highly animated wild symbol and awards the highest line payouts. The hero is the scatter symbol and awards scatter payouts. In the animation he slashes through the zombies. The other thematic symbols are the zombie girl, chopped arms, loose eyeballs and a wooden coffin. The weapons used in the war between the hero and the zombies include armored tank, machine gun, club with nails embedded, dog with bleeding jaws and syringe used to convert humans to zombies. In the Zombie feature the hero has to destroy five zombies to get to the police station. Bonus payouts are awarded for each zombie killed, with additional bonus for reaching the police station. Zone of the Zombies is linked to the Frightmare randomly triggered progressive jackpot network.

The Rival Gaming online slot Zombiezee Money portrays a town in which almost everyone has become a zombie. Three survivors battle it out using flame throwers, chainsaws and pipes. These heroes and a host of zombies are the symbols on the reels. The Zombie dog is the wild symbol. It expands to reveal a full length animated zombie character. The wild symbol also acts as a multiplier. The quarantine sign triggers up to 25 free spins with tripled payouts. In the Boneyard Bonus players have to select a weapon and bop zombies to claim bonuses. The Bunker Bonus takes players to an underground chamber where they have to pick the items to fight zombies for more bonuses.

Zombies vs. Cheerleaders is an online slot game exclusively at Bovada online casino. It pits cute looking cheerleaders against the bloodthirsty undead. The symbols on the reels are the two cheerleaders, the two zombies and bloody high value card icons. A major attraction is that winning combinations are paid both left to right and right to left. The axe is the wild symbol and also a multiplier. In the Battle Feature the player will be awarded six free spins. All cheerleader symbols turn into wilds on reels one and two and all zombie symbols turn into wilds on reels four and five.