runner5Six to Start, known for iOS and Android apps, loves traditional boardgames. The company that created the Zombies, Run! fitness app, were awarded a grant from the UK Games Fund to develop a tabletop game based on Zombies, Run! The UK Games Fund is geared towards providing businesses based in the United Kingdom with grants to take current projects and develop prototype video games. Six to Start is eligible for up to £25,000 to create a prototype. The UK Games Fund has grants up to £50,000 for “a limited number of projects” to take games past the prototype phase. While the Zombies, Run! tabletop game won’t be a traditional video game, the company will be drawing from an earlier card game that combined NFC (near field communications) cards with networked phones and tablets.

Zombies, Run! is a running fitness app, available for iOS and Android. The app casts you as Runner 5, a survivor in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, out on missions to pick up supplies, find items and people, and defend a settlement of survivors. As you exercise, the story unfolds. The board game aims to bring the characters from the app’s ongoing story and the audio-driven experience to the tabletop. Zombies, Run! has spawned three similar story-driven workout apps: Zombies, Run! 5k Training, an eight-week training program audio adventure for beginner runners; The Walk, a pedometer that unlocks story segments as players walk the length of England (developed with the NHS and Department of Health); and 7 Minute Superhero Workout, a motion-tracking workout app where you’re training to use an Iron Man-like suit to fight off alien invaders.