Walk-in houses and boarded openings
On Crossroads, Farmstead and Depot every building is walk-in: walk through the door and the roof lifts so you can see inside. Every doorway and window starts boarded with five planks.
- Doorways: you walk straight through the boards; zombies can’t. They have to stop and smash them, a plank at a time.
- Windows: zombies climb in once the boards are gone. You can’t climb in, but you can climb out: push into a window from inside for half a second. If it’s still boarded you smash through and lose a little health, never enough to put you down.
- Rebuilding: stand by a broken door or window and press E (A on a gamepad, Use on a phone). You nail a plank back every half second and earn $10 a plank, up to $250 a wave.
The Safehouse map is the classic version: you start inside one house with boarded windows and buy your way out through locked doors (the kitchen, the garage) and the rubble out to the street.
Build mode
Press X (or click the BUILD button beside your panel, D-pad up on a gamepad, 🔨 on a phone) to take out the hammer. A see-through ghost shows exactly where the piece goes: green when it fits, red with the reason when it doesn’t, with the price underneath.
- Place: click (or fire). Hold and drag to lay a whole line.
- Pick a piece: 1–5, the mouse wheel, or click a slot in the build bar.
- Repair or remove: point at one of your pieces. Click repairs it; R takes it down for half its cost back.
- Done: right-click, X or the DONE button.
With a mouse the ghost follows the cursor; past arm’s reach a dashed line shows where the piece will actually land. With a stick it snaps onto the doorway or gap just ahead of you.
Building on a phone
- Playing on the phone’s own screen: tap 🔨, then tap the map where the piece goes. Lift your finger and it’s built; drag to lay a line. Too far away and the outline turns red and says “Too far”: walk closer.
- Phone as a controller: the right stick only moves the outline, it never fires. A light push puts it on the next tile, a full push as far as you can reach. PLACE builds it, and the phone ticks each time the outline moves a tile.
- The build bar along the bottom (in the middle on a controller) shows every piece with its cost: tap one to switch, without covering the game. Undo gives your last piece back with everything it cost for a few seconds after you put it down.
- When a piece can’t go somewhere, the bar says why in red: “Need $220”, “Need 3 planks”, “Someone’s in the way”.
Every build piece
Survival pays in cash; Explore and Missions pay in planks, scrap and cloth you scavenge.
| Piece | Survival | Explore | Health | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden wall | $80 | 3 planks | 180 | Blocks zombies till they smash it |
| Reinforced wall | $220 | 2 planks + 3 scrap | 500 | Tough wall, lasts much longer |
| Gate | $140 | 4 planks | 260 | You walk through, they don’t |
| Spike trap | $150 | 2 scrap | 150 | Hurts and slows what walks over it |
| Torch | $40 | 1 planks + 1 cloth | 60 | Lights the dark; draws zombies at night |
Layouts that work
The funnel
Wall off every approach but one, then hold that gap with your best gun. Put a spike trap in the gap: it hurts and slows whatever walks over it, and zombies bunch up for your grenades.
The gatehouse
Ring your position with walls and put a gate on the side you use: you and your team walk through it, zombies have to smash it. Perfect around the campfire in Explore.
Double up the doors
Boards on a doorway buy seconds; a reinforced wall just inside it buys a minute. Leave one door with only boards so your team can still get in and out.
Torches as decoys
At night zombies go for torches they can see before they go for you. A $40 torch out in the street pulls a pack away from your door while you shoot them from the window side. More in the night survival guide.
Common mistakes
- Walling yourself in. Leave a gate or a boarded door: you need a way out when a big one breaks through.
- Building mid-wave. The hammer means no shooting. Build in the break.
- Forgetting repairs. A damaged wall at a third of its health is worth repairing for a fraction of a new one.
- Ignoring the big ones. Big zombies and bosses smash walls many times faster than walkers. Kill them first.
Questions
Can zombies break barricades?
Yes. Every wall, gate and board has health; zombies smash it a hit at a time, and the big ones hit much harder. Repair damaged pieces and rebuild boards with the use button.
Can players walk through barricades?
Players walk through gates and boarded doorways; zombies can’t. Walls block everyone.
How do I get out of a house that’s been overrun?
Push into a window from inside for half a second to climb out. If it still has boards you smash through and take a little damage, never enough to put you down.
