Run
For Life
A running game for Ho Chi Minh City. Every run is a zombie chase, and every real kilometre builds your base on the real map.
How a run goes
First, pick a side
Survivors gather Supplies. Zombies hunt people for Biomass. Surprise me: either side, 1.5× all loot. Your first three runs are always as a Survivor.
Then run, phone in your pocket
Linh at Thủ Thiêm Station talks in your ear: the weather, the “zombie jam”, the safehouse ahead. No screen and no taps until you get home.
Chased? Hold pace for 60 seconds
Escape by holding 115% of your own 30-day average pace. Caught, you run on as a Zombie and drop 25% of unbanked Supplies, but every kilometre still counts.
Last, bank it and build
Running through a safehouse banks your Supplies, no stopping. At home, place blocks on your base, on the very cell you keep running through.
Base · ShophouseSafehouse · 450 mLinh: “Good morning, Linh here. Empty roads… only a zombie jam. Run safe.”
Linh: “Uninvited guests behind you. Speed up!”
First and last 400 m hidden114 Supplies banked, including 40 for escapes. +13 points for Survivors in An Khánh.
The chase is measured against your own pace
Saigon, built in blocks
The whole city comes from open map data: parks, canals, markets, alleys, bridges, and Landmark 81. The sky in the game follows real Saigon time, so a dawn run looks like dawn.
The hive nests at Landmark 81. Linh's station is on the 34th floor of an unfinished tower in Thủ Thiêm, looking across the river.
Run For Life uses the real map as its sandbox.
- Supplies
- Every cell gives what it has: parks give Wood, canals and rivers give Water, markets give Food, construction sites give Steel, hospitals give Medicine.
- Relics
- Drop at landmarks like Bến Thành Market or the Starlight Bridge, and only in cells you have never run through.
- Base
- 16 × 16 blocks, built on a public cell you have run through three times. A cell holds only 12 plots, so the Thủ Thiêm riverside will fill up fast. A base grows from Tent to Shack, Shophouse, Fortress, then Tower.
- Zombies
- Don't build. They mutate, then raid other people's bases.
- Wards
- Every 6–8 weeks, each ward turns the colour of the side that ran more there.
A base on a real cell
Wood walls, brick walls, steel walls. Workbench, garden, storage, watchtower, radio mast. Every block costs Supplies, and Supplies come from one place only: running.
A 10 km run earns about 100 Supplies. A raided base is only “overrun” for 24 hours, loses no blocks, and you get a week to take revenge.
Wards change colour
Blue for Survivors, red for Zombies, scored per ward every 6–8 weeks and divided by area, so a small downtown ward competes fairly with a wide suburban one. The winning side in a ward gets the season's block set. The top 100 runners in each ward get their names on its monument.
- 1point per km
- 3per escape
- 5per catch
- 10per base overrun
Gear you pack before a run
Sneakers: escape in 45 seconds, not 60.
50 Supplies: 20 Wood and 30 Steel. About half a 10 km run.
Radio: hear zombies at 300 m instead of 200.
60 Supplies: 10 Wood and 50 Steel. Linh warns you 100 m earlier.
Backpack: carry 25% more before banking.
70 Supplies: 50 Wood and 20 Food. For long routes with few safehouses.
Medkit: cancel one infection.
120 Supplies: 40 Water and 80 Medicine. Medicine only drops at hospital and pharmacy cells.
Decoy: the next ghost chases it, not you.
120 Supplies: 80 Steel and 40 Food. A ghost is a real Zombie's trail from the last 6 hours.
Carry at most 2 items a run. Packed: Sneakers and Radio, 110 Supplies in all. Switch on a third and the oldest goes back on the shelf.
Radiofrom Thủ Thiêm
- 25 kmopens itEpisode 1 · Good morning, SaigonThủ Thiêm Station is on air for the first time. I need your help with something.Linh
- 50 kmopens itEpisode 2 · Thủ Thiêm Station on airToday I'll walk you around the station. Someone new wants to say hello.Linh
- 75 kmopens itEpisode 3 · The first safehouseThanks to you, the first safehouse has its lights back on. Someone called in to say thank you.Linh
- 100 kmopens itEpisode 4 · Jam at the roundaboutIt's been so long since I read a real traffic report. At the Bến Thành roundabout.Linh
- 125 kmopens itEpisode 5 · Reconnecting Bến ThànhTonight I need the whole city to run towards Bến Thành. Just once.Linh
- 150 kmopens itEpisode 6 · The whole city hears itTonight the whole city listens to one frequency. I want you there too.Linh
- 15 kmas a ZombieSignal 1 · The first soundA bang. Then a thousand footsteps.Hive
- 30 kmas a ZombieSignal 2 · The hive wakesThe hive wakes. One more joins.Hive
- 45 kmas a ZombieSignal 3 · The smell of the livingAcross the river, the smell of the living.Hive
- 60 kmas a ZombieSignal 4 · Who is on the radio?A voice in the air. No smell. Only sound.Hive
- 25 kmopens itEpisode 1 · The marathon morningToday I'll tell you about my little brother. I've avoided this for a long time.Linh
- 50 kmopens itEpisode 2 · The photo at the start lineSomeone kept a photo of Tuấn at the start line. There's something in it I never noticed.Linh
- 75 kmopens itEpisode 3 · Floods in Thảo ĐiềnUnseasonal rain is pouring on Thảo Điền. Someone is stuck, and I need the whole station listening.Linh
- 100 kmopens itEpisode 4 · The letter on the bridgeSomeone is walking across Thủ Thiêm Bridge with a letter for the station. I haven't dared open it.Linh
- 125 kmopens itEpisode 5 · Tuấn's roomToday I went home. For the first time since that morning.Linh
- 150 kmopens itEpisode 6 · Bib 2468Someone found a race bib pinned to the riverside fence. Two four six eight.Linh
- 15 kmas a ZombieSignal 1 · Rain at Bến ThànhRain. Every smell is gone.Hive
- 30 kmas a ZombieSignal 2 · Shoes that never tireThe hive's shoes have never worn out.Hive
- 45 kmas a ZombieSignal 3 · The finish lineThere is a line. The hive keeps running and never reaches it.Hive
- 60 kmas a ZombieSignal 4 · Sister?The hive left a number. For the one on the tower.Hive
- 25 kmopens itEpisode 1 · A bowl set asideEvery night I set aside a bowl of rice on the railing. This morning something strange happened.Linh
- 50 kmopens itEpisode 2 · A voice on frequency 81I recorded a piece of frequency 81. Slowed down… it says a word I haven't heard in a very long time.Linh
- 75 kmopens itEpisode 3 · Mum's lullabyLast night frequency 81 sang a lullaby. My mother's song. With exactly one line wrong.Linh
- 100 kmopens itEpisode 4 · The runner who never tiresAt Tao Đàn there's a zombie that runs as steady as a marathoner. People say it even leads the way to the safehouse.Linh
- 125 kmopens itEpisode 5 · Lights on Thủ Thiêm BridgeThe lights on the bridge are coming back on by themselves. A few more each night. And they blink to the rhythm of a song.Linh
- 150 kmopens itEpisode 6 · Full moonTonight the moon is full. I'm going up on Thủ Thiêm Bridge to talk to frequency 81. Live.Linh
- 15 kmas a ZombieSignal 1 · Welcome to the hiveWelcome to the hive. The hive is bigger than yesterday.Hive
- 30 kmas a ZombieSignal 2 · Hungry?Hungry? the hive asks. This time a voice answers.Hive
- 45 kmas a ZombieSignal 3 · A lullaby under the bridgeUnder the bridge, someone is singing. The hive stops.Hive
- 60 kmas a ZombieSignal 4 · Full moonFull moon. The one on the tower walks to the middle of the bridge. Alone.Hive
Quick questions
Does it cost money?
No. Running, chases, building and the ward war are free. Only cosmetics are sold: a season pass at 79,000 ₫, block packs at 29,000–149,000 ₫, and a base move at 49,000 ₫. Supplies, Biomass, Relics and anything that helps you escape or catch faster are never sold.
Is it safe?
Nobody sees your live position, not even the zombie chasing you. Nothing rewards running into traffic: a chase never starts on a main road or at a safehouse, and it pauses when you stop at a red light. Share cards hide the first and last 400 m of your route. Linh keeps reminding you: stop at the crossing.
I'm slow. Will I always get caught?
No. The escape pace is 115% of your own 30-day average, so 7:30 and 4:30 runners have the same odds. A real Zombie's ghost is also clamped to 105–125% of your pace. At most 4 chases a run, at least 5 minutes apart.
Do treadmill runs count?
Yes. Kilometres count in full from your steps: phone in your pocket, or AirPods when the phone sits on the console. Still 10 Supplies per km, still chases, and Linh's courier picks up your haul every 2 km. Only ward points, Relics and raids need the street.
Do I need a watch?
No. A phone in your pocket and earphones are enough, and without earphones the speaker still calls out danger. A Garmin app (Connect IQ) and history import from Strava and Garmin Connect come after launch, an Apple Watch app later.
Can I play outside Saigon?
Yes. The map covers the whole country: Cần Thơ or Hải Phòng get real parks, markets, wards and safehouses. Saigon gets the hand-polished detail first, and the radio stays a Saigon station.
How old do I have to be?
16 and up for now. Younger runners will need a parent to open the account, and that comes later. Zombies chase, surround and stare; nobody gets bitten on air, and there is no blood.
When can I play?
The closed beta comes to iPhone first, in Saigon, ward by ward. Android later. Sign up below and you get the link when your ward's turn comes.