Nothing exciting ever happened in Hicksville, a small town in the middle of nowhere – until tonight when the town has been taken over by zombies! You and a group of survivors have taken shelter in the old mansion of a coffee baron, but unfortunately a horde of zombies has followed you. Trapped in the attic, you must plan to escape before the house is overrun and you all are turned into hideous undead.

In Turned, each player takes a character card and places his character in the attic. Shuffle the nine escape plan cards, then draw a number equal to one less than the number of players; these cards are placed face up so everyone can see them. Each card shows the equipment tiles that must be collected in order to escape from the mansion room named on the card; players can work toward completing any of the escape plans. Divide the equipment tiles into three piles based on color/symbol, shuffle them, and set them down as piles from which players can draw during the game.

On a turn, a player has four action points to spend; actions consist of moving to a new room, searching for equipment, trading equipment with other players, making noise, and using equipment. When players search or make noise, they attract zombies in the mansion toward that room. If a player is in a room with a zombie, he gets infected, and the disease progresses each turn until the player becomes a zombie himself – at which point he then wants to infect other players.

The first player to escape from the mansion wins. If no one escapes – because they've all been turned into zombies – then everyone but the last player to become a zombie wins.