Bunker online: rules of the Russian party game and how to play with friends

Bunker is the Russian party game about who gets a spot in the shelter: disaster has struck, there’s room for only about half the group, and everyone argues they deserve a place. Each player is a character made of cards — profession, health, hobby, baggage, facts — revealed one by one, debated and voted on until the shelter is full. To play something like it online, use a browser game with a shared screen and phones: that’s how Exodus by Roomzy works, a party game in the spirit of Bunker.

Play Exodus with friends

What is Bunker?

Bunker (“Бункер” in Russian) is a commercial card game from the Russian publisher Economicus. It has several editions and standalone sequels, and the details differ between them. Outside Russian-speaking countries it’s barely known, so here’s the gist.

If you’ve ever argued about who gets the last seat in a lifeboat, you already get the idea. The world is ending, and the catastrophe card decides how. There’s a shelter, but it only fits about half the group. Each player is a random character built from cards:

• profession — anything from surgeon to blogger;
• sex and age — yes, that’s an argument too;
• health — from “perfectly healthy” to something you’d rather keep quiet about;
• hobby — sometimes surprisingly useful;
• baggage — whatever they managed to grab on the way;
• facts — things you’d better know about this person in advance.

It’s not a deduction game like Mafia or Werewolf, where you hunt for hidden enemies (more on that in how to play Mafia online). Bunker is about persuasion: who gets in and who stays outside the door.

Bunker rules in short

Roughly, a game goes like this. The details — number of rounds, special cards, win conditions — vary by edition, so check the rulebook in your box for the exact rules.

1. Catastrophe. A catastrophe card opens the game. It decides who’s most needed: a nuclear winter calls for different skills than an epidemic.
2. Deal. Everyone gets a set of character cards and sees only their own.
3. Reveal. Round after round, players take turns revealing one card and briefly explaining why they’re useful. Usually you start with your profession.
4. Discussion. The group argues over who’s essential and who’s dead weight.
5. Vote. Everyone decides who doesn’t get into the shelter. Whoever gets the most votes stays outside. A tie usually means a revote between the leaders.
6. The end. The game goes on until there are as many people left as there are spots in the shelter.

Often one person takes the host role: reveals the catastrophe, keeps time, counts votes. The sets also have special cards that change a round or a vote — a last-minute way to save yourself.

How many players

Different editions are made for different group sizes: edition listings mention both “up to 10” and “up to 16” players. It gets lively with five, and the bigger the group, the hotter the votes.

How long it takes

Edition listings say 30–60 minutes, but without a timer, a debate over whether to take a cook with allergies can easily eat the whole evening.

How to win

In the simple version, you win by getting into the shelter. Advanced versions ask for more: survivors have to handle threats, and sometimes keep a couple who can continue the human race. So vote for the useful ones, not just the charming ones.

How to play Bunker online

Online, you need secret cards for each player and a shared picture for everyone: what’s been revealed, how many spots are left, who voted for whom. There are three ways to do it.

A host on a video call

One person gathers everyone on a call, sends out characters in private messages, keeps time and counts votes. It works, but the host doesn’t get to play, and everyone has to keep the revealed cards in their head.

Bots and websites

There are messenger bots and websites that deal random character traits. They vary: some only generate a character, others run the rounds and the vote. Card sets and rules there are often their own, so agree with your group in advance which ones you’re playing by.

A browser game: shared screen and phones

The third way is a browser game where everything is split fairly. The shared screen — a TV, a laptop or a screen share in a call — shows what everyone may know: the stage, the timer, revealed cards, vote results. Secrets stay on the phones: your face-down cards and your buttons. Friends join with the room code or a QR code — no apps, no sign-up.

That’s how Exodus works on Roomzy. For the TV-plus-phones setup in general, see party games on a TV. Want to try it with your group? Create an Exodus room and show your friends the code.

Exodus: like Bunker, with more mechanics

Exodus is a Roomzy party game in the spirit of Bunker, with more mechanics. It isn’t a version of Bunker but a separate game, with its own world, cards and rules. The planet is dying, and the last ship can’t take everyone. Each player argues the colony can’t survive without them, and after boarding the colony faces its trials — where the game counts the colonists’ real skills, even the cards nobody revealed.

Players: 5 to 12. Game length: 20–35 minutes — about 20 with 5–7 players, 25–30 with 8–9, 30–35 with 10–12. The room owner picks the mode before the start: Family (6+), Normal (16+) with dark humor, or 18+.

A character made of eight cards

Sex and age, Profession, Health, Hobby, Trait, two Baggage cards and a Fact. Sometimes instead of a human you get a robot, a vampire or a talking cat: it has skills of its own, but it can’t have children.

Every card has hidden properties that only the game sees. The text hints at how a card helps, but not everything: a modest hobby can save the colony, and a Fact is always a surprise. You also get one secret action card — you can play it once, from your phone.

How a game goes

1. Alarm. The screen shows the catastrophe, and you look at your character on your phone.
2. Boarding — 3 to 5 rounds. In rounds 1–3 the screen reveals a trial waiting for the colony, so there’s something concrete to argue about. Everyone picks on their phone which card to reveal, then takes a turn explaining why it matters (in round 1, everyone’s Profession and Sex and age open at once). Then comes free discussion.
3. Vote — from round 2: who stays on Earth. The vote is open, you can’t vote for yourself, and you can abstain. In a tie, the leaders get 15 seconds each to defend themselves, then there’s a revote between them; another tie — it’s decided by lot.
4. Last word. The player voted off says goodbye and may reveal one of their cards.
5. Trials and finale. The ship leaves with whoever is still on board, the colony faces its trials, and the game ends with a “100 years later” epilogue, awards and every player’s cards.

Action cards and secret revenge

Action cards are your trumps for the discussion and the vote. Inspection secretly shows you one face-down card of another player, Search reveals a random face-down card of the chosen player to everyone, Immunity cancels the votes against you, Retrial replays the vote. And Second Chance triggers on its own and saves you in a trial.

Getting voted off doesn’t take you out of the game: until boarding ends, you keep voting with everyone else. After your last word, your phone secretly gives you a revenge target — one of the players who voted against you. Revenge is done if that player doesn’t make it to the end: they get voted off too, don’t come back from a trial or leave the room.

Trials: even face-down cards count

Four trials await the colony: three known and one surprise. Each one tests a single area of colony life — medicine, tech, food, security, spirit or the future. The game adds up what the cards of all living colonists bring to that area, face-down cards included, and the screen shows whose cards helped and whose let the colony down.

Before each trial, any colonist can tap “I’ve got this”. If the colony falls short, someone doesn’t come back: whoever volunteered, or if nobody did, the colonist strongest in that area.

Outside Family mode there’s also the Next Generation: among the living there must be a man and a woman who can have children. An Embryo Bank in someone’s baggage replaces one of the pair.

Who wins

The colony survives if it fails no more trials than allowed: two with 5–6 players, one with 7–12, and one in Family mode. Then every living colonist wins, and so does everyone who didn’t come back from a trial — they’re the colony’s heroes. A player voted off wins if the colony survives and their revenge is done.

The full rules are on the Exodus page. Ready to fight for a seat on the ship? Create a room.

How Exodus differs from Bunker

In short: like Bunker, just with more mechanics. The core is the same — characters made of cards, arguments, votes — and on top of it are things Bunker doesn’t have or does differently:

• colony trials — the game counts every card, even face-down ones, so eloquence runs into numbers;
• hidden card properties — the text doesn’t tell you everything, and a modest hobby can save the colony;
• secret revenge for players voted off — kicking someone out doesn’t mean you’re rid of them;
• action cards — everyone has one, secret, single use;
• “I’ve got this” — you can risk yourself for the colony and become its hero;
• unexpected characters — a robot, a vampire or a talking cat.

On top of that, the game runs itself: no prep, no host, 20–35 minutes start to finish.

One doesn’t replace the other. Bunker is a good game, and the box has its own charm: real cards in your hands, no screens, no internet, house rules every group tweaks to taste. But if you want an online alternative to Bunker — for a call or a night in front of the TV — give Exodus a try.

Tips: how to argue your way in

These work in both Bunker and Exodus.

• Tie your card to the threat. Not “I’m a cook” but “we’ll be flying for years — who’s going to feed the colony?”. An argument tied to the catastrophe or the trial on screen beats any self-presentation.
• Tell a bad card honestly and with a joke. Poor health served with humor saves you more often than a strong profession told in a boring way. One argument and one joke beat a minute of listing.
• Hold your trump. Reveal your strongest card when the clouds are gathering over you, not when there’s no vote yet (in Exodus, that’s round 1).
• Praise others. Whoever explains why the colony needs their neighbor looks like a team player and gets voted off less.
• Don’t lead the attack. The loudest accuser becomes a target. In Exodus the vote is open, too, and a player voted off takes revenge on one of those who voted against them.
• Don’t trust words alone. In Exodus, trials count every card, even face-down ones, and a card’s text doesn’t tell the whole story. Check speeches that sound too smooth with Inspection or Search.
• Remember the couple. Vote off every man or every woman who can have children, and the Next Generation won’t happen (Family mode doesn’t have it).
• “I’ve got this” isn’t a sacrifice. A colonist who doesn’t come back from a trial is the colony’s hero and wins too, if the colony survives.

Getting colleagues together? See party games for corporate events. Looking for a Jackbox alternative? There’s an article on that too.

Play Exodus with friends

FAQ

How many people do you need to play Bunker?

It depends on the edition: listings mention both “up to 10” and “up to 16” players. It gets lively with five, and the bigger the group, the hotter the votes. Exodus, a Roomzy game in the spirit of Bunker, takes 5 to 12 players.

How long does a game of Bunker take?

Edition listings say 30–60 minutes, but a lot depends on the group and on whether you keep time. A game of Exodus takes 20–35 minutes: the game keeps the timers itself.

Can you play Bunker online?

Yes. You can gather on a video call with a host who sends out characters in private messages, or use a bot or a website. The easiest is a browser game: the shared screen goes into the call, and the secret cards stay on the phones. That’s how Exodus works: it runs in video calls like Zoom, and there’s nothing to install.

How is Exodus different from Bunker?

Exodus is a separate Roomzy game in the spirit of Bunker, not a version of it: like Bunker, just with more mechanics. The core is the same — characters made of cards, arguments and votes.

On top of that come colony trials (the game counts every card, even face-down ones), hidden card properties, secret revenge for players voted off, action cards and “I’ve got this” before each trial. There’s no human host: rounds, timers and vote counting are on the game.

Do my friends need to sign up or pay?

No. Guests join from their phones with the room code, for free and without signing up; only the room owner pays. How many players a room takes depends on the plan: up to 8 for free, up to 16 with Premium.

Can kids play Exodus?

Yes, there’s a Family mode (6+) for that: friendly cards, colonists who fail a trial fly home on a lifeboat, revenge is called a comeback, and there’s no Next Generation. The room owner picks the mode before the game starts.

Normal mode is 16+, with dark humor. The 18+ mode is turned on by the room owner, who confirms that all players are 18 or older.