The aliens escaped from Area Zed. Then they moved into the hut right next to it.
It was Zerb's plan. "Nobody looks right next to the lab." Hazard called it "a fortress". Frost called it "a shed". Everyone agreed on the next step: make it look like a human lives here.
LOOK AFTER THE CREW
Feed them, play with them, and turn the lights off when they are sleepy. Every alien has their own tastes. Munch eats anything. Hazard wants chilli. Frost will not touch toast, or socks. Bramble says "Hmm... no." to most things. Leave them for a while and they get a bit mopey, but nobody is ever punished, nothing is taken away, and there are no streaks to lose.
DISGUISES
A moustache. A bowler hat. A human beard. A cardboard box. The crew wear them with total confidence. Nobody is fooled.
MAKE IT LOOK HUMAN
A rug. A lamp. A framed photo of "our human family" (it is a toaster). Net curtains, a garden gnome, and a doormat that says HUMANS LIVE HERE. Then a full suit of armour, just to be safe.
ESCAPE PLANS
Three small goals, then a plan the crew carry out completely seriously, and a reward. No timer. A plan never runs out.
THE ARCADE
The Claw Machine: a proper arcade grabber full of prize capsules, and the crew, who climbed in and will not stop running about. The moment the claw drops, they all freeze. Time it, line it up, grab one. Pure skill, no luck: dead centre always holds. Your first go each day is free; after that a go costs a few shinies.
The Joyride: Zerb heard rock 'n' roll on the saucer radio and took the saucer to chase it. Slide your thumb to steer between the moon rocks and grab the notes of the signal. Four in a row and the song kicks in: SOLO, double points. Then the rocks start to move.
NEW ARRIVALS
Munch was hiding in the stolen food crate. Wisp drifts in through the window on the first night. Echo is still inside the mirror they nicked on the way out, and Bramble is a sleeping bud in the window box.
FRIENDSHIP
Spend time with each alien and your friendship grows. It never goes down. Friends learn tricks and tell you their story.
WHILE YOU WERE OUT
Come back after a while and the crew have left you a postcard and a small gift. Your hut and your crew are saved with your phone's backup, so a new phone picks up where you left off.
THE SHOP
Zerb, Gloop, Fizz, Munch and Wisp live in the hut for free. Midnight, Hazard, Frost, Echo and Bramble can move in one at a time, or all five together, at a fixed price. Buy a character in any Zerb game and they are yours in all of them. There are also theme sets for the hut (The Saucer Lounge, The Break Room, The Party), Golden Disguises, and The Founder's Hideout, which has everything. Shinies, the hut's coins, are earned by playing and are never sold. Nothing random is sold. Nothing expires.
Want double shinies after an arcade game? Fizz will do it for a short video. That is the only ad.
And when nobody's watching, it's air guitars out. Hazard on drums. Fizz on lead, shorting out the lamp. Gloop on tambourine, off the beat. Then the searchlight sweeps through the window, and everyone freezes mid-solo. "I'm a lamp."
Part of The Vunzerbles. Zerb and the crew escaped from Area Zed, and every game is a new chapter. Collect all the Vunzerbles in Zerb Breakout, Zerb Racer, Zerb: Lab Escape and Zerb's Hideout.
The aliens escaped the lab. Now they're hiding next door to it. Look after them.