We have examined the co-doping effects of 1/2mol% NiO and 1/4mol% Cr2O3 (Ni:Cr=1:1) on the reaction,microstructure, and electrical properties, such as the bulk defects and the grain boundary properties, of ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3 (ZBS;Sb/Bi=0.5, 1.0, and 2.0) varistors. The sintering and electrical properties of Ni,Cr-doped ZBS, ZBS(NiCr) varistors werecontrolled using the Sb/Bi ratio. Pyrochlore (Zn2Bi3Sb3O14), α-spinel (Zn7Sb2O12), and δ-Bi2O3 were detected for all ofcompositions. For the sample with Sb/Bi=1.0, the Pyrochlore was decomposed and promoted densification at lowertemperature by Ni rather than by Cr. A homogeneous microstructure was obtained for all of the samples affected by α-spinel.The varistor characteristics were not dramatically improved (non-linear coefficient, α=5~24), and seemed to formZni..(0.17eV) and Vo.(0.33eV) as dominant defects. From impedance and modulus spectroscopy, the grain boundaries werefound to have been divided into two types, i.e., one is tentatively assigned to ZnO/Bi2O3 (Ni,Cr)/ZnO (0.98eV) and the otheris assigned to a ZnO/ZnO (~1.5eV) homojunction.