Happy Halloween! At Binghamton University, a campus-wide game of Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ) is taking place, sponsored by Late Nite Binghamton. Let me quickly describe the rules to you:
1. Everyone signs up to play at the online site, and they receive an ID number unique to them. You carry that number around with you on an index card.
2. Out of the pool of people who have signed up, one is randomly selected to be the “Original Zombie.” They do not wear anything that makes them noticeable.
3. The “Original Zombie” runs around “infecting” Humans, who then turn into Zombies. You are infected if a Zombie tags you. A Zombie must replace their white Human armband with a red Zombie armband. You give your index card to the Zombie who infected you.
4. A Zombie starves to death should they fail to “feed” every 48 hours. A Zombie reports a kill online, using the ID of his victims. Once a Zombie starves, they are “dead dead” and are no longer part of the game.
5. ANY building on campus is a “safe zone” where humans/zombies cannot attack each other.
Human weapons: marshmallows and socks (stun a zombie for 15 minutes); NERF darts (kills a zombie, forcing them to flea to their “respawn” point)
Zombie weapons: your two hands
The game is over when ANY of these conditions are met:
1. Zombies have infected the entire Human race, OR;
2. All the Zombies have starved to death, OR;
3. Friday, November 6, 2009 has finally arrived.
Over 100 students are participating in this huge game of tag, and it has proved to be very fun thus far! We have had several “missions” so far (it helps bring humans and zombies into closer contact, therefore accelerating the game), most of which started at 8PM and lasted through 10PM. The current tally is: 29 zombies, 68 humans and 5 “deceased.” Unfortunately, I was turned into a Zombie (by someone from my own building—Hunter!) within 24 hours of the game starting, and I’ve so far only managed to infect one other person. My roommate is playing, and he’s a human ... he said we’re no longer friends for the remainder of this week.
I’ve never experienced such an intense game of tag before, and it’s always fun bumping into fellow players to/from class. This game definitely makes you really paranoid for one full week—the game lasts 24/7 until November 6, which means you can be infected on your way to or from class.
Brains!
Posted by Mark Zakariya at 03:03 PM. Filed under: Campus Life •
