NERF, College, Humans & Zombies:
Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ) is a game of moderated tag commonly played on college campuses. A group of human players attempts to survive a “zombie outbreak” by outsmarting a growing group of zombie players.
More info on the founder’s website – HERE
Looks like it would be a lot of fun as long as no one cheated.
Comments
12 responses to “Humans V.S. Zombies College Game”
Looks like it would be fun if I was 12 again playing with nerf guns and plastic swords.
Since it’s college, they need to break out the paint ball guns and be a little more “grown up” about it.
Those zombie players would drop fast with each hit >:)
Since it’s college there would probably be a lot of beer involved too! Yea I like your paintball idea.. that would make it more interesting.
Yeah… the problem with Nerf wars is the whole, “I hit you!” / “No you didn’t!” nonsense that would erupt… Still, beats sitting around in one’s room all day.
Yea especially if someone doesn’t see the hit (ie. if they get it in the back, or the pants etc..) It’s hard to feel through clothing at any sort of distance. Jeff’s idea (above) of using paintball instead would be better for that reason… but of course has the side effect of making a mess, and causing tons more injuries.
Having been a player of one(by one I mean I have played at least a dozen at one school) of these games, I will agree that hit arguments do happen, but most times the nerf guns are modified to shoot harder/faster/more reliably, and it is easier to feel hits. It is mostly based on the honor system, and not being a general dickhead and taking your hits.
Even if there are zombies and nerf guns…it’s still LARPing. Buuuuut a bit easier on the eyes.
I know the reason they don(on my campus at least) was that the game was played 24/7, with only a few areas designated as “safe zones”, meaning that when you are walking to class, you have to watch out for zombies.
They also did this badass sounding game last semester called “Mercenaries” or some such. Everyone who signed up was given the name and a picture of someone else who had signed up, and they had to assassinate them to earn points. Once someone was assassinated, they were out of the game. People started stalking each other via Facebook and Twitter. It was pretty intense.
Holy.. Mercenaries sounds even better, I need to look more into that!
We have it too. I’m running our local game, though our typical blue-state university put the kabosh on any gun-looking items. No dart guns, no water guns, no gun-shaped sticks. The argument was classic though. They were worried the student body would mistake the bright plastic toys shooting orange darts for real guns and that it would cause a panic.
Just can’t win with Massachusetts and people so nuzzled up cozy in their Brady doctrines.
Heh yea mistaking bright plastic toys for real guns… classic, you’re right.
I’m not on campus this quarter, but the University of Washington recently had a HvZ game going on that happened to coincide with a visit by President Obama. The “Overseers” had to send a few messages to make it clear that the game was suspended the day before arrival through his departure so there wouldn’t be any issues with Secret Service.
I’ve played it once. At the beginning of the game, there are one or two original zombies (OZs), depending on the size of the group that quarter, that go unmarked and tag as many humans as they can for the first day (all humans wear orange armbands). The next day, all zombies (including OZs) must wear orange headbands (different location than humans’ armbands for differentiation), and “superzombies” who had more than 10 “kills” wore green headbands. These guys couldn’t be “frozen” like regular zombies. Humans can freeze a zombie by shooting the zombie with a Nerf gun or throwing a knotted/balled-up sock at him/her. A frozen zombie can’t attack any humans for a certain amount of time (10 or 15 minutes, I think it was).
There are a couple of missions incorporated into the game. One typically involves an “antidote” (in limited quantity) that humans must find if they want to have a free pass for one zombie attack. This mission, of course, must be done at the risk of getting attacked by zombies. The second mission’s goal is an “extraction” for humans. They must make it to one of two or three LZs where helicopters (as the storyline goes) are waiting. Humans know where they are, and zombies are given a list of possible locations. Using teamwork, each team tries to get to these zones asap to make it to freedom or keep humans from getting there, depending on the team.
The fact that the game goes on in the middle of classes makes it very interesting. Lots of people take different routes to class, going through as many buildings (inside buildings is “safe”) as possible, or staying out of areas where zombies can ambush people (happens a lot). You see lots of small teams of zombies on the second, third, and fourth days going around with their own strategies to find and tag humans.
It’s funny to see all the humans walking to class decked out with sock bandoleers and dual-weilded Nerf guns.
Cheating has occasionally been an issue, but the Overseers are good about handling that on a case-by-case basis. The honor system rules the game, really.
“Sorry I’m late prof.. I had to dodge some zombies” I would have loveed to hear that from someone in class.