Humans and zombies do battle across campus
Nicholas Vergatos
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News
A student hides in the bushes. From his well thought-out perch, he has an unobstructed view of students walking to their classes. He sees his target: a normal student, save the bright yellow band around his head. He jumps out and fires his Nerf gun, striking his opponent in the chest.
This scene is all too familiar for Case students, who have undoubtedly witnessed similar situations unfold in the past weeks. The game is called Humans vs. Zombies, known simply to its players as HvZ. Started at Groucher College in 2006, it has become a popular game that has popped up on multiple college campuses across the nation and is continuing to grow.
The Case chapter of the game was founded by freshman Michael Saylor. He explained the origins of the Case chapter: "The game was brought [here] after my brother (a senior at the University of Pittsburgh) started urging me to start HvZ up here."
Saylor and four other friends got together and tailored Pitt's rules to work on Case's campus. Participants must register online and create an ID card that is handed off during game play after a human is converted to a zombie. The website serves as a game board where players can enter kills and see which humans are left alive.
For the inaugural game, there were a total of 80 players. The game is a specialized version of tag with the participants being either zombies or humans. The humans are easily identified by bright neon armbands and the signature Nerf gun, which is used to stun the enemy zombies. In addition to the Nerf gun, marshmallows or socks can be used as ammunition. Zombies are differentiated by a headband of the same brightly colored fabric as the human armband. At the start of each game, a small number of players are chosen as zombies to begin the infection. Their mission is to "eat" or tag, the humans and thus convert them into zombies. If a zombie does not feast every 48 hours, he or she dies.
"Ultimately, the humans survived the zombie apocalypse," said Saylor, commenting on the results of Case's zombie outbreak.
This scene is all too familiar for Case students, who have undoubtedly witnessed similar situations unfold in the past weeks. The game is called Humans vs. Zombies, known simply to its players as HvZ. Started at Groucher College in 2006, it has become a popular game that has popped up on multiple college campuses across the nation and is continuing to grow.
The Case chapter of the game was founded by freshman Michael Saylor. He explained the origins of the Case chapter: "The game was brought [here] after my brother (a senior at the University of Pittsburgh) started urging me to start HvZ up here."
Saylor and four other friends got together and tailored Pitt's rules to work on Case's campus. Participants must register online and create an ID card that is handed off during game play after a human is converted to a zombie. The website serves as a game board where players can enter kills and see which humans are left alive.
For the inaugural game, there were a total of 80 players. The game is a specialized version of tag with the participants being either zombies or humans. The humans are easily identified by bright neon armbands and the signature Nerf gun, which is used to stun the enemy zombies. In addition to the Nerf gun, marshmallows or socks can be used as ammunition. Zombies are differentiated by a headband of the same brightly colored fabric as the human armband. At the start of each game, a small number of players are chosen as zombies to begin the infection. Their mission is to "eat" or tag, the humans and thus convert them into zombies. If a zombie does not feast every 48 hours, he or she dies.
"Ultimately, the humans survived the zombie apocalypse," said Saylor, commenting on the results of Case's zombie outbreak.
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