LEANNA ROY
The Lance (University of Windsor)

WINDSOR, Ont. (CUP) — Students have been battling zombies for the past five years, but the zombies keep winning.

Humans vs. Zombies is a moderated game of tag commonly played on college campuses and now growing in popularity across Canada. Human players must remain vigilant. They must defend themselves with socks, marshmallows and Nerf guns and avoid being tagged by the growing zombie horde. The zombies have prevailed time after time, but students worldwide keep playing for another chance to claim victory for the human race.

Since the zombie apocalypse befell mankind in 2005, Humans vs. Zombies has developed an international fanbase, drawing the attention of documentary filmmakers and even comedian Stephen Colbert, who called the game “the number one threat to America,” arguing that the zombie apocalypse should not be taken lightly.

Students the world over respectfully disagree.

Students at Goucher College in Baltimore were the first to come up with the game and a documentary was made about them in 2007. Calling themselves the Spartans, they took the idea of the zombie apocalypse often represented in film to a new level.

Each player starts as a human and one player is randomly chosen to be the original zombie (OZ) who is charged with tagging as many people as possible.

Once a player is tagged, they become a zombie and must tag, or “infect,” one human every 48 hours or starve to death. The zombies must tag all humans in the game in order to win. In order for the humans to claim victory, they must survive long enough for all the zombies to starve.

The zombies wear bandanas on their heads and humans wrap them around their arms.

Defence is a key aspect of the game. Humans can stun zombies for 15 minutes if they shoot them with a Nerf gun or a balled up sock. Even when equipped with weaponry and provided safe zones humans almost always lose.

“It’s almost impossible for humans to survive,” said Christopher Weed, co-founder of the game.

To make survival even more improbable, humans are given missions that force them out of hiding, including gathering food and helping each other.

Anne Chen, president of the HvZ club at the University of Windsor, has known about the game since high school.

“We don’t have as many players as some schools in the States,” said Chen. “Our group is pretty tight-knit and everyone knows everyone else.”

That makes it easier to make sure participants are following the rules, she added, but she still hopes the group will grow.

Chen maintains that participating students should not let the game interfere with schoolwork but admits that it’s hard not to focus on the game sometimes.

“The most interesting story from the game so far is when I witnessed someone hold off 10 zombies while on a solo run,” said Chen. “They did get tagged in the end but it was an amazing feat of hand-eye co-ordination and defence.

“I am part of this club because I wanted to make campus a fun place to be even if it’s just for a few weeks at a time.”

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Photo: Canadian University Press