New game played with Nerf guns, swords
Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 1:51PM By Jessica Pickens
Guns loaded, a group of students runs and slaughters five zombies on the sidewalk between Bancroft and Kinard. The ground is littered with socks and Nerf bullets and the air is filled with shouts.
This may sound like a science fiction film, but instead it is a game of “Humans vs. Zombies” played by Winthrop students around campus.
Freshman undecided major Travis Whisenant started the game after finding a group on Facebook for students who play the game at the University of South Carolina.
“I followed the link to the ‘Humans vs. Zombies’ homepage and watched the documentary,” Whisenant said. “I was hooked on it immediately and felt like it was something that could be really fun to do and keep people on campus on the weekends.”
Two students at Groucher College in Baltimore, Md. started the game in 2005. Since then, “Humans vs. Zombies” has spread via the Internet. The popularity of the game is not just in the United States but also in countries such as Brazil, England and Denmark, according to the Humans vs. Zombies Web site.
“Humans vs. Zombies” has also caught the eye of the media. Steven Colbert called the game the number one threat to America in his “Threatdown” on “The Colbert Report” in October 2008. College students are trivializing the threat of the undead, he said.
Whisenant compares the game to a variation of tag, but a bit more complex.
“There are two different sides: humans and zombies,” he said. “Zombies attempt to ‘bite’ humans which is tagging them. Humans attempt to survive by outrunning zombies or firing a Nerf blaster and hitting a zombie.
“Tagged humans become zombies. The game ends when all the humans have become zombies or the humans survive for a set amount of time.”
Recently, the rules were changed, and zombies can carry Nerf swords or battle axes to give students more incentive to be a zombie, Whisenant said.
Students who don’t own a Nerf gun can throw socks instead.
Zombies and humans are distinguished by bands: humans wear armbands and zombies wear headbands.
Sometimes the games are made more complex. During one game, boxes labeled “Food and Supplies” were placed around campus for the humans to find while playing.
Students moderate each residence hall on campus. These players answer questions about game rules, suggestions about the game and ways to improve it.
“I’m a moderator for Margaret Nance. We try to have a moderator for each dorm,” said freshman dance major Michelle Murray. “The moderators meet and discuss these suggestions and form missions for the next game.”
The moderators are used if students play in the dorms, which will happen in a full game. A full game lasts 15 minutes and a short game lasts about three, said sophomore theater design major Sandra Redzikowski.
Once the game establishes more popularity, players hope to hold week-long games where students play on their way to class.
The “Zombies vs. Humans” game does not have a set meeting time and uses the Facebook group to alert members of games. Members meet in the amphitheater beside the Little Chapel before every game.
Sometimes zombies and humans have down time together when the group holds movie nights, where members watch zombie movies and discuss previous games, Whisenant said.
To get involved, join the “Humans vs. Zombies at Winthrop University” fan page on Facebook to start receiving messages about upcoming games.
