HvZ: The New Phenomenon Sweeping the Nation
By Kate, age 18, New Hampshire
Sweet Designs Featured Writer
HvZ, also known as Humans versus Zombies, is the newest tag game that started in New York back in 2005 and is now played on almost every college campus worldwide. The 24/7 tag game consists of a group of human players who attempt to survive a "zombie outbreak" by avoiding a group of zombie players.
How it's played: generally, an "Original Zombie" is chosen - it is the OZ's job to get the game going by tagging the humans of the game. Once tagged, a human turns into a zombie, and it is their job to tag other humans. Zombies must tag a human to feed - if a zombie goes without tagging a human in 24 hours, the zombie "dies" and is out of the game.
Of course, humans are allowed to shoot zombies to protect themselves with nerf guns. If a zombie is hit, they cannot tag humans for a given amount of time, usually around 10 minutes.
The game ends after a set amount of time. Depending on how many people play, the game can end in anywhere from a few days to a month. The goal is, as a human, to survive until the end, and as a zombie, to turn every human into a zombie.
As a freshman in college, I have witnessed two very intense games of HvZ on my own college campus - we hold one game that lasts a week once every semester. The first time I didn't play, and the second time (played in mid-April) I was the "unofficial" photographer, mostly for a photography project I had to do. I followed the humans around as they searched for and avoided zombies, and I was right in the middle of the action when they were ambushed. Getting this close to the action without having to run for my life has opened my eyes to the wonders of the game, and I will, without a doubt, be joining next semester.
So, if you're in college, or even if you're in high school or just hanging out with friends, and want to start a game of HvZ, don't wait! Below, I have included a list of links on how to start playing, all from the official HvZ website, started and created by Brad Sappington and Chris Weed from Goucher College in 2005.
How to start a game for your college: http://dmg.humansvszombies.org/
About HvZ and how it was started: http://humansvszombies.org/about
Rules: http://humansvszombies.org/rules
Official Website: http://humansvszombies.org/
