Zombies attack Luther campus

The zombie craze gripping the nation has not left Luther unscathed. Humans vs. Zombies, a game of hunter and prey, came to campus in October and left dozens of casualities in its wake.

Humans vs. Zombies was created in 2005 by Brad Sappington and Chris Weed at Goucher College. In 2007, the two made a documentary about the game at Goucher, which inspired students to start the game at their own schools.

Today, HvZ is played at over 200 colleges and universities nationally, along with high schools, summer camps, military bases and public libraries.

This year, Luther’s game moderators are Jordan Meyer (‘11) and Andrew Linderman (‘12). Game moderators serve as the backbone for HvZ, organizing and executing the game.

Moderators need to familiarize themselves with the game, modify the rules to fit the demographics and attitudes of the school, settle conflicts that may arise and schedule game dates.

Meyer and Linderman were pleased with the turnout of the game this year. Last year, 80 people played HvZ, and the membership increased to 134 this fall.

“I think you can describe this year as epic,” Meyer said.

The rules are relatively simple. HvZ is essentially a large game of tag. While many college campuses use Nerf guns to stun a zombie, Luther students can throw a sock at a zombie to shock them for a period of time.

Also, if a zombie tags you, you become a zombie. Zombies wear a yellow bandana around their heads to differentiate themselves from humans, who wear bandanas on their arms.

There are also many specifics to the game, such as safe zones and missions. Missions are activities assigned to humans, which prevent humans from camping in their rooms during game time.

These missions are usually zombie-related, such as the mission to bring Pastor Mike Blair from his home to the CFL, safe from zombie attack.

Zombies can attack at any time, making life hazardous for humans.

“It was really amusing watching the humans tweak out between classes,” Linderman said.

Although Luther’s zombies did not resemble Halloween costumes, the students startled humans with their dedication to the game. On-campus zombies had walkie-talkies to communicate with others in order to ambush the humans.

“I was just walking to class and they jumped out from behind a tree,” Tyler Simpson (‘13) said. “I was socking them left and right, but there were just too many of them.”

Whether a victim or a zombie, each student enjoyed playing the game that is winning over zombie-lovers across the nation. The game moderators are planning another Humans vs. Zombies event this spring due to the increased popularity.

Zombie-lovers all over campus are pleased with the news. James Swanson (‘12) regretted not participating in Zombies vs. Humans this semester.

“I didn’t know how in depth the game was,” Swanson said. “I thought it was like assassins or something. Now that I know about it I would definitely play next time.”

Look for next semester’s Zombies vs. Humans event and meanwhile, watch out for the lurking figures behind the trees.