Nerf guns, swords, bandanas, missions and no run-ins with the University Police made for a successful game of Humans vs. Zombies on campus last week.
Only 100 students participated this semester, which is 80 students less than the turn out they had in the fall. Moderators and participants said the low turn out didn’t change the game.
“Due to poor advertisement we didn’t have as many people playing,” said participate sophomore mechanical engineer major Nick Rupprecht. “But that made the game better, there was more sportsmanship.”
The game is made up of two teams, humans and zombies. Humans are identified by the bandanas on their arms and zombies wear them on their heads.
Everyone starts out as a human. There is one person that gets assigned the role of “original zombie” to start the infection.
“I was the original zombie this semester,” sophomore graphic design and interactive media major Katrina Schnell said. “It was a relief because I didn’t have to worry about being attacked. I loved it.”
Schnell said she was in charge of keeping the zombies organized and it was harder than she thought.
“It tests your organizational skills,” she said. “I would see a human, go to class, then send a mass text saying ‘human outside of center court-attack!’ It was funny.”
The zombies won the game this semester. Only two humans remained and were killed in the last mission. One of the humans was sophomore public relations major Carly Ferrill, who said her second time playing was better than last time.
“It is terrifying being a human, there’s a lot of paranoia that comes along with it,” she said. “I’d walk all the way around campus to get to class or show up two hours early to not get attacked. It’s the smart way to play.”
Ferrill said she enjoyed participating this semester.
“I will definitely play next semester,” she said. “It is the closest I will ever get to a zombie apocalypse, which is awesome.”
This semester’s game ran smoother than last semester’s due to the mishap that cancelled the game.
“There was a guy that was creeping around a sorority house with binoculars,” Rupprecht said. “The guy saw police and ran, and thought the police were part of the game. We wear bandanas on our arms and carry Nerf guns. I don’t know how police look like they were playing. It just brought bad attention.”
Ruppercht said he likes being a zombie and thinks the game helps people be closer.
“I think it’s especially good for freshmen to play because it helps students bond and make friends,” he said. “It [the game] has helped my friendships and I’ve seen instances where it has started friendships, and that’s a given since you meet so many people.”
The game was originally brought to Bradley’s campus a year ago by sophomore mechanical engineer major Steven Hall.
“I watched videos of it and thought it’d be cool and easy, just a change of pace for our campus,” he said.
He is one of three moderators that set up the missions for the game.
“I enjoy the week, it makes me feel good when I see people playing and having fun with it,” Hall said. “This year was definitely different, the players understood the game better and there were no problems with the police, since we notified them beforehand.”
