When Zombies Attack Campus
By Matt Rupel
Most people would have found John Towers' behavior on Friday afternoon to be absolutely creepy.
I looked down at my housemate as we sat silently on the lawn between the Harrington Learning Commons and Benson Memorial Center. Towers' eyes were scanning intently as crowds of college students poured out from their classes for lunch on the warm and sunny day. All around us, peopled milled about in flip-flops and sundresses, contrasting with Towers' red and white running shoes and his polyester running shorts.
Finally, John's eyes lock onto what he has been searching for. NaÃmi Kuehn was walking from where Graham Hall stands towards the law school. John's eyes narrowed and his head turned as she breezed past us.
"I'll be right back," he said in a dark tone.
John got up quickly and half-jogged, half-slithered behind Kuehn and he tapped her on the shoulder.
"Welcome to Zombieland," he said.
Most people would have thought Towers was being creepy. But most people didn't know Towers was playing Humans vs. Zombies.
The game, known simply as HvZ, plays out like a campus-wide tag competition, with some brain-hungry variations. Students sign up to be a part of the game, and then for the remainder of the contest (Santa Clara's ends on May 3) players must wear a band of green ribbon. If someone is wearing the ribbon on his arm, they are untouched humans. Players wearing the green ribbon are zombies, tasked with "infecting" the remaining humans by tagging them.
Zombies must feed every 48 hours to remain in the game, and the game can only be played on campus and outside of buildings. Humans can "stun" a zombie for 15 minutes by throwing a balled up sock at them, rendering the zombie incapable of tagging anyone.
Students at Goucher College invented the game in 2005. Today, it is played at over 650 universities across the world. This year marks its second annual appearance in the Santa Clara campus.
Although the official game is designed by Gnarwal Studios, who run the zombie tracking software, the games themselves are organized by local moderators. This year, Alana Hinkston and Mark Diaz-Arrastia, both freshman chairs for Associated Student Government's Community Development Committee, are running HvZ.
The game brings together students from all different corners of campus that might not otherwise know each other, according to Hinkston. "No one knows who's a human and who's a zombie," she said. "Someone comes up and tags you, and all the sudden you're meeting this person that you never knew."
To keep the game moving, moderators send out a series of missions for the humans to complete, which put them at risk of becoming brain food. The humans have a deadline to complete the task, and if they don't, they convert to the zombie horde.
The missions around Santa Clara's post-apocalyptic wasteland start out with a riddle. Players must figure out what landmark it refers to on the Mission Campus and take a picture with it. Zombies, meanwhile, can camp out and wait for their meals to be delivered.
Take last night's mission, which read "This is the place where the Associated Student Government president works. Others call it the building in the middle of nowhere. You can come here for an open mic night or a concert. Remember to always be prepared. Good luck."
The directive sent humans to the Locatelli Student Activity Center last night, where the zombies were waiting to start their attack. The human forces, however, outnumbered the zombies, and were able to disable them with their foam brains and socks, according to player Alex Pineda.
As of last night, there were 121 humans remaining. The game ends on Friday, and according to Hinkston, "No one is going to survive."