Humans vs. Zombies Comes to Bloomsburg University

In a world where one small accident causes a campus-wide epidemic, do you think you have the training to survive the apocalypse?

Humans vs. Zombies has once again returned to Bloomsburg University. Starting April 2, paranoia will settle in, socks will be thrown, friends will be lost, and by the end of the week, there will only be one winner.

The game begins with a day of “silence” on campus. This doesn’t mean silence with words, it means the silence of not knowing who is a zombie. Humans are identified with a green bandana around their arm or leg. Zombies are identified by an orange bandana around their head as well as the green bandana from when they were once human. There is one original zombie, selected at random, who starts the infection. The game plays on from there.

Throughout the week, players will compete in missions each day. “Missions emulate situations that survivors would have to complete if a zombie apocalypse were to happen,” says John George, Administrator of Humans vs. Zombies at Bloomsburg University. Zombies may have knowledge of human missions, making the tasks all the more challenging, while they may also have missions of their own.

George’s idea to turn the campus into a breathing ground for the infected stemmed from his experience while visiting a friend at Penn State University during a game of Humans vs. Zombies. “It was ridiculously fun watching it, so I wondered how fun it would be to actually play it,” George says. He goes on to explain his reasoning for starting a game here, “It was something so new, and something so unique that I just had to bring it to Bloomsburg University.”

A lot of hard work and time goes into these games, so George has brought in 13 other moderators to help run the game. This semester’s game only took about two months to organize, as opposed to two years of planning and for last semester’s game. Humans vs. Zombies for Spring 2012 is looking even better than Fall 2012. “Since we have more people running the game, the missions will be more organized with new plans and back-stories,” says George. He hopes that next semester will piece together even faster.

If you were thinking of playing, consider what George says about the game, “The most frequent compliment I’ve heard about the game so far is how it brings people together that otherwise wouldn’t talk to each other.” He goes on to explain, “Social barriers crumble and cliques merge. This is a game where everyone has something in common.” Over 250 people, including one professor, played in the game, with 100 of the players signing up the last day. If everything goes as expected, this semester will well surpass last semester’s player count.

The game will end April 8, deciding whether the human race was able to survive the infection or if the zombies have eaten all the ‘Brainz’. To sign up for the forces and fight the zombie horde, visit HvZsource.com/bloomu. Good luck.