Every fall and spring term, several students can be seen wandering around campus waving Nerf Blasters at others wearing headbands. This is the campus wide game of tag known as UO Humans Vs. Zombies. Human players try to survive the week without being tagged and turned into a member of the undead horde. If you shoot a zombie, then he/she can’t tag you for 15 minutes. It’s a popular game with over 120 students playing this term, so I decided to give it a try. My goal is to try and survive the week. Here is how I did.
Monday: Open Season
I felt a little stupid wandering around campus with a Nerf Blaster and orange armband, but felt more at ease as I encountered more players. I even got a smile from a fellow player in my history class. The entire day was filled with paranoia and suspicion of everyone around me. As the day progressed, I grew relaxed, and that’s when he got me. Out of no where, I was tagged from behind and had to relinquish my ID card and slip my armband over my head. The day ended in unexpected disappointment, but with a dash of hope. 
Tuesday: The Hunted is Now the Hunter
It’s hard to find other players during the day. I scan the crowd for neon orange and keep on getting false alarms from Gatorade bottles.
While I was walking back to my dorm, I ran into two humans and they started to give chase. It was I who was now being hunted and I ran out of fear. I heard someone say ” Oh, there goes another zombie” as I passed by. I was able to lose them but was shot from behind by a third human when walking back.
Each day there are events for players to go where each side has objects to complete. The winning team gets a bonus. We played a giant game of capture the flag with glow bottles. The zombies ended up losing in the end, but we managed to tag a few players and convert them to the horde. There was about 40 of us total and everyone was kind and friendly.
Wednesday: Agent Man
Last night I was revived as sleeper agent. For 24 hours I look and act human, but can tag someone at any time and turn them into a zombie. After the time limit, I go back to being a regular zombie. When I was walking around Carson I ran into a Zombie. We slowly walked closer and closer to each other. We both dropped our backpacks. I cocked my blaster and he charged. We ran back and fourth until I got him in the back. Then I ran to class and was almost late. Later that day I went to the daily event. The humans had to go back and forth between two points while the Zombies tried to eliminate them. It rained, but we played nonetheless.
Thursday: Timeout
I was so sore from all that running the previous night, so I spent the day chilling and resting up for tomorrow.
Friday: Charge!
The event on Friday was fairly simple. Zombies had to move a flag from point “A” to point “B.” I got lucky and was a Spider, a special class. I couldn’t tag anyone, but I got three socks that I could use to stun humans. I was actually better than I expected and hit a few people. I later was a Meat Shield again and ended up running over another play when charging. Man, I wish they would have got that on camera.
Saturday: End Game
The last event was epic. Humans had to capture special points throughout campus and it was the zombies job to stop them. The battle was fierce and we got them pinned down in an open field where we just kept on picking them off, one by one. By the end, all humans were converted to the horde and the game was over.
Final thoughts: 
Humans Vs. Zombies is a fun game and I highly recommended it. The most fun I had was at the daily events, so I suggest going to as many as you can when playing for the most enjoyment. So make sure to grab a few friends and buy some Nerf Blasters for this excellent example of college socializing at it’s best.
 

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Schucht: UO Humans Vs. Zombies Vs. Me