Students can still sign up, until March 1, for the annual Humans vs. Zombies campus-wide game of tag put on by the University Programming Board.
Students will all start out the game as humans, and one original zombie will be chosen to begin tagging the humans. If a human gets tagged, they become a zombie and try to tag the remaining humans. Students will be identified as a human or a zombie according to their bandana color.
“We provide the participants bandanas and socks,” Hannah King, sophomore in dental hygiene and UPB member, said. “That makes it a pretty cheap event for us to put on.”
The humans use the bundles of socks provided by the UPB as ammunition against the zombies, and there are rules that prevent zombies from tagging any humans inside campus buildings. The UPB members will assign missions to all of the humans that they have to carry out to keep playing the game. Failure to carry out these missions will result in the players being turned into zombies.
“Last year, we were given missions like ‘take a picture by the Bolin Fountain,’” Kevin Paniagua, junior in exercise physiology, said. “And then they tell all the zombies about the missions, so they can try and tag as many humans as they can while we’re trying to complete our missions.”
The winner of the game will be the last human standing. King said around 200 students signed up last year, and they’re expecting the same amount of students to sign up, if not more, this year.
“This is my first year here, so I’m new to it. It sounds really fun though, I’m trying to get all my residents to sign up,” Keelie Ralston, sophomore in kinesiology, said. “I’m excited to finally have a fun activity that a lot of people will be involved in. There aren’t very many of those at MSU.”
While many freshman are excited about the game, there are a few returning students who will not be signing up for the event after competing in the game last year.
“I died within the first 24 hours of it starting. Everyone had really good hiding spots, so I never saw the zombies coming. It got frustrating,” Norma Nieto, junior in exercise physiology, said.
Lasting from March 1 to March 11, participating in all the required missions to stay in the game can get time consuming.
“I had fun last year, but it’s too much of a time commitment to make it to all the missions,” Paniagua said.
The game calls for students to be on guard at all times, and may require some physical activity.
“I just really don’t want to be running to class all the time, paranoid that I’m going to get tagged,” Nieto said. “It’s too tiring.”
Some students are complaining about the event not being advertised enough.
“I had no clue what it was when I first heard about it. I haven’t really seen a lot of fliers about it,” Ralston said. “I only found out because I’m an RA and they put a flier in my box. A lot of my residents don’t even know about it.”
Alicia Mayhugh, freshman in exercise physiology said she only found out about the game through her older friends that have done the event before.
“If there are fliers advertising it, I haven’t seen them,” said Mayhugh. “There are so manyfliers hanging up in the student center, I never notice when something new goes up. I think they should tapefliers to all the dorm rooms, maybe more students would notice.”
Last year’s winner, Mark Campbell, a spring 2015 graduate in mass communication, said his trick to winning was to lay low.
“The zombie population grows so quickly within the first week, that if you lay low long enough, you’ll out-live the first wave of zombies,” Campbell said. “Also, take the long way to class. Leave your room early, and stay late after class.”
Campbell said he survived the entire two weeks without getting tagged by a zombie by not taking the game too seriously.
“Last year, my winning strategy was to not care whatsoever. If I got caught, I got caught. I just had fun,” Campbell said. “Please, whatever you do, don’t take this game too seriously. Don’t be the maniac that drives your truck up onto Sunwatcher Plaza just to pass a mission. Just carry on with your regular life.”
Although Campbell didn’t really care too much about winning, he has a bit of advice for those who do.
“Make alliances with athletic people. People that are going to have your back during the missions, and people you know won’t tag you when or if they die,” Campbell said. “Also, camouflage your bandana. If your bandana is black, wear tall black socks and wrap the bandanna around your socks, it’ll blend in.”
The event is free and an easy way to get involved on campus.
“MSU doesn’t normally have this many students involved in one event, so it’s great to see so many students come together for something,” Nieto said.
“Freshman should definitely try it out though. It’s a fun event, and you definitely get to interact and meet a lot of new people,” Nieto said.
The game will last until March 11, unless all the students get tagged before then. Students can sign up for the game at the office of student development and orientation. Students signed up must attend a mandatory meeting on March 1, at 6:30 p.m. to receive their socks, bandanas and first mission.
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