A zombie apocalypse swept the Bi-Co in the weeks leading up to Halloween, thanks to a campus-wide game of Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ) hosted by Haverford’s Nerd House and Bryn Mawr’s sci-fi/fantasy club Double Star and played Wednesday, Oct. 19 through Friday, Oct. 28.
The game is a version of tag, with all players starting off as “humans” except for two pre-selected “original zombies” who begin to tag (“infect”) other players. Zombies must tag a human within 48 hours of their last tag or they “starve” and are unable to continue playing. All players don orange bandanas to differentiate their statuses, and humans can use balled up socks to momentarily stun zombies and get away from them.
This year, its fourth at Haverford, the game started with about 100 humans and two original zombies. It required vigilance and strategic planning to walk around campus for the humans, who hewed closely to the designated “safe zones,” which included all campus buildings as well as areas within ten feet of entrances.
“The zombies were really aggressive this year,” said Tristan Reasor ’19, a Nerd House resident who helped organize the game. “They managed to get about 50 humans before the weekend, meaning they were unable to feed themselves throughout the weekend, so many ended up starving.”
HvZ’s last stand was a game of “shark and minnows” on Founder’s Green that concluded the nine-day game with 38 humans and seven zombies. It looked like the humans survived the zombie apocalypse… until next year, at least.
-Jenny Ahn ’17
Photo by Victoria Merino ’20