"They're dead, they're... they're all messed up."
July 12, 2007 1:21 PM   Subscribe

In the grand tradition of Killer comes Humans Vs. Zombies, a campus game that's growing in popularity. From its origins at Goucher, it's spread to a reported two dozen colleges. An interview with the game's moderator is here, and you can watch the 45-minute documentary from one of the games on Google Video
posted by Pope Guilty (18 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I often wish I was back in college, but rarely as much as I do right now. That sounds like a blast.
posted by lekvar at 1:37 PM on July 12, 2007 [1 favorite]


- Darts must not hurt on impact. (If you’re not sure about this, fire it at point-blank range into your own eye and see if it hurts. If you’re still not sure, just speak with a moderator.)
I think I'd just err on the side of caution and not use the dart if I have to fire it into my eye to check...

And yeah, it sounds like a blast.
posted by Sangermaine at 1:54 PM on July 12, 2007


The kids in the movie use all manner of Nerf guns, so it looks like that's pretty much okay.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:58 PM on July 12, 2007


I played Killer once in High School..... =(

I am such a nerd. That had to be sometime in 1987 or 1988. I still have a copy of the rulebook that Steve Jackson Games published at or around that time. He had one of the best game companies in the history of gaming!!!! Shame about the FBI incident.
posted by GavinR at 2:06 PM on July 12, 2007


Oops, my bad...it was the Secret Service. I actually saw him speak at a convention once and he talked about the incident. I also got to shake his hand and thank him for his work. I was probably 18 at the time and I was so impressed...lol, I am such a geek.
posted by GavinR at 2:09 PM on July 12, 2007


Great documentary! Thanks for posting this.

I couldn't totally see if there were any ladies in the human teams (college hairstyles don't help), but I noticed that there seemed to be a gender divide with the leadership of the human team and the leadership of the zombie team!

Zombies = cooties? You decide, MeFi.
posted by ntartifex at 2:28 PM on July 12, 2007 [1 favorite]


Yeah looks like great fun, and great documentary, but I think I saw a zombie running away from a human? That's not very...zombie-like.
posted by Ira.metafilter at 2:56 PM on July 12, 2007


I was working on something very similar to this for my office. But I was going to use index cards which basically told you if you were a zombie or a human. A couple of coins flips would determine if the human escaped, was zombified, or killed the zombie.

My goal was to make an entertaining game which cost less than a buck.

Their version sounds a bit more complex and I bet it's a lot of fun to play.
posted by quin at 3:40 PM on July 12, 2007


I'm waiting for Zombiefilter, where human mefites have to survive the snarky zombies...
posted by misha at 3:42 PM on July 12, 2007 [1 favorite]


I organized a 35 person "Killer" game in 1982 when it first came out. People loved it, but cheating was rampant and the teachers at school were not amused.
posted by stbalbach at 4:58 PM on July 12, 2007


I organized "Killer" games (we called it KAOS: Killing as Organized Sport) in both high school and college. It was a blast and we actually didn't get in too much trouble. Some of the game's rules were specifically designed to prevent the administration from having any issues with us playing, and it worked. We might have had 30 or so in the largest game I ran. It was so much fun. I wish I could figure out a way to play it again, but it's a lot more difficult when you are not in a school environment.
posted by litlnemo at 5:21 PM on July 12, 2007


I'm fairly sure that the remake of T.A.G. The Assassination Game will be exactly like this.
posted by adipocere at 5:51 PM on July 12, 2007


this sounds amazing. minor quibble though, the music is way too loud (guess that may mean i'm too old) and it makes it hard for me to hear what is being said at times.
posted by andywolf at 8:47 PM on July 12, 2007


someone said that it was/is "disrespectful to play with toy guns at college when there is a war and our military is fighting overseas."

huh?
posted by andywolf at 9:45 PM on July 12, 2007


Oh wow, Joey Sklover made it here on the blue. (I used to date/hang out with his older sister.) I've heard a good deal of excitement about the game proceding from his LiveJournal, where he has some past entries about the game (grep for zombies.) It always sounded interesting and I'd be interested in visualizing the transmission vector, especially now while the game is still young.
posted by now i'm piste at 10:31 PM on July 12, 2007


A friend of mine lived in a dormitory where they tried playing this as a building-wide game. She said 75% of the people were "too cool" to play.

Seems like a ton of fun though if you can find a willing and enthusiastic group.
posted by Defenestrator at 12:24 AM on July 13, 2007


I'm waiting for Zombiefilter, where human mefites have to survive the snarky zombies...

Arguably, that's already the present situation, if not in name.
posted by lifeless at 12:48 AM on July 13, 2007


"someone said that it was/is "disrespectful to play with toy guns at college when there is a war and our military is fighting overseas."

"huh?"


Far as I'm concerned, the war has been disrespectful of me. No one asked my permission to send my country into war. So if kids wanna run around playing war in college? More power to 'em.

Saw a recent SouthPark episode where homeless were compared to zombies. Parker & Stone always crack me up.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:49 AM on July 13, 2007


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