Brains!

So I know, I haven't posted since my first post, and it's been a while. I've been pretty darn busy with classes, especially lately. I was up pretty late last night working on a program for CS 260. I just checked on my finals schedule for next week, and I've got 5 finals, plus the Military Science final this Thursday (not that it's gonna be a tough test).

Despite my busy study schedule, I managed to steal away from the books for an hour here or there to take some pictures for this semester's game of Humans vs. Zombies. For the uninitiated, here's the rundown: humans wear a bandanna around their arm, and zombies wear a bandanna around their head. Zombies can only survive 48 hours without "feeding" on a human. Once they feed, they remain in the game for another 48 hours (rinse and repeat). To feed on a human, a zombie must tag them (just like the childhood game). Once a human has been fed upon, they then become a zombie. Now, to defend themselves from the zombies, humans are armed with socks and Nerf guns. If they successfully hit a zombie, the zombie is stunned for a period of time before they can attack again. In order to make the game even more interesting, several moderators (who run the game) create missions that plays out a storyline and provides for large confrontations of dozens and dozens of humans and zombies.

Sound like a weird game for a bunch of nerds? Well, maybe. But it's a whole lot of fun. I didn't play this semester because I didn't have the time to commit, but I wanted to document the game for posterity. If I remember correctly, there are only 5 or so universities in the nation that play the game (it's really new). This semester, we had about 140-150 people playing.

Think that's impressive? Well, we do things right, and we've got websites to back up the game and keep public record of who is a human and who is a zombie at any given point. The time and location of kills are all recorded for all to see. Don't believe me? Check out the following hyperlink:

http://truman.hvzsource.com/index/

I posted a whole bunch of photos of the game on Facebook, so that all of the players could enjoy them (everyone was excited to see them). However, I've selected a few of my favorite pictures for posting on this blog.

A pack of humans in the middle of a mission

Joe, trying to fend off some zombies during the final stand

Josh running and giving directions. Having been the last human survivor in last semester's game, he received a lot of respect from all of the other players.

Truman's infamous Max, being attacked with a sock by Michael.

Joe charging up a hillside.

Ben, ready for the final stand. He was actually one of my residents last year.