Zombies invade URI
Lindsay Lorenz
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: News
3/4/10 - If the University of Rhode Island community had any doubt that zombies exist, a brisk walk across the Quadrangle might make them believe otherwise.
Armed with Nerf guns, marshmallows, and even balled-up pairs of socks, students participating in URI's first game of Humans vs. Zombies, essentially a game of tag, can be identified by the brightly colored bandanas they wear around their arms or heads.
HvZ, officially recognized by Student Senate last month, has attracted more than 200 participants so far, with new members joining each day. The game began on Sunday and will run until March 13.
Spurring from the first game played in 2005 at Goucher College in Maryland, the HvZ Web site explains that, "Humans vs. Zombies is a game of moderated tag commonly played on college campuses. Human players must remain vigilant and defend themselves with socks and Nerf guns to avoid being tagged by the growing zombie horde."
The group's vice president, Joscelyn Benoit explained it as, "an extreme game of tag where the zombies are it and the humans are not it."
As of Tuesday night, Benoit said that the group had 211 members with 140 human players remaining.
Nicholas Kozlowski, the organization's president, said yesterday that he discovered HvZ through friends who attend the University of Maryland and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, other schools that participate.
After deciding he wanted to get the game going at URI, he started a Facebook group.
Zach Lorusso, the organization's treasurer and head moderator, had a similar idea during winter break and also started a Facebook group to find others who might be interested. It wasn't long until Lorusso and Kozlowski joined forces and began to organize a URI chapter.
"We realized we needed to get the authorities notified, get the campus police involved, make sure there were no safety and risk issues," Kozlowski said.
So that the game doesn't interfere with academics, the group established boundaries. All buildings, parking lots and roads are off limits. Everything else, however, is fair game 24/7.
Armed with Nerf guns, marshmallows, and even balled-up pairs of socks, students participating in URI's first game of Humans vs. Zombies, essentially a game of tag, can be identified by the brightly colored bandanas they wear around their arms or heads.
HvZ, officially recognized by Student Senate last month, has attracted more than 200 participants so far, with new members joining each day. The game began on Sunday and will run until March 13.
Spurring from the first game played in 2005 at Goucher College in Maryland, the HvZ Web site explains that, "Humans vs. Zombies is a game of moderated tag commonly played on college campuses. Human players must remain vigilant and defend themselves with socks and Nerf guns to avoid being tagged by the growing zombie horde."
The group's vice president, Joscelyn Benoit explained it as, "an extreme game of tag where the zombies are it and the humans are not it."
As of Tuesday night, Benoit said that the group had 211 members with 140 human players remaining.
Nicholas Kozlowski, the organization's president, said yesterday that he discovered HvZ through friends who attend the University of Maryland and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, other schools that participate.
After deciding he wanted to get the game going at URI, he started a Facebook group.
Zach Lorusso, the organization's treasurer and head moderator, had a similar idea during winter break and also started a Facebook group to find others who might be interested. It wasn't long until Lorusso and Kozlowski joined forces and began to organize a URI chapter.
"We realized we needed to get the authorities notified, get the campus police involved, make sure there were no safety and risk issues," Kozlowski said.
So that the game doesn't interfere with academics, the group established boundaries. All buildings, parking lots and roads are off limits. Everything else, however, is fair game 24/7.
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