In the spirit of Halloween, Nicholls students are participating in the tag-oriented game Humans vs. Zombies which began Monday, Oct. 27 and will last through Nov 1. Biological studies instructor Leith Adams is the moderator of this event and introduced it to the university.

“The first time I saw it was on a news Web site,” Adams says. “On the homepage, there was this article on Zombies vs. Humans so I had to check it out. I went to the Web site and found all the rules and it just seemed interesting.”

Adams shared some of the game’s rules.

“Basically, its a big game of tag. Once you’re tagged, you become a zombie,” Adams says. “The point of the game is to stay human and once all the humans become zombies, the zombies win. If, at the end of the week, there are a few humans left, then they survive (win).”

If a zombie does not “claim” a human for 48 hours, the zombie “dies” and is out of the game.

Joshua Cripps, biology junior from Houma, is one of the game’s organizers. Cripps found out about the game from Adams and decided to try and make it active on campus.

“Originally, Adams told me about the game. He will be picking the first person who is ‘it’ to be the zombie,” Cripps says.

The game will begin each day at 7 a.m. and end each night at around 9:30 throughout the week. This is due to the many commuting students joining in the game who are only able to play during the day.

The rules of identification involve the players wearing a “uniform” to be recognized.

“Due to the mass amount of people that play, you have to have a type of identification as to whether you’re a human or a zombie,” Cripps says. “A zombie wears a headband or bandana on their head and the humans can either wear them around their arm or leg. This year, we’re using orange, yellow and white.”

Cripps has been recruiting players for the past three weeks and has signed up about 60 students for the game.

“The humans will need a defense mechanism which happens to be a wad of socks,” Cripps says. “Humans can throw socks at a zombie and if they get hit, they are out of the game for 15 minutes. If everyone gets turned into a zombie soon enough, I’d like to start a second round if we have time.”

Brett Bergeron, freshman from Houma, is a participant in the game. He heard about the game through his girlfriend who is in Adams’ Biology 106 class.

“I think it’s going to be really fun and a cardiovascular workout!” Bergeron says. “I think it would be fun to run around campus instead of just sitting around the Union, being all bored and waiting for your next class to start. You can have something to do.