Starting next week, Nicholls State University will become the battleground of a war between the living and the undead in the school’s fourth game of Humans vs. Zombies.

HvZ began in 2005 at Goucher College in Maryland. It spread virally across the Internet as students first gained access to Facebook and told their friends from home about the game.

According to humansvszombies.org, the game’s official Web site, HvZ is played at over 650 colleges and universities across the world, as well as high schools, military bases, summer camps and public libraries.

The game starts at the beginning of the week with one anonymous person who is called the “original zombie.” This person then tags as many people as possible in order to “infect” them and create more zombies.

“He or she (the original zombie) will actually be dressed and posed as a human with a Nerf gun on the first day,” Brittanie Menzer, freshman from Thibodaux and president of the Nicholls On-Campus Gaming Organization (NOGO), said.

The only defenses against the zombies are throwing a sock at them or shooting them with a Nerf gun. All buildings on campus are considered safe-zones, so no one can be infected in those places.

After the first day, all zombies will wear a bandana around their head, and the humans will wear one on their arm or leg in order to distinguish the groups.

A zombie boot camp will be held on Monday for people who are or think they will become infected.

“You can attend and learn how to be a ‘good’ zombie,” Menzer said while laughing.

Mercedes Hebert, vocal music education sophomore from Raceland and second-year HvZ veteran, explained how the tagging system works for the game.

“You get a code when you sign up, and you have to put it on an index card,” Hebert said. “You have to bring that card with you wherever you go so that if someone tags you, you have to give them your card with your code.”

This year, NOGO will try to put on a campout on Thursday night.

“It’s more for people to make new friends and experience different groups,” Menzer said.

The battle will go on all week and end with a “final mission” on Friday that involves the humans having to move and protect a person called the “scientist” in order to win the game. If the scientist gets infected, however, the zombies will win.

According to Menzer, the humans usually win the game, but last year the zombies were victorious.

There will be a table set up in the Student Union tomorrow for people who want to sign up to play, but students can register through Saturday at nicholls.hvzsource.com. There students can find more rules on the game, report a tag, view the map of playable areas on campus and look up other players.

“It’s all free, but you have to buy your own Nerf gun,” Menzer said. “You can have any kind of Nerf gun as long as it isn’t automatic.”

NOGO will be selling bandanas at the registration. The rules say that players are only allowed to wear orange bandanas. Only the officers and game moderators will wear green.

Menzer said that 100 people normally sign up to play, but this year there are already 139 people registered. She said she hopes that people will actually go out and play instead of just sitting in buildings to avoid being tagged.

This year, some people will actually be playing for a cause.

“We will do a thing where people pledge money based on how long we stay human,” Hebert said. “People can say something like, ‘I’ll pay you so much money for every day that you stay human.’ “

The pledge money will go to Race for a Cure, but people can also donate money directly to the foundation.

Interested parties can head to the Student Union tomorrow or go online to register. The fate of the human race could depend on it!