Next week, Nicholls will become the war zone for the living and undead in the University’s sixth game of Humans vs. Zombies.
HvZ begins on Oct. 29 and ends on Nov. 2.
HvZ is a game of tag that starts at the beginning of the week with all players as humans and one anonymous person who is called the “original zombie.” This person tags as many humans as possible in order to “infect” them and create more zombies.
Brittanie Menzer, art  sophomore from Thibodaux and secretary of the Nicholls On-Campus Gaming Organization, said the organization is kicking off the events with “movie nights” tonight and tomorrow night from 5p.m. to 8p.m. in the Bayou Suite upstairs in the Student Union.
“We’re going to watch a lot of zombie movies,” Menzer said. “It’s basically like a sleepover, where we won’t sleep over, but anyone is invited and you can wear comfy clothes and bring a sleeping bag.”
Menzer said the actual HvZ storyline is going to be different this year.
“This year we have a brand new story plot that we’ve worked on for a very long time,” Menzer said. “The old way to play is outdated. This is a new level of sophistication.”
The story goes that there is a fictional teacher at Nicholls who was fired after budget cuts. She finds out she was a voodoo queen in a past life, and places a curse on one of the students who becomes infected with the incurable HvZ virus.
This student is the “original zombie” who creates the epidemic of infection.
The only defense humans have against zombies is to hit them with socks or shoot them with foam darts from a Nerf gun.
All buildings on campus are considered safe-zones, so no one can be infected in those places.
Mercedes Hebert, vocal music education junior from Raceland and third-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.”
After the first day, all zombies wear an orange bandana around their head, and humans wear an orange bandana on their arm or leg in order to distinguish the groups.
If the humans find the hoodoo queen, and help her to complete vital tasks, including a ritual to wipe out the curse and defeat the voodoo queen, the humans win. If not, the zombies will have a hostile takeover.
The voodoo queen is completely fictional, but the hoodoo queen is a real person on campus. NOGO will leave the humans hidden clues on campus to figure out who she is.
“It gives us a way to see who is actually still playing, because in the past people would sign up to play and drop out towards the end of the week,” Menzer said. “If it’s mission based, then it might be possible to avoid that because people will be more interested.”
Tyler LeBoeuf, business junior from Houma and NOGO president, said Menzer originated the idea for a new storyline and the rest of NOGO helped to shape it into the core idea appropriate for Nicholls.
“Students should get involved because it’s a game that engages the players in a social atmosphere and it’s a physical activity,” LeBoeuf said.
Those interested in playing HvZ next week should sign up at www.hvzsource.com and locate the Nicholls State University game.
“This year we’re only doing HvZ this semester, because normally by the spring people are really stressed about schoolwork,” Menzer said.
Students can prep for a new NOGO-sponsored game during April 2013 called “Paranoia.”
“Paranoia is a game where players are given a target, and they have to fake assassinate that person,” Menzer said. “When you ‘assassinate’ a target, their orginal target becomes your next target.”
There is death by spoon, “NOGO-approved” sticky notes and foam darts.
According to Menzer, NOGO will have a dossier folder to make it like an “official spy handoff.”
“In your dossier folder we’ll give you a copy of the rules, information about your target, and paper for you to write down additional information you learn about your target and a place for you to sign-off when you have either killed your target, or your target has counter-killed you,” Menzer said.
NOGO plans to collect money from participants to provide supplies for the event and also to create a prize pool for the victor.
NOGO is also planning a possible laser tag and a dodge ball event.
“We’re testing it out to figure out how we want to do it,” Menzer said. “We were thinking “Hunger Games” style and team vs. team. We’ll have people sign-out the equipment because it’s kind of expensive.”
For more information about NOGO events, find the group at www.facebook.com/nsu.nogo.