By Cat Thoreson
As students peer around a corner, attempting to hide from their man-eating peers, the “zombie” jumps out for a surprise attack. As if Halloween is not enough, there is a whole new reason to dress up this October.
A recently proposed holiday, National Zombie Day, is now catching the interest of many college campuses that are filled with students looking for a break from school.
Brandon Mendelson, a SUNY Potsdam student, created the “holiday” in an effort to gain exposure and popularity for the growing game of Humans vs. Zombies, a campus-wide version of tag that utilizes Nerf guns and many other crazy tactics as two teams, the humans and zombies, battle for survival on campus grounds.
The game originated from the minds of Brad Sappington and Christopher Weed, who introduced it to classmates at Goucher College in Baltimore in November 2005. Although only 60 students took part in the first execution, Humans vs. Zombies was a huge success. It was so successful that by the following spring, the game had spread to several schools in the east coast, including Cornell University.
Monroe stumbled across the game while working on an assignment for “The Brandon Show,” a college entertainment and variety show created by close friend, Mendelson. Monroe, intrigued by the game, shared it with a peer, who was currently working on a book entitled, “Secondhand Brain Cancer,” which is about the death of college life.
Mendelson thought that “the game was a great way to reverse the trend and solve some of the problems college students now face.” The pair worked to implement Humans vs. Zombies at SUNY Potsdam and found that it was also a success.
Monroe and Mendelson, riding on the coattails of their first success, then proposed to create National Zombie Day.
“I knew Brad and Chris had a hit on their hands, so I contacted them and asked if it was alright to try this holiday idea out,” Mendelson said. “After testing the waters on the Internet, I found that there was a lot of interest, and we did what every college student does now, start a Facebook group.”
The Facebook.com group, “National Zombie Day,” encourages its 206 members to start a Humans vs. Zombies game on their local campus. Humans vs. Zombies is a complicated game with dozens of rules that govern the contest. The game begins with one “it” person, who is called a zombie. His identity remains a secret as he attempts to eat or tag the remaining participants on the opposing team, the humans. The goal for the zombies is to eat the entire human team, while the humans strive to starve the zombies. This can be obtained if there are no tags 48 hours after the last “kill.”
No such game or holiday has been proposed on the University campus, but that should not discourage anyone. Mendelson encourages students to embrace the game of Humans vs. Zombies, and believes that even though Oct. 25 will have passed before many have had the opportunity to learn about it, there are no stipulations saying that students must play on a specific day, week or even month. He adds that the game will benefit students by increasing social interactions among peers and distract them from the everyday stresses of college life.
However, growth of the game at the University may be slow, according to sophomore Megan Turnbaugh, because it is unnecessary to deem a holiday for something as simple as a game.
“The new holiday is a bit extreme and fantastical,” Turnbaugh said. She added that although the game may be growing and increasing in popularity, a club or organization would be more appropriate to publicize the event.
