It would have been a typical Peace Park outing for MU graduate Brooke Fletcher had it not been for the hundreds of Nerf gun bullets flying around her and people running around as zombies.
“I did not expect to see zombies today,” Fletcher said, eating a sandwich on a park bench with a friend.
Members of Mizzou Humans vs. Zombies gathered to play an abridged game Saturday. About 30 participants played two-man team survival, capture the flag and a game of Humans vs. Zombies in preparation for the group’s weeklong game, which will take place the first week of November.
The weeklong event attracts about 500 students, community members and out-of-state participants. This particular game provided an event for the group’s most involved, Mizzou Humans vs. Zombies President Kayla Kemp said.
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Junior Gerry Lopez, a member since his freshman year, said he came to the event with about $200 worth of gear. Lopez wore a paintball vest, three Nerf guns and a bag of Nerf bullets.
“We all like to have fun and act like immature children, basically,” Lopez said.
Graduate student Zed Almeida said he was new to the game. Lopez’s roommate and a native of Angola, Almeida carried two smaller Nerf guns borrowed from Lopez and a few balled-up socks.
“They don’t have this in my country,” Almeida said. “He (Lopez) was so excited about it, and then he had these (Nerf guns) in his bedroom, so I said, ‘OK, take me.’ I’m just here to experience. One of the things I have to do is embrace the culture, so I’m just doing it.”
A round of Humans vs. Zombies begins with one person called an original zombie, or an “OZ,” Kemp said. OZs wear bandanas around their heads to signify their zombie statuses and then proceed to tag as many humans as possible, who wear green bandanas around their arms. Humans can either shoot Nerf guns or throw socks at the zombies to stun them for either a set period of time or until the zombie touches a previously established “recall” point, Kemp said.
Moderators, such as Kemp, plan events like the game on Saturday and the weeklong event in November. Kemp said she estimates she and seven other moderators spend more than 100 hours each semester planning two abridged and one larger event.
The game has a unique appeal, Kemp said.
“It’s not that common,” Kemp said. “It’s an anomaly. Anyone can play a game of sand volleyball, but it’s really rare now that we are 20 to play games we haven’t played since we were a kid.”
Players ducked behind trees, yelled to each other, shot rounds of Nerf gun bullets and chased each other, trying to either infect humans or avoid zombies.
“It’s fun to take something you’ve seen in movies, books and video games and turn it into a game with Nerf guns,” moderator Mike McClannahan said.
Despite the practice the group gets, members would not be more likely to survive a zombie apocalypse, Kemp said.
“I don’t think they would be more ready,” Kemp said. “I don’t think this prepares us in any way for a real zombie apocalypse. … If the limited times the humans have won this game is an indicator, I don’t think they’d have much hope.”
