(Note: Thank you to Babs for her shout-out at the Student State of the University address. I may or may not have blushed as a result of this recognition. My friend Babs – we are friends now – was also listed as one of the top 10 CLE-inspired Halloween costumes. Check it out!)

Case Western, it’s truly the most wonderful time of year! You may be thinking, “YES! Halloween at Home!” Or, you may be exceptionally excited about your Barbara Snyder costume, compete with an immaculately tailored power suit. And, those are perfectly valid reasons to be excited.

However, I was thinking about the start of Human vs. Zombies!

That’s right Case Western, it’s time for the campus’ inner nerd to show itself complete with bright green arm bands, a copious amount of socks, and a nerf gun collection to put all a little on edge.

If there’s one campus around the world – yes, this is an international game – that should be the poster child of this ridiculous game it would be Case Western.

So that we’re all in the know, let’s review the rules:

“The ultimate goal of the game is for either all humans to be turned into zombies, or for the humans to survive a set amount of time.” Don’t worry, I reviewed the rules and there is an “original zombie” or the game would never even start.

Personally, I wish they would forget the original zombie so the game would never start!

Continuing: “Humans can defend themselves using socks, marshmallows, water guns, dart guns, or any weapon that is deemed safe and appropriate stunning the zombie players.”

This basically means don’t be surprised if humans and zombies fight at the most ridiculous times of day or manage to interrupt your engineering classes, intramural sporting events, or shower time in an effort to neutralize the opponent.

“Zombies are unarmed and must tag the humans to gain a kill and avoid ‘starvation,’ forcing them out of the game.”

If you already weren’t starving after leaving Leutner, then here is a close excuse.

Finally, the rules also state there are “safe zones so that players can eat and sleep in safety.” The official rules state the hospital side of Adelbert as out-of-bounds, but we all know that those humans and zombies can’t help but terrorize the general public.

Although this game seems harmless, I would like to point out two side effects of this glorified game of tag:

First, we are promoting killing humans. We are also promoting the existence of zombies. Both are equally terrifying and should be avoided.

Secondly, when potential Case Western students visit the campus they become stunned and terrified. If we want to see better retention rates and acceptance rates, Babs should put a moratorium on this game for the sake of the University’s future well being.

Although a better way to vent your HvZ social frustration and make our campus better may be to pick up the cigarette butts around the no smoking signs or join the SEC, I am going to attempt to be more open to the apparent fun happening around me and accept our odd classmates – so should you!