“I’ve never had anything on campus give me this much of a sense of camaraderie,” Spreng said. “People that I’ve just met five minutes ago are my best friends now because we’re fighting together to stay alive.”

Communication senior John Parkinson, who has participated in each Spartans vs. Zombies game since it started in fall 2010, said he has seen the number of participants rise each year.

“The very first game was passed around by word of mouth,” Parkinson said. “Three hundred or so were registered on the website, but only 150 or so came out and played.”

For the past week, almost 800 students participated in the event. The orange or yellow bandanas around students’ arms represent a “human” that has not yet been infected by a “zombie,” who wear bandanas around their heads. On the first day of the game, a handful of zombies are selected to “bite” as many humans as they can by tagging them. The goal is to build a horde of zombies.

It’s a tough game, but mathematics freshman Sarah Garcia said she was up for the challenge.

“There’s definitely more guys, but I don’t feel intimidated at all,” Garcia said. “It doesn’t feel like there’s any separation between boys and girls because we’re all having a good time.”

For humans to fend off zombies, they use Nerf guns to “stun” them. The purpose of the game is to either have all humans turned into zombies or to have all zombies starve by not biting a human in at least 48 hours.

“For the week, you don’t just have to go to class, but survive while getting to class,” Parkinson said.