Play Zombie Tag

The zombie apocalypse has struck your fair city and there are zombies amongst the living. Find a way to escape them or outsmart them––unless of course, you're one of them.

Steps

Game one: The doctor's antidote zombie

1. Collect at least five to as many people as you want participating.
2. Choose a spot to play. It can either be a wide outdoor space, or a theater space, or even a maze-like structure where you have to find your way around.
3. Ask or choose who will be the doctor.
4. Everyone but the doctor stands in a circle and closes his or her eyes. The doctor will choose two or more (depending on the number of players) sleeper zombies by tapping them on the head. The doctor will then ask the zombies to look up and recognize each other. (Everyone else must keep their eyes tightly shut.)
   • Optional: Have the doctor choose a runner zombie and an angel as well. The runner zombie, obviously, can run, unlike the other zombies. The angel can turn zombies back into humans, but only once for each person. The angel also is unaffected by zombies.
5. Give the doctor a few minutes to hide. Then begin the game. Once the game has begun, the sleeper zombies have to wait one minute before they turn from humans into zombies. Set a timer with a ring if it'll help––it can certainly add to the crescendo of excitement!
6. At least two humans must find the doctor (he or she has the antidote, of course) and bring him or her to a designated spot (usually an exit to the outdoors, or an elevated place if you're outdoors.)
7. If you're a zombie, you have no intelligence. You cannot run. You can't guard the doctor if you've found him, and the only thing you can say is, "Brains!" You can say brains to scare your victim, or to ask another person if they're a zombie, for example.
8. If the humans bring the doctor to the designated spot safely, then it's a human victory! If everyone has turned into a zombie, then it's a zombie victory!

Game two: Zombies on the increase

This version is best played in a spread out area, somewhere with walls to hide behind, corners, and dead ends.

1. Get together all the people you need to play. Have each player put his or her foot in, and play the elimination game "how many bubblegum in a dish?" or a similar elimination game. The last person left turns into the zombie.
2. Provide a head start. This should be about 10-20 seconds.
3. Follow the rules. They're simple:
   • Indoors are off limits, if you go in you're a zombie (unless you're playing indoors, then the outside is off-limits).
   • If you're tagged, then you join the zombie team. The zombies can't be defeated, you keep playing until you're all zombies.
   • You can also band together to stay away from the zombies (this might be a bad strategy, though.).
   • You must also admit that you are a zombie. Once you get tagged, you are automatically a zombie.
4. Play again. Remember the last survivor and the original zombie of the last game can't be picked as the zombie.

Game three: Zombie race

This race is suitable for those who are fit and love running. Runners try to reach the end of a determined running race (100 meters, 400 meters, or whatever you choose––don't make it too short or there won't be much fun), without zombies touching them.

1. Choose a set of people to be the zombies. Have a ratio of about 1 zombie to three or four runners initially––this will increase as runners are tagged and turn zombie too.
2. Choose the runners. Have as many as you have space for, or you can do the game in rounds to give more people a chance if it's too crowded otherwise.
3. Set up the racetrack. Measure the distance the runners have to make and lay down both a start and finish line. The sides of the track must also be marked, beyond which runners cannot go (but zombies are free to roam anywhere).
4. Have all runners line up ready to run. Have zombies peppered around the racetrack ready to start chasing runners. The zombies cannot run but they can obstruct a runner anywhere on the track. Hence, runners need to be ready to run around zombies but not into each other.
5. Start the race. Obviously, the object is to reach the finish line unscathed. Runners can dodge zombies but if they leave the racetrack or bump into another runner, they become a zombie too. The winner is the first to reach the finishing line untouched by a zombie. Play as many times as liked.

Tips

• It's okay to scream. The games should get your heart pumping!
• Don't be afraid to run as fast as you can.
• The more people, the more fun.
• Hint for game one: Humans tend to travel in packs. It's easier, but remember to stay quiet!
• Hint for game one: It might be wise 90 percent of the time to go solo and leave people to their fate if they are cornered.
• Playing at night, or leaving a few rooms dark makes zombie games that much more exciting!
• Walking and sounding like a zombie makes any of these games one hundred times better. Even better if you can give participants costumes or squirts of fake blood.
• Have a way of keeping track of time, so you know when the zombies turn! Ask your friends if they're human. Trust no one.
• Don't travel in packs! Then the zombie catches all of you, the game is over! Staying solo is key, every man for himself!
• If you happen to be playing in a large area, try to figure out where the zombies usually lurk. Once you've got that figured out, it becomes easier to avoid being tagged.

Warnings

• Be careful when opening doors––too fast and you might knock someone down behind you!

Related Articles

• Play Zombie Tag with Glow Sticks
• Play Locker Tag
• Play Capture the Flag at Night
• Play Werewolf
• Play Tag Strategically
• Play Doctor
• Play Survivor

See also

• Be Good at Laser Tag
• Play Duck Duck Goose
• Play Flashlight Tag
• Play Tag
• Play What's the Time Mr Wolf