AMES – Get out your socks, and prepare to fight for your life.

The Zombie Apocalypse is coming to Ames yet again in the newest round of the growing popular game “Zombies.”

The campus-wide game began officially at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 29. Students, partaking the traditional roles of “survivors” and the “undead,” will be competing across Iowa State in the drive to either live another day, or to feast on the flesh of the living.

The game, open to any and all ISU students, is essentially a themed game of tag. Zombies try to tag the survivors, which changes the survivor into a zombie as well. The survivors can avoid being “bitten” by tagging the zombie with a sock weapon, stunning the zombie for 10 seconds, and thus giving the survivor time to flee.

Safe zones are provided to the survivors in academic buildings, residence halls, and dining centers to allow survivors the chance to escape, and to not disturb other students on campus.

Survivors are marked by wearing a noticeable red bandana either around the head or two around both arms. Zombies are marked by wearing a noticeable green bandana in the same fashion.

Changes to past rules have been made to ensure fairness and clarity. Nerf gun projectiles will not be allowed. Any melee weapons should be made of a soft material. Staircases have been opened as free-to-play zones due to some abuses of the old system, but players should remember that safety is the number one priority.

Students who wish to join in the game should go to the game’s Facebook Event page, titled “Iowa State Zombie Apocalypse 2012.” Players may still join as a survivor until Friday, Nov. 2. Players joining after that date are asked to join as zombies.

The paranoia is enticing, the hunt is thrilling, and the fun is unlimited. Join in, and protect your brain from the hordes of the undead.