Club Spotlight: Chase Tyree

Mines Urban Gaming Club (UGC), as told by founder and current treasurer Kate Lyssy, is a club that “promotes non-academic related games to relieve stress for students and provides ways for students to not be stuck doing homework all the time.”

The organization is currently run by Ethan Morton-Gaught with others in what is known as the MOD core. The MODs create, plan, and execute games including the famous Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ.) UGC games have expanded to include Assassins, Mines Hunger Games, and soon to come Quidditch. Morton-Gaught said that “The games of UGC are intended to be the best they can be.” During UGC games, the MODs are also the game masters and the referees who run the game with no outside help.

For those who may not be very familiar with UGC’s gaming options, here are a few descriptions.

At the beginning of Assassins, players who have signed up with the computer system will be given the pictures and info of two other players. It is their job to kill, or “assassinate,” said players. This can be done in any creative way possible, but if the player being stalked sees the killer before the assassination can happen, the assassin can be called out and must wait 15 minutes before they can go after their target again. Once a player is killed, the killing player obtains that person’s targets. This continues on throughout the game until one person remains, who will then become the champion assassin.

Based on the famous series, Mines Hunger Games is a game of killing and survival on campus. UGC provides weapons and creates a cornucopia on Kafadar around which players form a circle. After the countdown, players have free range on campus to hide, kill, attack, and survive. Once players start dying, they will later be released as “zombies” like in HvZ and are able to hunt the remaining players until only one remains.

“The largest of all of UGC’s games” is known as Humans vs Zombies. The game is “essentially a giant game of tag” with everyone starting off as humans and three players become “infected” humans. If a human player is tagged, they become a zombie and try to tag other humans. Humans are able to defend themselves using Nerf guns and foam swords and tagging zombies with these weapons. It soon becomes a fight for survival as the number of humans dwindle down and the zombie horde number rises. These numbers are also put to the test during day and night missions around campus.

Speaking of HvZ, the next game starts on April 22, 2013. To play, join UGC’s Orgsync page, sign the release form located on the page, and attend one of the info sessions. Returning players who have performed all of these actions are ready to play. All that is necessary is to enter name and information into the HvZ game database on the UGC website.

The info sessions for this week are on Thursday April 18 at 8 pm, Saturday April 20 at 12 pm, and Sunday April 21 at 7 pm. Rooms will be announced through advertisements so look for ads for HvZ.

UGC hopes that students join in their games and hopes to see many out in the field.