How to Play Zombie Tag

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: March 1, 2023

The zombie apocalypse has struck your fair city! Zombie tag is a great way to have fun with the undead, no matter what kind of tag you play--Doctor’s Antidote, Zombie Race, or regular Zombie Tag. Find a way to escape the zombies or outsmart them––unless of course, you're one of them!

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Playing Basic Zombie Tag

1
Gather at least four players. This is a game for four or more people. One person begins the game as the zombie, and the others are humans. In this game, zombies can’t run, but humans can.^{[1]
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Find a large space to play. You can play this game in any space big enough for your players to run around. It can be played indoors, outdoors, in an open area, or an area with lots of hiding spaces. There is no home base in this game.

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3
Choose a zombie. If this is your first round, choose a zombie by playing an elimination game, like asking everyone to choose a number. The winner of the game is the zombie!^{[2]
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- If you’ve just finished playing a round, the last remaining human can't be the new zombie.
4
Give the humans a head start. The zombie should stay where they are for 15-20 seconds while the humans start running.^{[3]
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Remember the rules if you're a zombie. Zombies can't run! They also can't pretend to be human or leave the play area to ambush humans.
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Tag the humans. If you’re the zombie, your goal is to tag as many humans as possible by reaching out and touching them. Once they are tagged, they become zombies and can tag other humans.^{[4]
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- Zombies can’t pretend to be human. This is a good opportunity to get into character!
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Determine the winner. The game continues until there is only one human left. This person is the winner, and they can't be the zombie in the next round.^{[5]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Playing Doctor’s Antidote

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Get at least five players. This game requires at least five players to work well.
- One person is the Doctor, who has the imaginary antidote to the zombie outbreak.
- At least two people will be Humans, who help the Doctor get to home base. They can run.
- At least two players are zombies, who cannot run.^{[6]
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Choose a spot to play. You’ll need a space with plenty of room and at least one landmark to act as home base. Parks, rec centers, or gyms would be great places to play.^{[7]
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Pick a home base. The object of the game is for the Doctor to make it to home base with the antidote. Choose a visible landmark to act as home base, like a tree, a sign, or a sidewalk.
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Choose a Doctor. You can choose a Doctor by any method you want--elimination games, picking a number, or simply volunteering.
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Stand in a circle and close your eyes--unless you’re the Doctor! The Doctor chooses at least two zombies by tapping them on the head. The zombies can open their eyes and look at each other, but everyone else must keep their eyes shut.
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Choose runner and angel zombies (optional). If you have more than ten people, you can have the Doctor choose a runner zombie and an angel zombie as well. The runner zombie 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. This step is completely optional, but it might make the game more fun!
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Give the Doctor one minute to hide. Everybody, including the zombies, should close their eyes and wait one minute for the Doctor to hide. The game begins when the minute is up! You can count to sixty, or set a timer on your phone.
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Wait an extra minute to start acting like zombies. If you are a zombie, wait an extra minute before you start playing your role. This will give the humans a chance to get further away from you, which will help the game last longer.
- Show the other players that you’re a zombie by walking slowly with your arms out in front of you, groaning the word “Brains!” over and over again.^{[8]
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Touch the humans to tag them! If you are a zombie, tagging the humans or the Doctor will turn them into zombies. Your goal is to turn all of the humans into zombies before they can bring the Doctor to home base.^{[9]
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Get the Doctor to home base. If you’re a human (or the Doctor!), your goal is to bring the Doctor to home base. If you’re turned into a zombie, you can start tagging others.
- The Doctor can only get to home base alone if all the humans have been turned into zombies.
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Call the winners! If the humans bring the Doctor to home base safely, then it's a human victory! If everyone has turned into a zombie, then it's a zombie victory!

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Playing Zombie Racing

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Choose at least four players. You’ll need at least four players for this game. There should be one zombie for every three or four runners. The zombies can’t run, but the runners can. You can pick your zombies any way you’d like.^{[10]
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Set up the racetrack. Your track should be at long enough for the game to last about five minutes. There should be clear start and finish lines, and clear side boundaries--runners can’t leave the track!
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Get everybody into position. The runners should be lined up at the starting line, but the zombies can be anywhere they want along the track.
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Start running. The object is to reach the finish line without being tagged by a zombie. Zombies can be anywhere on the track and can even stand outside the track.
- If a zombie tags you, you become a zombie.^{[11]
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- If you bump into another runner, you become a zombie. The person you bumped into does not become a zombie, but you can tag them.
- If you leave the track area, you become a zombie.
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Cheer the winner! The winner is the first human to cross the finish line. If no humans make it across, there is no winner.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Playing Zombie Zombie

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Get some friends. 2 will work, but more is fun too!
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Find a trampoline/bounce house. This will be more fun because you bounce around, but safer since you cant step on anything pointy.
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Have one person be "it". "It" will lay down in the middle.
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Have the other people run around the zombie saying, "Zombie, Zombie, come alive. When I count to the number 5!" They then proceed to count to 5. Say this once.
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When they say that, "It" gets up and walks around blindly trying to tag someone else.
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Once "It" tags someone, start the game over with the tagged person being "It".
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Have Fun!

Community Q&A

Question

In game two, can the zombies run?

Community Answer

You can decide that, it might make it more interesting to let the starting zombie be able to run until the end of the game or until the "first zombie" infects its first person, or you could let all zombies run or just walk, it's totally up to you.
Question

In zombie tag, what if I lean out but my feet don't leave the field?

Community Answer

That should be fine. Like in football, if you are going for a touchdown, you just need to get your feet inside the end-zone. It doesn't matter if your body is falling out of the end-zone.
Question

Can the doctor get to the designated spot by him/herself if everyone is a zombie?

Community Answer

You make the rules, so whatever you allow is fine.

Warnings

Be careful when opening doors.

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Don’t pretend to bite people when tagging them--you aren’t really a zombie!

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