Yahoo Launches Zombie Game Just in Time for Halloween

Yahoo’s latest endeavor is as seasonally appropriate as it is educational. The tech company has just rolled out a cool zombie-themed game that teaches the principles of economics.

Called Shambling Hordes, this social game was developed by Yahoo Labs (specifically, David Reiley, John Morgan and the research engineering team at Yahoo). The game was developed because, as Yahoo’s researchers noted, “Zombies are awesome,” but it’s also supposed to help players master the principles of game theory, advanced mathematics, classical economics and budget allocation.

Here’s how Shambling Hordes works: In the zombie apocalypse, each player is a warlord leading a “shambling horde” of zombies. The warlords attempt to capture one another’s headquarters. As they advance, they engage in battles, with each horde divided into three groups. Hence, a warlord can win a skirmish if his zombies win two out of three fights.

It’s simple enough to play, but it’s also the kind of game that could also challenge you to use some strategy. A round of Shambling Hordes takes about 15 minutes, depending on the map you choose and how many battles you enter.

Yahoo says the game play is “grounded in some classical economics and game theory that should be familiar to anyone who’s had a finite amount of anything (budget, advertising dollars, even candy) that they had to spread around in a competitive environment.”

If there’s anything we at Mashable love more than economics, it’s zombies. We are, moreover, quite fond of games, and we have to say that this game is fun, interesting enough for strategy-minded adults and perfectly fitting for the upcoming holiday.

Plus, there’s nothing like having your computer screen tell you, “Congratulations, you are the zombie master.”

Go give Shambling Hordes a try, and let us know what you think in the comments.