I've been having another think about my proposed method of introducing the first zombie. To recap, the first player to rebuy is resurrected as the zombie with additional chips but with a BB ante.
However, when I mentioned this to one of my regulars yesterday his first reaction was to say he'd actively try to become the zombie (for the extra chips) until I got to the part about posting extra BBs and he did a 180 and said he'd try to avoid becoming the zombie.
If players perceive (rightly or wrongly) that the zombie is a handicap that may result in no rebuys and therefore no zombies. Players may play ultra tight to avoid becoming the zombie or may get busted out and think the rebuy is wasted money. A zombie outbreak tournament with no zombies would, I think you'll agree, be a bit of a disaster. I'm starting to think that's a risk I should avoid by taking the outbreak out of the hands of the players.
As an alternative I thought the outbreak could be initiated by a card appearing on the board (my choice would be
aka the Death Card), so, the first player to lose while the death card is on the board becomes the zombie.
Thoughts?