Senior Assassin game ensured wet-and-wild end to school year

An ARHS student was leaving his friend’s house when he saw his “assassin” waiting for him by his car. He had to think of a plan quickly to get to his car unharmed.

He asked his friend to drive him, so he would be protected. As he got to his car, his friend could barely slow down before he rapidly jumped out and dove into his own vehicle.

He was safe. He had escaped his assassin yet again. 

Senior assassin was a new game that a large number of seniors at ARHS chose to take part in during the weeks leading up to graduation. The goal of the game is to “shoot” your assigned target with a water gun to tag them out, and to “shoot” the most people while not being tagged out oneself.

“Purges” were when immunity (attempts to wear floaties and goggles to stay safe) did not work and everyone had to share their locations. 

Seventy-three members of the Class of 2024 chose to participate, to win the prize of $350. The game started April 27 and ended on Saturday, June 1, when Ethan Vulcain Sowkey was the last student standing.

Two members of the student council, Julian Bellak and Sophie Kawall, organized the whole game. They created the rules, collected the prize money from players, and verified eliminations.

Senior Assassin became a game of betrayal, where friendships were be tested, and lying was inevitable. But despite that, most players found that it brought their class closer together. “[The game] is very fun, and it was cool that we were all in this together,” said Ryder Rietkerk. “[Getting out] was unfortunate, but that’s just how the game goes,” said Ryder Rietkerk.

Many students agreed that the game was a good bonding experience and kept the class spirits high. It even created bonding experiences between people who would not have talked otherwise. 

Others thought the game created stress or conflict. “I think certain people took things more seriously than others, and it created some conflict,” said Emily Feldstein. “It messed with some dynamics outside of school. Like if I want to go hang out with someone, I’m suspicious of being set up.”

After about three weeks of the game, the administrators orchestrated a week-long purge in which everyone had to have one out or they would be automatically eliminated. Declan Sullivan-Flynn only had a few hours left to get his first out before the purge ended. “At one point I was in town at the same time as my target. I went and basically drove and parked, then ran to their location, but he had left by the time I got there,” said Sullivan-Flynn. 

The most monumental day was Senior Skip Day. On Friday May 24th, most of the class went to Lake Wyola to spend a day bonding at the beach. With everyone in the same spot, it was a field day for players.

Many were chased by, if not eliminated, by their assassins. Halfway through the day it was announced that a purge was starting. Everyone wearing a floatie was no longer protected. By the end of the day, six people were eliminated.

The seniors tried to keep the game on the down low so adults and teachers were not affected. But for the parents who also happened to be teachers of seniors, sometimes it was hard not to be involved.

One parent that witnessed the game was English teacher Keith McFarland, whose daughter played a version of the game at Frontier Regional High School. His initial impression on the game was not great. “I thought it was a bad idea. Because I can just picture kids running around town with pistols. A police officer with poor judgment might not know what is going on,” said McFarland.

However, in the end, he said, “It seemed like a fun time. It didn’t go as badly as I anticipated.” 

McFarland said that our school has done a better job keeping assassin off school grounds and that most people not participating don’t know much about it.

Once, when his daughter was playing, McFarland was caught in the middle of a set-up in his own driveway. “I had random people in my yard. I came home one day and there was a young man crouched on the side of my daughter’s car, so I got out of my truck and I just yelled ‘Why is there an individual in my driveway?'” said McFarland. He ended up helping his daughter escape in his truck.

While many believe the game originated from social media, it was actually created in 1982 by Steve Jackson. Jackson is a game designer who wrote Killer: The Game of Assassin.

The book laid out the rules in a story similar to Senior Assassin. It entails a game of hunting your friends while replacing pistols for water guns, bombs for water balloons, and any other non-violent material you can find.

The rules of the two games are not identical but Jackson’s game sparked the idea of Senior Sssassin which has since evolved and spread widely over the country via social media such as TikTok and Instagram. The goal remains the same, and the last person alive is the winner.

Overall the game brought the senior class closer together and was a fun way to connect outside of school. The stressful element of not knowing who was after you created an exciting tension and desire to learn more about classmates to figure out the mystery. People have sought shelter with new groups and teamed up to help each other. 

“[Senior Assassin was a] good way to bring the class together,” said Sullivan-Flynn. “It’s a nice thing to have, and to talk to people you don’t usually talk to.”