Senior assassin, a game in which seniors “eliminate” their targets with water guns and survive into later rounds, has continued this year with ardor. In just one week, over 100 people have already been eliminated and round two will bring more competition.
Senior assassin is an annual game that only seniors can participate in. An Instagram account, unaffiliated with the school, assigns students targets for them to “eliminate” with water guns. Eliminators then receive their victims’ targets, and the game continues until only one student remains. Students are immune from water guns while wearing inflatable floating devices, and the game involves prize money.
Some students began eliminating their targets right away, “killing” them as early as 6 a.m. on the first day of senior assassin, while others patiently planned to do it at the perfect time. For one student, that meant waking up at 3:45 am.
“I heard from a source that [my target] had morning crew practice on Wednesday and Friday, so my friend and I went to her house at 4:10 [a.m.] and waited for her to come out,” senior Rebecca Hatanpaa said. “I thought I might have gotten the wrong date because she wasn’t coming out, but then I got her and it was really funny. She was nice about it too.”
Although some people keep their targets secret, others have made alliances and set up their closest friends.
“I thought the setup was fraudulent, since Fallon and Amelia switched targets and I felt very betrayed and finessed. I was annoyed but it’s just a game so it didn’t matter that much,” senior Zach Hasan said. “However, after talking to my friends they thought it was unfair, so we took it to Instagram and started the #freezach movement. This got a lot of attention and I was let back into the game, and got Amelia back for revenge.”
Students were unexpectedly competitive this year, making it difficult for this year’s organizer, senior Claire Mary Smith, to control everyone’s motives.
“It was really overwhelming at first, since it’s beginning a big tradition again while everyone is in in-person school, so no one really knew how it would work,” Smith said. “People were confused about if they were able to be on school grounds [and overall] the rules.”
Smith quickly took control of the game after a few controversial decisions and last-minute rule reversals. One point of contention was an announcement that eliminating targets on school grounds was permitted, only for it to be rescinded shortly after. Players accidentally damaging community members’ property also added to the complications.
“Once I figured all [the rules] out and got back on track, it has been really smooth and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun moving forward.”
The game also requires an usually significant amount of time to succeed, which some players are starting to become more aware of.
“So far it’s been fun, but I’ve gotten a little tired of it, because a lot of effort goes into getting to your target while trying to avoid getting eliminated yourself,” senior Isabel Butler said. “My assassin first round was particularly competitive, and on the first day, [my assigned assassin] stayed outside my house for a long time. He tried another two times to get me but I wouldn’t give up the fight.”
At the end of the first week, there was a tie between three assassins, all having eliminated three people. Smith, running @mcleanseniorassassin2022, held a poll to determine assassin of the week, and senior Sophie Tursi edged out her competitors to win. Winners receive immunity on “purge day,” a weekly day in which players do not receive protection from their inflatable floating devices.
“I was super excited when I won assassin of the week, it’s such a big advantage and I felt like it was a good reward for spending all of purge day being hyper vigilant for assassins,” Tursi said.
As the first week went by, people became more and more competitive, making it difficult for the organizer of the game, senior Claire Mary Smith, to control everyone’s motives.
“It was really overwhelming at first since it’s beginning a big tradition again while everyone is in in-person school, so no one really knew how it would work,” Smith said. “People were confused about if they were able to be on school grounds, the rules, etc.”
Smith quickly got a handle of everything and kept people in place.
“Once I figured that all out and got back on track it has been really smooth and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun moving forward.”
Since everyone was learning the rules and getting used to them, there have been some hiccups in the game that have created small conflicts.
“So far it’s been fun but I’ve gotten a little tired of it because a lot of effort goes into getting to your target while trying to avoid getting eliminated yourself,” senior Isabel Butler said. “My assassin first round was particularly competitive and on the first day he stayed outside my house for a long time, he tried another two times to get me but I wouldn’t give up the fight.”
How senior assassin works is, after getting your assigned target, you receive your target’s target. From there, you can either wait for the new round to begin or go for it and kill as many of your targets as you are able to get. At the end of the first week, there was a tie between three assassins who had all eliminated three people, but so @mcleanseniorassassin2022 held a poll and senior Sophie Tursi won.
“I was super excited when I won assassin of the week, it’s such a big advantage and I felt like it was a good reward for spending all of purge day being hyper vigilant for assassins,” Tursi said. “Now that I’m assassin of the week on this week’s purge day I am the only person with immunity that day.”
