From car chases to elaborate set-ups, senior splashin, formerly known as senior assassin, has it all. Whether it’s jumping from car to bus like senior Emily Teague did to escape her assassin, hiding in backseats to get a kill like senior Alex Balian did, or scheming a fake alliance like senior Noah Friedman planned, senior splashin shows the dedication of the seniors to be the last one standing.
In previous years the game was run on Instagram with targets being sent via the coordinator, which allowed for game rigging, but this year the use of the Splashin app has altered the face of the game.
The long-lasting tradition of senior assassin is a game for the senior class in their last month of high school. Players pay an entry fee for the game and then are given a target to “assassinate” each week on Sunday at 12 a.m.. In order to get the “kill,” players must video record squirting their target with a water gun and send it into the anonymous senior assassin game coordinator. The players had one week to try to eliminate their targets; if unsuccessful they would be eliminated. With the use of the new Splashin app, the coordinator could remain anonymous and add new rules and features, making the game a more memorable experience for the seniors.
While new features were added to the game this year, the most notable is the introduction of location sharing. To participate in the game, players will download the Splashin app, which requires the use of their location. This would allow players to see the location of their targets at all times. In previous years players had to go on word of mouth to find their target’s location to get the kill. The app even allowed players to buy premium, which would allow players to see the location of each person in the game, making it easy to see who had them as a target. Buying premium resulted in unfair advantages for those who opted to buy it, which sparked controversy among the seniors. While the sharing location “aspect was good because it was easier to get people, it was harder to hide from people too,” Teague said.
This year’s game also brought about the addition of immunity goggles and floaties, immunity ducks and revival packs. In previous years there was no option for immunity; this year if players were wearing goggles or floaties visibly they couldn’t be killed. The immunity goggles and floaties were only viable Monday through Wednesday with no off limits from Thursday to Saturday.
As for the immunity duck, starting off in the first week, the senior splashin coordinator hid a duck on school grounds, posting hints on the instagram account @whsseniorassasins25. The immunity duck allowed the player who found the duck to be immune from being sprayed, meaning that their assassin was automatically eliminated from the game. While the immunity duck was hidden twice, with senior Will Balian and senior Nate Schuk finding it on week one and week three respectively, there was a call to remove the duck entirely from the game by players.
In the last week of school for seniors, two revival packs were also hidden on school grounds to be found by players. If found, the revival packs offered the players who were previously out to be revived and enter back into the game. “Revival and ducks were good, but definitely needed to happen earlier,” senior and senior splashin winner Mikaela Ngo said.
The game lasted four weeks with the first week being a duo week. Players would partner up and then be tasked with eliminating two targets by the end of the first week. However, if your partner was eliminated you could continue in the game, but would still need to eliminate both assigned targets by the end of the week to continue on.
The first round started on Monday, Apr. 28, and lasted until Saturday, May 25. The second week was solos, meaning that there was no partnering for targets. A purge day was added on Tuesday, May 6. While players still had to eliminate their target by the end of the week, on Tuesday everyone was fair game and no immunity items were valid. “I didn’t like purge days for the first few rounds when there were a lot of people because it was so nerve wrecking…but purge is good and so helpful if people got out your target for you,” Ngo said.
The final week of the game from May 19 to May 23 was declared a purge week. With 10 players left in the game, no immunity was granted and everyone could go for anyone. While alliances amongst players were made, as the week came to an end, only four made it out alive. With intense car maneuvers and chases, Ngo, Balian, senior Ricky Gomez and senior Mohammad Uddin are the winners of the senior splashin game. In upcoming years it remains a question whether classes will continue to use the Splashin app or revert back to previous ways of running senior assassin.
While the future of the senior assassin games are unknown, the tradition remains a way to join the graduating class one last time for their last memories in high school. “It was a fun and competitive game to play at the end of senior year that made for some very memorable moments like finding the revive item and getting into the top 11 players,” senior Maddie Zincke said.
