Are you seeing students sprinting after one another throughout the parking lot, hallways, public places and even to their front doors? What about car chases, cars blocking other cars, random people hiding behind trees in your neighborhood, and water balloons being thrown wherever you look? If you are confused as to why this is all happening, it’s because of the game assassin is taking over the senior class.

Each senior is paired with a partner of their choice, and is assigned a different duo each week to kill. By “kill,” they must chuck a water balloon at them. If a duo successfully hits their targets with the water balloon and the duo both don’t get killed, they get to move on to the next round. The goal is to be the last duo standing.

Each week, the rules of the game get a little stricter. For the first round, players only had to kill one of their targets to stay in the game, as well as one of them must have stayed alive. For the second round, players still only had to kill one of their targets, unless one of them got killed. If so, they had to kill both targets to move on. In the current third round, players must get both targets and one of them must stay alive to not be eliminated from the game.

You may be thinking that this game seems like a fun water balloon activity for kids, kind of similar to what you would play at day camp in first grade. If so, you’re wrong. This game is being taken extremely seriously by all, in attempt to win a $500 cash prize for the winning duo to split. Seniors are going all out attempting to win this money. Common strategies include finding out where their targets live, what their eighth period classes are, what their cars look like and what activities they take part in. “The game has been affecting a lot of students’ social lives as many refuse to leave their house other than to go to school and get their target out. I’m taking this game very seriously, but it’s worth it in attempt to win the money,” senior Grace Llewellyn said.

Players are prohibited from killing their targets during school hours, at any school sanctioned event by any MCPS school, or inside private property, a car or any building. Otherwise, it’s fair game. “These rules were originally created by the senior refs last year, but we had made some changes before the game began. We are constantly updating the rules throughout the game when new situations come to light,” an assassin ref said.

The game is bringing the grade together right before graduation, as seniors are after other seniors who they may have never spoken to before. It’s a mystery as to which duo is going to be the big jackpot prize winner, although many have strong beliefs on who will win based on the efforts that players are putting into the game. “I think I have a good chance of winning. If I could make it this far I believe that I could make it to the end,” senior Trent Folk said.

Although this is only the second year that assassin has been played, seniors hope that this tradition will stay alive throughout the years.

Jordyn Taylor

Senior Features Editor