More than 200 seniors participate in annual water balloon assassin competition, play for big money
It’s mid April. The cherry blossoms are blooming, the sun is shining and winter sweatpants are being replaced with spring shorts. But for 216 seniors, spring means a time of anxiety, worry and a desire to win. But win what you ask? The senior game of water balloon assassin.
The rules of the game are as follows: participating seniors pick a partner and turn in forms along with $5 to participate. Every Sunday, each player will be sent a text on who their target team is. Each team has one week to eliminate their targets via water balloon or else they themselves will be eliminated. The balloon does not have to break but just hit the target.
Both partners do not have to be present to make the kill. If one partner is eliminated, the other partner must kill both of their team’s targets to revive the dead partner. However, if the kill is not caught on video with a clear picture of the target, then the kill does not count. The video must immediately be sent to a referee. This year’s referees are seniors Aleko Sardelis, Annie Smith, Greg Urovsky and Jaanavi Selvaraj.
The game continues until there are only two teams left to battle it out against each other. The winning team gets $500.
Kills are not allowed to be made during the school hours of 7:40 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.. Senior Eric Quam, along with partner senior Jonnie Voyta, plans to use the “no kills during school hours” rule to their advantage. “I stay in my car until 7:40 so that no one can hit me. Then I leave school a little bit early, because I am a student aide during eighth period and I run to my car so that no one can hit me after 2:30,” Quam said.
Participating in this game creates some pretty weird stories. Senior Caitlin Chang, partners with senior Andrea Chen, encountered an awkward situation with her target’s neighbor. “Andrea and I camped out at our target’s house for 40 minutes crouched behind a parked car. Then all of a sudden some lady came outside saying, ‘Excuse me can I help you?’ I tried to explain the game to her while holding a water balloon at 6:50 a.m.. Turns out it was her car we were behind and she needed to move it,” Chang said.
Even siblings of seniors are getting into the intense game. Sophomore Abbey Damonte, younger sibling of participating senior Samantha Damonte, has enjoyed helping her sister eliminate targets. “It’s fun having a sibling who is playing but it’s also inconvenient. I have to wake up earlier than normal to stake her target’s house, but it’s also fun trying to help my sister win,” Damonte said.
But for senior Layne Harbourt, assassin is only a hindrance, so she decided not to place a bet on herself winning the competition. “I thought it would be really easy for me to get out because I play softball, so I decided not to play at all. But I have been helping my friends from the sidelines, so it’s been fun for me,” Harbourt said.
