As school begins to wind down and the weather gets warmer, the excitement for summer begins to buzz in the air. Specifically for seniors, the second semester brings a mix of anticipation and restlessness, often referred to as senioritis. With the stress and anxiety of college decisions put to rest and graduation on the horizon, seniors turn their attention from school to enjoying their final months of high school. One tradition that has been preserved year after year is the game of Senior Assassin.
The basic premise of Senior Assassin is simple: seniors create teams of two and are given another pair as their target, and their goal is to eliminate the targets by spraying them with a water gun while staying safe from their own assassins. Once eliminated, the player is out of that round and the rest of the game, and the assassin moves on to the next round. The game often lasts for weeks or even months, until summer, with players having to remain cautious at all times. All players must share their locations at all times and the last remaining team wins a cash prize composed of the entry fees, buy back-ins and bounties. Currently, the pot is around $2,000.
“[Senior Assassin] has made these past few weeks really fun,” FHS senior Anya Gajula said. “Now that I have less to do after school this has been like a fun thing that I can do with my friends. It has made going out harder though, because you never know when you’ll get shot.”
Around campus, it is easy to spot a senior playing the game as they will be wearing swim goggles or floaties. Two ways players can stay safe from elimination while playing are wearing pool floaties or goggles and staying in the designated “safe zones,” such as school grounds, workplaces or places of worship.
Each round lasts a week and on any given day there can be a purge or assassin day. On assassins day, teams have no immunity from their assassins via goggles or floaties. During a purge, not only is there no immunity outside school grounds, but anyone can get anyone; players are not limited to their targets.
Throughout the past few rounds, there have been instances in which players have waited outside of houses or places of work for hours just to get their target. The game has not only created a fun competition amongst its players but has also provided seniors with a way to foster camaraderie and excitement during the final months before graduation.
“I’m really glad I ended up doing [senior assassin] because as lowkey scary as it was at times, it was so much fun and really brought everyone together,” FHS senior Eva Pathik said. “It’s kind of the perfect way to end our senior year.”
