Fill that squirt gun and find your floaty. It’s time. Playing the game of Assassins might just turn your closest friends into enemies in a game where students will go to unnecessary measures/risks for this year’s grand prize of $600.
“The hardest I had ever tried to get someone out was in the first round when my target was Nick Emmi. I camped out behind Nick’s garage in the blistering cold for two hours and finally got him out,” said senior Gil Hankinson, who along with his partner Carley Brimmeier, survived each round to claim victory April 27.
The objective of the game is to “eliminate” your targets with a blast from your squirt gun, but don’t go anywhere without your floaty because it’s your “shield,” and most of all don't trust anyone . . .
Other players resort to chicanery including . . . “Getting a decoy pizza guy to try to get Jake Miller to open the door so I could get him out. Unfortunately, his dad answered and door and recognized me,” confessed senior Rye Boeh.
This year’s game started with 36 teams; teams contain two students (to do the math that's 72 students in total) and students pay $10 to play.
Keeping the fire burning, junior Adam Meadows decided to keep the Assassin tradition alive. Meadows is carrying on the legacy of former “head of Assassins” Mike Zangus who graduated last year. Now in charge of the Twitter account on which targets are assigned and updates shared, Meadows sets all of the rules and acts sort of like a referee for the game.
During the weekdays you basically have the freedom of being safe if you wear your protective floaty (students also are safe in school and inside their homes), but after school hours Fridays until Saturday at 11:59 p.m. is a purge day. A purge day is when nobody in the game is safe, floaties are useless, and teams are fighting against the clock.
There also are occasional surprise random purge days. These could happen any day of the week and operate in the same way as a regular purge day.
On Sundays the remaining teams are given new targets to execute before the end of the week.
Some participants take the easy way out by accepting bribes from their enemies or even just accepting their demise. While other competitors will risk everything.
Just as a reminder: last year one participant was thrown out of a moving vehicle. (Yes, this person was okay but shall remain nameless.)
“The craziest thing I ever witnessed was Ben Whiting being thrown out of a [moving] car!” exclaimed senior Sophia Biondi.
Whoops.