Over the past few months, seniors have participated in an annual tradition called senior assassin. This fun but somewhat intense game has gone on for years, and this year’s Senior Class carried on the tradition. 

Senior assassin is a squirt gun game that ends in a monetary reward. Any senior can join the game with a $5 entry, and then they compete throughout the tournament to win the total amount of entry money. This usually takes a few months to complete, but it depends on the year and how many people are eliminated from the competition each week. 

The object of the game is to squirt one’s assigned person by the end of the week without getting squirted by the person who has been assigned to them as their opponent. In order to stay in the game, video proof must be sent to confirm that their person was out. If they did not get their target or were “shot” before the end of that week, they were out of the game.

Maria Robles and Alli Hedrick were chosen to be in charge of running the game. Although they were not allowed to participate in the game, they managed it. Each week on Sunday evening, they sent out texts to participants, assigning them their next “target.” Robles and Hedrick consistently updated the senior assassin Twitter account, and they helped answer many of the questions that seniors had about the rules of the game. They also monitored the rules and made sure the tournament was fair. 

Robles said that sometimes your assignment is a close friend, and sometimes it is someone you barely know. She explained how not knowing who had you was a big part of the fun of the game. 

There were also rules and regulations that applied. For example, no one could squirt their target while they were in the driver’s seat of a car. They also couldn’t shoot on school campuses, at religious places, during school activities or during someone’s shift if they had a job. They also couldn’t go into someone’s house uninvited. 

One exception is made during what is called “buy back week.” During this week, seniors could buy their way back into the game with another $5. This not only gave people a second chance at winning, but it raised the amount of prize money by a lot. This year, buy backs took place the week after senior retreat. Many seniors were gone, so they did not have time to shoot their targets. 

The grand prize amount was $930 this year, including buy back money. 

This year, there were three winners of the Senior Assassin tournament: Elle Lewis, Hank Smith and Lauren Gallagher. Instead of continuing the game, they all came to agreed that they should end it and split the prize money. Each winner received $310. 

Senior assassin brought many funny experiences. Robles said that people came up with many creative ways to eliminate their targets. She shared that one senior pretended to be a pizza delivery person and “shot” his target through a hole he created in the pizza box. Although it did not count due to going into someone’s house uninvited, she gave him props for his efforts. 

Lewis also shared her experience in the tournament. She said that this tradition has gone on for a long time, and many seniors looked forward to getting the chance to play this year. She said, “I thought it was super fun and different and it brought out everyone’s competitive side.”

Robles also said that seniors enjoy the game so much because of the anticipation they first experienced as freshmen as they looked forward to their senior year. She said, “The suspense of finding your person and hiding or running from the person who has you makes it enjoyable. Not to mention the huge amount of prize money.”