The hunters are loose and no senior is safe: the annual Senior Assassin competition has begun. As of April 27, 17 of the 38 players have been eliminated.

   In the game, seniors attempt to eliminate assigned targets using water guns while avoiding being eliminated themselves. They can protect themselves by wearing protection such as goggles or arm floaties.

  Currently, the following seniors have been eliminated: Dhruv Gupta, Tony Wu, Abi Wessel, Alan Skelley, Lara Parikh, Esha Joshi, Andri Wilkinson, Ian Hsiao, Denis Koterov, Soha Budhani, Zaiden Saberi, Bill Cui, Braxton Kimura, Jerry Yan, Max Rees, Harry Yang, and Josh Tian (in order of elimination).

   To reduce the game interfering with normal school activities, the senior organizing team has added safe zones and updated time periods for elimination. This year saw strong participation, with 38 of the 43 seniors choosing to participate, according to senior organizer Caitlyn Kramer.

   “We used very similar rules to last year because it went pretty well,” Kramer said. “The main change was adding safe zones for school events.”

   The safe zones were created to prevent gameplay from interfering with extracurricular activities, such as sports and theater rehearsals, both inside and out of school.

   “It’s more about safety,” Kramer said. “It’s more fun for those people because they don’t have to worry about the game during [their extracurriculars].”

   However, some people have taken extreme measures to eliminate their targets.

   “We had someone wait three hours in a person’s car and still not get them out,” Kramer said.

  Some participants, like senior Kyle Ma, have developed new tools like modified water guns and altered squeeze bottles to more discretely eliminate targets.

   Players are also beginning to exchange strategic information within small groups, and some large teams have been established. Lee describes one of the major alliances.

   “People are mostly sharing targets within their friend groups, but I think [senior] Josh [Tian’s] friend group is one of the larger ones,” Lee said.

   As for prizes, each participant contributed $10 to a prize pool in order to enter, totaling $380 for the winner.

   Although the seniors are about to go their separate ways, senior Tony Wu feels as though Senior Assassins has contributed to stronger bonding within the senior class.

   “It’s a great way to end the year,” Wu said. “People are more invested in what other people are doing with their personal lives, so you can learn more about them.”