Senior Assassin, a just-for-fun game amongst high schoolers, has been taking the nation by storm, from Boston to Los Angeles. Students across the country are playing, including here at Sandburg.

Every school develops their own rules and modifications to the game. Here at Sandburg, Seniors go through a number of rounds, each lasting a week long, in which each person gets a “target” that they have to eliminate using a water gun. Everyone has a different target, and the target does not know who is actively trying to eliminate them. Every round brings each person a new target to eliminate, and if they fail to eliminate them by the time the round is over, they automatically get eliminated. 

However, there are some limitations as to where and when someone can be eliminated. For example, eliminations are banned from happening  in school and on school grounds, during school events, inside the target’s workplace, or in any religious buildings. It is also against the rules to enter someone’s house unless you have permission from a member of the household, or eliminate someone while the target or the person eliminating is in the driver’s seat of a car. 

Each of the eliminations has to be documented in the form of a photo and video in order to be counted, and they get posted on the Instagram account @cshs.seniorassasin23. In order to join, each student had to pay 5 dollars, which goes towards the grand prize of around 400 dollars.

The account was started by senior Mariah Karamagianis, because she “saw a bunch of other schools doing it, specifically Lemont,” and she hadn’t heard of Sandburg doing it. In order to get the word out, she added seniors on the Instagram account so that they could learn about the game, and a lot of other students reposted the account. Karamagianis wished that “more kids had signed up in the beginning, because after the first round, a lot of people wanted to sign up, but it was too late.” 

Recently, Senior Assassin has been on the news in a lot of different states and cities regarding safety concerns. Karamagianis “used a lot of the rules from a bunch of different schools and then also added more logical ones that maybe weren’t specified.” This has helped keep the game safe and prevented any dangerous situations from happening. 

Students are taking the game, especially eliminations, very seriously. “It is terrifying, like I’m paranoid,” said senior Elysa Corcoran. “Whenever I get in my car, I look to the right, to the left of me; I take pictures of who parks next to me, like when I go out to places and then before I leave the place I make sure there’s no sus cars around, but it is really fun.”

The grand prize is the driving force for all of the effort everyone puts in to the game, so it’s not surprising that Corcoran reports that “There’s a lot of betrayal. I mean I don’t think you’ll lose a friend, but it’s like ‘Wow, I trusted you,’ so there’s like a lot of sabotage.”

There have also been some situations where there were conflicts regarding the rules of the game. “Throughout the game, it’s like trial and error. I had to go over a few rules and clarify them,” said Karamagianis. These disagreements were usually resolved quickly, using polls on Instagram, where everyone could vote on what they thought should happen.

Additionally, there is the possibility of this becoming a yearly tradition at Sandburg, as has happened in many other high schools. Mariah says that she hopes this will be the case, “but it’s a lot of work so if a junior wants to take it over next year, I think it would be a really good idea. 

There is also some room for improvement and change for the game, if it does in fact become a tradition. “You’re sneaking around at like 11 P.M. with a water gun and people are like ‘they look suspicious,’” said Corcoran. “If this continues to become a tradition, Silly String could be better than water guns.” 

This is only one of the many fun ways Seniors here at Sandburg spend their last year.  The final question, which should be answered soon, remains: who will be the victor who takes home the prize and bragging rights to last a lifetime?