At KMHS, a game that many seniors knew well about before it was even introduced, Senior Assassin. The game consisted of students teaming up in pairs and attempting to eliminate their targets that had been assigned to them using water guns, all while trying to survive from those targeting them, all to win the final cash prize. While the game may seem simple from the outside, every player approached it differently, whether they were playing for the fun of it, the thrill of it, or the money, which was the main reason.
One of the students interviewed was 12th grader Boston Olivarez, who was my apprentice’s partner during the competition. Olivarez said that he joined mostly because he assumed the game would be fun, and the cash prize was an even bigger reason to join. Rather than entering with a detailed plan, he focused much more on simply enjoying the experience while everything occurred. According to him, he says to survive in the game “It really came down to following the rules and just using common sense.”
For Olivarez, his time in the game came to an end sooner than he thought it would. Thinking back on how it happened during the interview with Fall, he said, “It was a Tuesday morning. I was eating breakfast with my other half, just chilling and minding my own business, when out of nowhere, Kush Patel ran up on me and sprayed me with his miniature water gun over and over and over again, just to make sure I was out.” Although he was disappointed, Olivarez admitted he was sad he had been eliminated as the fun was now over for him.
Another 12th grader, Caleb Fish, had a completely different reason for participating. As Fish openly admitted he joined for one reason only, which was the money. “I was trying to get that bag, by any means possible,” he said. Alongside his teammate Connor Roberts, Fish focused on tracking down his targets using the Splashin App, which allows players to look at the locations of the people they are assigned to eliminate. Their strategy mainly involved watching their targets locations and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Despite their many attempts, Fish and Roberts were eliminated in the very first round.
12th grader Josiah Azevedo said that he wanted to participate in Senior Assassin since he saw older students at other schools play it during his sophomore and junior years. “I saw a bunch of schools doing it, and so I just thought it’d be cool to also do it,” Azevedo said.
Unlike other people in the game, Azevedo entered the game with a strategy, alongside his teammate Roberto Coronado, their strategy was to secure a single elimination and then survive as long as they could until the next round. They also planned to take advantage of something called Purge Day, which is a day where you can eliminate anyone you want, making assigned targets meaningless.
As Azevedo and Coronado hadn’t had a kill in a round, they had a revival. “I told my teammate Coronado we needed to activate it before the next round began so we could still be in the game, but he didn’t understand how it worked and thought we could activate it during the next round. By the time he realized the mistake he made, it was too late, we were eliminated.” Even though this ended their run, Azevedo still spoke of the experience to be thrilling, saying it was one of the most exciting senior activities done all year.
Another student interviewed was Ovyannah Sample, who joined the game since she had always heard about the game from older students and was curious about how it really went. Unlike some players who relied on luck, Sample entered the game with an idea to use. Since she lived further away from most of the other players in the game, she thought she had an advantage because fewer people would want to make that drive to come and eliminate her.
Sample was initially scared of the thought of being in a game that involved water guns. “I had to make sure the water guns I used were super bright and noticeable,” she said. “I know that was part of the rules, but I wanted to be safe since situations like that could be frightening.”
Despite those worries of hers, Sample said she enjoyed the game overall and appreciated how careful the participants of the game were trying to be.
If she could change one thing, she would want it to be more playable for students who don’t have social media or phones. Since this game needs a phone to be played with, making some students unable to be in this one time experience.
The final student interviewed was Mateen Mazhar, who was confident in winning from the very beginning of the game being introduced. He partnered up with Menio and said he joined since he knew he had a high chance of winning the cash prize. His strategy was simply to eliminate as many people as possible. And he did exactly that.
To track down his targets, Mazhar would check their location on Splashin before driving to where they were. If they were ever nearby, he’d make sure whether they had goggles on or not. “If they had goggles on, I wouldn’t approach, but if they didn’t I’d run up and get them,” he said.
Mazhar prioritized his own safety by wearing goggles whenever outside besides Purge Days since there was no protection that day, which made it difficult for those targeting him to eliminate him. Looking back on the people who were in the game from the beginning, he said the singular rule he’d change which would be allowing unlimited buy-backs into the game so the future “winners”, Mazhar and Menio could earn even more money, as you would have to pay to come back.
Even though every student came about Senior Assassin through a different perspective, each interview all had one thing in common: the game became more than just a competition. As many seniors at KMHS, it turned into one of the most memorable experiences of their final year as a high schooler.
