This year, many seniors have decided to participate in the Senior Assassin yearly tradition. With water guns in hand, no one is safe.

“It’s cool because it brings the whole senior class together,” Haya Jalili (12) said.

The goal of Senior Assassin is simple: be the last team standing. Teams of two pay an admission fee of $20 total to enter. Each member must provide themselves with a water gun or nerf gun for eliminating others.

Junior Bella Stroup is in charge of organizing the game this year. 

“It’s a lot of work for me since I’m doing it by myself,” Stroup said.

She not only confirms eliminations, but she also runs the Instagram page, makes sure rules are being followed, and manages the money being brought in.

The one time re-entry fee after being eliminated is $30 per person. The winner gets the pool.

“The pot is almost 3,000 dollars,” Stroup said.

To win this reward, one has to hunt others down and shoot them with their blaster. Each elimination must be recorded on video and sent to Stroup for confirmation.

If she approves the legitimacy of the footage, the elimination is posted on the Senior Assassin Instagram page. There are certain locations where players are not allowed to eliminate.

“You have to have permission from parents to enter a house,” Stroup said. “[You can’t get people at] school, clocked in at work, religious events, sporting practices, [or] games.”

Everywhere else is fair blasting territory.

Those who disobey the rules are put on bounty, a wanted list for anyone to eliminate. This lasts three days, but can be avoided with a small three dollar fee. Every team also has bounties of their own, but some days, everyone is fair game. 

The Senior Assassin Life 360 group chat allows students to track each other’s phones from an overhead view.

“It gives you an exact location of where everyone is. It tells you where they’re driving [and] what their battery life is at,” Jalili said.

With many Senior students playing, the game is likely to go into summer but will end in one way or another before many players go off to college.

“[Hunting] gets you out of the house, gets you to do something. Senior year is kind of stressful; everybody’s worried about college,” Jalili said.

The game itself is student-run, but Dr. Roberts, Grandview’s principal, also has some thoughts on the matter.

“I can appreciate that students are trying to have fun,” Dr. Roberts said. “I am glad students have chosen to keep the game out of the school building so that [they] can focus on learning. I do [however] appreciate the community-building.”

Overall, the game is enjoyable to many students and will likely continue to be a tradition for years to come.

“Everything is just a blast,” Jalili said.