As the end of high school gets closer for the seniors, anticipation rises for events like prom, graduation and “Senior Assassin.”

Senior Assassin is a tradition for seniors at schools all over the U.S.  Students form teams of two with their classmates and compete against each other in a game of stealth and strategy. At HH, it’s $20 a team ($10 per person), and once a team pays each player will receive their silly string as their weapon.

As of publication, there were only three teams left.

The rules are pretty simple: each team is assigned another team as their target and they must eliminate at least one player from the team that they are given. They must spray their target with silly string and make sure it gets captured on video or in a picture in order for it to count and then they will be reassigned to a new target until the game ends. Students who don’t get their targets out by the end of the week will be placed on bounty. The winning team doesn’t just receive bragging rights but also a cash prize.

Players must follow certain guidelines if they want to stay in the game. For example, they cannot get someone out if they’re working but you can get them when they’re leaving their job. Players cannot get student-athletes out at practices or games, but students who are spectating can get eliminated. Every minute is a heart-pounding mix of paranoia and excitement for those participating. 

Senior Elizabeth Conaway is just one of the people who is running the game this year. “It’s kind of something we just had to take charge of. I set up a ton of forms in January, and my friend and I made an account and we sent out those forms and people started to sign up for it.”

Conaway and her friend, senior Kejda Roshi, make sure they keep the game running without any problems, “We send out warnings sometimes, if it’s something minimal. We have punishments like they [players] can be put on bounty but we haven’t had to do this yet. If they need to be eliminated because they aren’t following the rules, it’s something we have to keep on the table just so it can be fun and fair for everyone.”

On April 8th, the game started off strong. Cole Scattergood got the first “kill” for him and teammate Drew Kuhn.

Gianna Carr and teammate Anna Rawlinson got eliminated shortly after Gianna took down their target, John Hagstrom, in the parking lot as he was leaving his job. A little under a week later, Carr and her teammate were eliminated by Izzy Moffa when Moffa came over to her house: “I opened my door and was like ‘Okay, where’s the silly string?’ and she shook out her sweatshirt. I checked her pockets and everything. There was nothing on her and I took a step out and she had it [silly string] up her sleeve and took it out and sprayed me.” Carr took her role in this game very seriously: “My house has security cameras so I would never leave my house without checking them or having someone go outside and check around my car for me.”

Conaway explained that that’s the reason they use silly string: “I know a lot of other schools use water guns but when parents and community people see that they think it’s dangerous and not a game.” A lot of people think if they aren’t aware of what’s going on then something bad can happen. I’m trying to minimize conflict and worry in the community about this.”

Carr addressed her personal experience with the safety concerns. “I feel like they think it’s dangerous. I know that’s what my family thought. I know there have been multiple times where I almost had the cops called on me because I was sitting outside of my target’s house for two hours before school in his neighbor’s driveway.”

Carr also gave advice for upcoming seniors who may want to participate next year: “If you’re going to play, be all in – have no regrets. It may seem like the stuff you do is silly but you’re gonna look back and have these great memories from senior year. To anyone on the verge of playing, who doesn’t want to have to worry about it, I would say play because it was one of the things I was looking forward to partaking in as a senior, and yeah while it was stressful and a lot not being able to leave but my house, it was a lot of fun but I would definitely recommend that people do it.”

All eliminations and updates can be found on the Senior Assassin Instagram page, @hhseniorassassin24.