Lexi Scher ’17 was one of the last 13 players standing in last year’s game of “Assassin” when there was a sudden change in the rules.
“School was ending, so [the moderators] made this new rule that you could hit someone with a sock to get them out,” Scher said.
As Scher was studying for a Spanish quiz, Nick Witham ’17 sneaked up behind her and “killed” her with a sock to the face.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” Scher said. “My heart broke into two, and I couldn’t focus on my Spanish quiz.”
The fifth annual campus-wide game, organized by moderators Will Burford ’16 and Sid Kucheria ’16, began April 12 at 8 a.m. The goal for each player is to “assassinate” a given target by sneaking up behind them and saying “bang” while pointing their hand at their target’s back. The library and in-session classrooms are safe zones.
As of press time, Scher was still alive with three kills under her belt, but remembering how she was eliminated last year makes her less motivated to try to win it all, she said.
A record number of 441 students signed up to participate in this year’s campus-wide game of Assassin, 414 of whom have been “killed” as of press time. The game is organized using the HW Assassin app, available for iOS and Android.
“The app has been working fairly well this year,” Burford said. “While there are some reports of crashes, it hasn’t gotten in the way of the game, as the players have been able to record their takedowns in other ways. I think that people are enjoying the app since they can watch everybody’s takedowns even if they don’t see them in person.”
Participants use their phones to video record and submit their kills on the app in order to continually update the game. When a player is eliminated, they must confirm the kill so that their killer can receive their new target.
Players can also view other kill videos, see the location of kills and find out who the top players are on the app. The game will finish when only one player is left.
“My favorite part about the game is the rush of getting a kill,” Scher said. “I rarely make a kill unless it’s the perfect opportunity because I think it’s not worth the energy of chasing people around.”
“I think the most important thing for the students is winning,” Kucheria said. “But other than that, I think it’s how close the game makes the community and how students interact with people they wouldn’t normally interact with.”
