By Ames Bettis

Staff Writer   

Senior Assassins is an annual tradition for seniors at R.J. Reynolds and Mount Tabor High Schools. For over 15 years, this competitive game has served as a fun way for students to engage with their peers and the local community.  To play, participants use water guns to “eliminate” their targets until only one “assassin” remains. 

    In order to play the game, everyone has to pay twenty dollars and you can find QR codes all over Reynolds to sign up on Venmo. In the end, whoever wins gets to keep the prize money. This year, the organizers are Reynolds seniors, Tommy Elrod and Scarlett Kriofske, and Mount Tabor seniors, Taylor Twomley and Jackson Twomley. 

    “My job as one of the leaders is to make sure everyone plays by the rules,” Tommy Elrod said. “To make sure it is a fair game for everyone and there is no cheating.” 

    Senior Assassins has specific rules that everyone must follow. For Reynolds and Mount Tabor, the rules include:

    “Everyone that participates is assigned a target where your goal is to eliminate them from the game by shooting them with a water gun,” Elrod said. “You will get a message of who your target is, and you are not allowed to share that information with anyone. That is against the rules as people will work with their friends which would make it unfair for everyone playing.” 

    There are ways to avoid getting “shot” when someone attempts to shoot you. According to Elrod, “You can get immunity if someone tries to get you out, but if you are in your underwear, you are safe and can not be eliminated that round.” 

    If you get out in the early rounds, you have the ability to get back into the game and have another chance to win the prize.

    “We will have a buy-back in, so if you are eliminated there is a chance you can get back into the game. We will spin a wheel, and that has names of people who have been eliminated who have paid to get back in.” 

    There are rules when you eliminate someone that you have to prove you got them out of the game.

    “In order for it to count when you eliminate someone, you have to have video evidence of you shooting your target or have a friend video it,” Elrod said. “It will not be counted as elimination without video proof or the eliminated person saying they were shot.” 

    For Senior Assassins to work, there are rules regarding when and where you can shoot someone. You have to shoot them with a water gun and nothing else. You can not shoot anyone at school or at a school-sponsored event, which includes sports games and practices. If you do not follow these rules you can get kicked out of the game and are not allowed to play. After school and/or sports have been finished for five minutes, you then have the opportunity to get your target out. 

    “I want the seniors to have fun with this game while simultaneously staying safe and following the rules,” Reynolds Principal Freeman said. “I have no part in running this game just making sure nothing happens at Reynolds that negatively affects the school.”