Senior assassins originated from the 1970s to the 1980s. It’s a game popularized and played by seniors to have fun and socialize, celebrating their last year in either high school or college. At La Jolla High, seniors who sign up pay a fee starting at $25 and a late fee of $40, buy water guns, and must “assassinate” fellow seniors within a certain timeframe, as well as survive other assassins’ attempts to eliminate them. An outside school organization hosts it, and they apply rules: the game can’t be played during school hours, the assassins can’t trespass on private property, and there are various other safety rules. The money used to sign up is compiled into a cash prize that all assassins compete for.
This year, seniors begin their journey on October 1 for a cash prize of around four thousand dollars. Eager to eliminate their targets with their teammate, students have already started their assassin duties, as senior Fiona Isenschmid says, “I’ve chased people in my car, and pulled up on people in their car, but they had their floaties on.”
Of course, some people have some concerns about how the games are run. Senior Hayden Uhrig explained, “They just added new rules because the admin was complaining about floaties on campus and at football games.” The school is in no way affiliated with Senior Assassins, but they’re concerned about its presence on the school campus. Uhrig added, “I can maybe understand the water gun rule, but not having floats on campus just seems arbitrary.” Senior assassin has just begun, and it looks like it’ll be a long journey ahead. Good luck, Seniors!
