A quick stream of water gushes from the bushes of a player’s house. That person’s assigned assassin had been camping out in their target’s bushes for hours, waiting for the moment they would step outside.
The target accepts defeat, they snap a quick photo, and the elimination goes up online by the admin for the rest of the game to see.
Senior assassin began on April 2 with 172 players. Each player was assigned a target and only has access to their target’s location, which updates every ten minutes, through the Splashin app.
Each person paid $5 for entry, and the winner will receive all the money, totaling around $855.
Assassins can only use water guns and certain areas are off limits; no eliminations on school grounds, at away sporting events, or during prom weekend.
Round two began on April 9 with a slight change in the rules: those who did not get their targets out first round were put on a bounty list and anybody still in the game could eliminate a bounty to be marked as safe.
Round three began on April 16 going back to normal targets and assassins as the bounty list is gone. On April 18, senior assassin was down to the final 30 players.
It ended on April 23, marking the beginning of the fourth round with 15 players remaining.
Although this game seems fun from an outside perspective, many Huntley players this year took it way too far.
There have been a few instances of people blocking targets into their own driveways making them late to school, work, and practices.
“Things are way too out of hand, because [players] think it’s okay to make someone late to school because you’re blocking them in their driveway, which is crazy,” game admin Abby Rosa said.
One of the concrete rules of the game is to respect local businesses. For example, if a business has a sign anywhere prohibiting water guns, people must acknowledge it.
However, some seniors chose to have a lack of respect.
Senior Ivie Aschenbrenner works at Old Navy, and her assassin did not respect her workplace’s rules. Aschenbrenner felt harrassed while on shift.
“The game is getting really out of hand and people are crossing lines,” Aschenbrenner said. “People are breaking rules that would normally never be okay and excusing it because of the game.”
Many seniors opted out of the game for multiple reasons, one of which is some people are uncomfortable with the overall premise of the game.
“I didn’t want a random person to have my location on the app,” senior Gretchen Huber said. “It seems like too much work.”
People are not only crossing the line in person; in the Splashin app’s whole-game chat, people are harassing one another, especially the admin.
Rosa’s job as admin is to approve eliminations and ensure the game runs smoothly. However, when she does not side with specific players, they choose to say harmful things in the chat.
“I try to take everything with a grain of salt because I know everyone’s just competitive and they want to win, so obviously they’re going to hate on the person who’s running it,” Rosa said.
Senior assassin can be an enjoyable game, but only when players have a mutual respect for one another and the community.
