On March 31st, 39 CCCHS seniors began a popular game known as assassins. It involves each participant having a “target” – a fellow participating student – who they spray with a water gun. Video proof is required, and once the target has been “eliminated,” they move onto the next, AKA their target’s “mark.”
“It’s a kind of a last man standing type of game,” said senior Joni Begnoche, who helped organize the event. She and Jenna Fickes discussed assassins at lunch after seeing other teens play the game on social media.
“We were talking about it and decided it wasn’t too late,” she said.
The game can only be played outside of school, and anyone wearing goggles is safe; players can’t be eliminated while wearing the eyewear.
The duo put out the word about the game, then started a group chat with everyone who wanted to play. In total, 49 students signed up. Fickes, who was not in the game, put names into a random online picker (the modern equivalent of putting names in a bowl). She then private messaged each student to tell them their “mark.”
On Monday, students got to work chasing down their “target” with a water gun and videoing the event. Begnoche said the video serves as proof, and it updates others how the game is moving along. The water squirter then asks the shootee for their mark to continue the game.
“It’s just like a big circle,” she said. Adding that the final winner will receive a trophy and a plaque that were ordered for the activity.
Various strategies have been employed, with some students announcing their mark and others working toward the element of surprise.
Begnoche joined the game but was eliminated on the first day when students ran into her yard.
“My goggles were in my bookbag,” she said. “I was coming home from school, so I thought I was safe.”
Within two days, 13 students had been eliminated from the game.
“We didn’t put any timeline on it so I have no idea how long it will take,” she said. “We will see how it ends up.”
Follow videos of the game on TikTok at ccchsseniorassassin
