This past month has been filled with tests, sun, and celebration as the school year reaches its end.
But it has also been filled with paranoia, cunning, and assassinations. The latter is due to “Liquid Assassins,” a senior class-wide game run by mastermind Stephen Iwata.
Each participant has been assigned a student target they must hit with some type of water missile, be it a water bottle, squirt gun, or bucket, while simultaneously trying to avoid their own assassin.
Each participant paid Iwata one dollar. Iwata promised the winner a cash prize of $125. Another layer of challenge was added with the threat of roving administrators, who confiscated all water guns found.
For the first round, the champion title was, in a sudden turn of events, shared by the last two contestants standing- Gail Wilson and Melissa McCue. After weeks of paranoia and surprise assassinations, Wilson said the two planned to have a final duel, but the pressure became too much. “It was eating at us,” said Wilson, so the two called the duel off and decided to split the winnings.
Wilson said of her strategy, “I hit the person who was after me first and then worried about my targets.” If a target hits their assassin, it keeps the target protected for the rest of the day. “I felt very nervous,” said Wilson, who said “it became pretty intense.”
The competition commenced on May 9th, with 176 participants. By May 13th, only sixteen assassins remained. Of those, Wilson and McCue survived to the finish.
Iwata’s inspiration for the competition was a small-scale battle of a similar nature played with junior Mette Huberts in their Physics class. “I wanted to make it school wide,” said Iwata, though he limited it to the senior class, so that the assassins would be more likely to know their targets. He said boredom motivated him to create a “fun competition that I wanted people to embrace.”
And embrace it they have. Assassinations have occurred not only all across campus but also in public places and even targets’ homes. One of the most notorious assassinations was committed by Brenden Striker, who hid under a car outside his target’s house until the target, Matt Patera, walked by on his way to school and was hit. “I was very happy with the sneaky play,” said Iwata.