Senior Assassin Through the Eyes of the Organizer
Rylee Porter '24
In the past few months, you’ve without a doubt seen the Instagram page, spotted a senior wearing arm floaties, or heard rumblings of the game’s advances. It was no secret to the entire Masterman community that the traditionally suburban game of Senior Assassin had made it to the halls of our city school. The rules of the game are simple (or so I thought when I decided to embark on the endeavor of kickstarting this game): Everyone gets a target, and everyone is a target. The goal is to eliminate your target before the end of the round, or you yourself will be eliminated. After seeing the game played at hundreds of suburban schools, I knew that I wanted to play it with my grade. I also knew that because the city of Philadelphia is so big, there would have to be some rule adjustments, such as mandatory locations shared at all times, or the water guns we used being small and colorful to ensure everyone’s safety.
Creating the game was simple. I utilized the app Splashin, which made it so that even though I was the manager, I could play without any conflicts of interest. The fee to play was set at 10 dollars, and the winner and runner-up got 75% and 25% of the pot respectively. I wrote up an extensive list of rules that I thought would cover everything, and the game was live.
Knowing our school and how seriously we take the nuances of the Spirit Week game blammo, I figured there’d be conflict. However, I didn’t realize the extent to which people would take the game seriously, even with blammo in mind. On day one I already was in tears, had a phone call with Mr. Gilken, Masterman’s High School Dean, and had scheduled a meeting with him the following day. After that, I made sure to modify the rules with regard to sports! It was a trial-and-error situation.
The game started off slow, and I was nervous that nobody would get their targets. However, after a few days, people really started getting into it. People showed up at houses, parties, and sports games; friends were betraying friends. I loved seeing people getting super into a game that I created. After all of the blood sweat and tears I put into it, I was so glad that people were having fun.
Senior Assassin ended up being a rewarding experience (even though I was out in round one). The top three ended up being Tomas Albergo, Kristina Kitsul, and Kate Chin. Tomas was the ultimate winner after trekking all the way to Feasterville to eliminate Kate while she was out with her grandparents. Overall, I just want to thank everyone who played a part in making this game a success and bringing the vision to life. I hope to see it become a tradition for the classes below us, and I will gladly send the rules and tips to whoever dares organize it.