Seniors have always taken on traditions to end their high-school career with a bang. From senior pranks to senior skip days, traditions give eager students a fun way to finish the year.
However, some traditions are a bit more controversial.
Enter Senior Assassin, a team-based game that has seen a rise in popularity since the 2010s.
The basics are the same across the country: seniors compete to eliminate their classmates with water guns to be crowned a winner.
At Dallastown, this “game” has been played without school approval for the last three years.
The game is mostly organized through Instagram and an app called Splashin, which has an anonymous admin who is typically a Dallastown junior to avoid bias.
Seniors divide themselves into teams of two to four people and select a team name. Some names are more school-appropriate than others, but all have a water theme.
Each player pays $10 to participate, so the more participants, the higher the prize pool.
This year has been the largest so far, with the highest prize amount of $1,700 to be split by the winning team.
A team is given another team as their “targets.”
Then players have around eight days to survive a round and eliminate their targets with water guns before that round is over. Then they move on to a new round with slightly different rules until only one team remains to share the prize money.
This is where it gets a little crazy.
People wait for hours outside classmates’ houses, their jobs, their gyms and more. All eliminations must come with video proof that’s uploaded to the Splashin app by the eliminator. It is then uploaded to Instagram by the admin to keep those who aren’t playing updated on the current game.
“I waited outside of someone’s job for over an hour, only for their manager and coworkers to escort them to his car,” one senior girl said.
One place they can’t eliminate their targets? School grounds. In addition to many safety concerns, Principal Misty Wilson says there are also concerns about its disruption to the school day.
“If the game were played here at school, what would that look like? Would everyone be wearing their floaties to be safe, and what kind of disruption would that cause? What about players just randomly squirting people to hit their targets? How would it affect the school day and other students? There are just so many news reports on dangerous things happening that we don’t want here,” Wilson said.
While there are rules set in place for safety, there are still concerns from parents and teachers about the intentions behind the game.
In the monthly high school newsletter, which was sent to students and parents on April 2, the administration explained their stance on the tradition.
The statement read, “While these games can be fun for students, they can also lead to unintended consequences and potentially dangerous situations. Dallastown Area High School does not promote or endorse this activity. Our primary goal is to ensure that all our seniors are safe and healthy and can fully participate in graduation and beyond.”
Due to the growing concern for gun safety in public schools, the administration has been very clear about keeping the game off school grounds. The admin of the game has also been transparent about making sure the water guns are colorful and clearly look like water guns to avoid any confusion.
“From my administrator’s school lens, there’s the concern of what the water guns look like because, unfortunately, they are often more look-alike weapons rather than plastic neon green squirt guns,” Wilson said.
These same concerns have prompted police departments across the country to issue warnings to students and the community.
An elementary school near Chicago was in lockdown after multiple 911 calls reported an armed person near the school. Multiple teens have faced criminal charges in the US this spring as a result of realistic-looking water guns.
Dallastown also had a few of its own issues concerning the game, but on a much smaller scale, that have resulted in administrative punishment.
According to a parent email sent on April 10, parents were notified of a recent incident involving the possession of a replica weapon (water gun) on district transportation.
“ The situation was handled promptly by administration, and we are following all district policies and state law regarding next steps,” the email said.
However, the school isn’t the only organization that has chosen to disassociate with the water-based game.
“I know local businesses have signs on their doors saying ‘Don’t come here.’ And I think what’s scary to me is that what sounds like what could be a fun, harmless senior tradition has so many needed precautions to keep it safe,” Wilson said.
The administration has a clear stance on the game, but the students and participants themselves aren’t all united.
“I knew the prize pool would be a lot, and my brother won last year, so I wanted to try and win,” said senior Teagan Gentry.
Gentry is a very persistent player, making it very far in the game as of now. And her main concern when playing was trying not to get out in the first round.
Other students don’t have such positive attitudes about the game.
“Some people take it too far, and it creates a lot of negativity in the community. It’s hurting a lot of businesses too,” said one senior girl.
Dallastown’s game started on April 7, and many teams were quickly eliminated, but then things slowed down. By early mid-May, 10 teams still remained, with many students saying they “just don’t leave their houses,” making it hard to eliminate.
“I am always cautious about my surroundings. I park in the garage now. I also spend a couple of hours a week driving around all of York to find people,” one senior girl said.
Students had to get creative, including waiting for students to leave for school in the morning or parking behind their cars so they couldn’t leave their parking spots.
“I tricked someone into thinking that he got me out, while I had an immunity to be able to get him out instead,” senior Amani Ross said.
As the year comes to a close, Senior Assassin will soon crown a winner, but will this controversial tradition continue in the future? Or will this just be another tradition for many current seniors to look back on? Only time will tell.
