Stuck in after-school traffic, juniors Sydney Stasio and Annabelle Strain patiently waited to go through with the plan: helping senior Charlotte Boren by acting as decoys and creating a shield while she ambushes her senior assassin target. The location was set in the courtyard of Tacodeli and Juiceland. As they got out of the car, Boren sprinted to the Tacodeli door as they trailed behind her, looking around for potential danger.
Sitting inside Tacodeli, playing it off as just another casual snack-time hang out, senior Charlotte Boren called her partner and crafted a plan. The intel indicated that the target was arriving in a blue truck, but they arrived in a silver SUV to avoid detection. The group watched the target outside carefully take her Nerf gun out and knew it was time for the attack.
A time-honored, exhilarating, chaotic tradition has gripped local high schools as seniors engage in ‘Senior Assassin,’ a nerf-gun fueled game, consisting of hunting and eliminations, that’s become a fundamental tradition for senior year and a source of both excitement and, for some, apprehension. The student-run, off-campus game is not school sanctioned, but has been a rite of passage for seniors for at least 10 years.
During the senior assassins 2025 season, round 1 began Feb. 9. The game is run by seniors Marc Miller and Troy Rosales. Participants pay a $40 fee per team and are assigned two participating students as targets that they attempt to eliminate by shooting with a nerf bullet. Once a target is eliminated, they may not shoot their targets and have to rely on their partner getting those eliminations.
“We’re thinking more than half of the teams are gonna get eliminated because if you don’t get your targets, you’re also eliminated,” Miller said. “And so we have about 70 teams left. We’re sticking with two weeks per round, so maybe the rounds [end] in late April.”
There were 211 teams to start, then 71, and 23 in round 3, so about 2/3s of players were eliminated each round. Another aspect of the elimination process is that if one teammate happens to go out of town, the other teammate plays with an extra life until they return. This is what the game makers call a “double-life.”
“The person who’s in town gets two lives, and if they get shot, they have a 12-hour reset before they can get shot again,” Rosales said.
For the game coordinators to officially eliminate a team from each round, they require “proof of elimination,” whether that be video, photo or verbal (from both sides) confirmation, it is required.
Luckily for students participating in the game, they have some places of rest from the paranoia. The school’s campus has always been a safe zone for students, but as of this school year, all Eanes campuses are safe zones. This rules out any possible elimination at these locations.
Some seniors play the game for the excitement of plotting against their peers, but most play for the $4,000 prize in the end. The coordinators also get a reward for their work throughout each round.
“Our favorite part of running senior assassin is probably getting paid at the end,” Miller said. “We get to take a little bit of the pot.”
Who gets to organize the event falls in the hands of certain kids in band that keep the tradition running. Each year, the organizers from the previous year hand over the rules, title and honor of being in charge.
“The people that ran the game last year texted us in January and said, ‘Here are the rules we used last year. Add what you want, revise what you want, but this is what worked last year,’” Miller said.
The stories and rules passed down from each year help seniors who decide whether to play or not to play. Since the honor of organizing the game also gets passed down over the years, so do most of the rules, though they can make some changes. If participants fail to follow the rules, they risk being punished or even disqualified from the entire game itself.
“I think the rules are fair, but the things I would change would be the time frame,” Lilla Michael said. “We have two weeks for a round. Once that’s up, if you haven’t killed your targets or you’ve been shot, then you’re out. A lot of people I know are really struggling to get their targets, and I think most people are going to be out because they didn’t get their targets, not because they’ve been shot. I think the game should be more of how many people can you get, and if you can stay alive until the end and it just continues on until there’s a winner.”
A common strategy for participants involves camping out in front of their target’s houses. The most reliable location to find and eliminate a target is outside of their residence, so players will often spend many hours waiting for their targets to come out of their house and eliminate them. Game players wake up as early as 4 a.m. and stay out past curfew to ensure their spot in the game.
“I’ve been putting in way more time than I should be,” Michael said. “I think I spent a total of six hours outside of these two targets’ houses. It’s embarrassing at this point.”
The relentless hours students spend in ambush and late night stakeouts paint a picture of individual players driven to extremes. Yet, this exclusive pursuit of elimination is only one facet of the game. While the long hours spent “camping out” demonstrate the personal investment in each elimination, the strategic betrayals that follow reveal the games true nature of stealthiness and patience.
Although the competition is heated, many participants go behind others’ backs to gain information for their own benefit. Although this is a risky bet as the rounds go on, it is a catalyst to teams being eliminated quickly in rounds one and two.
“My partner and I have gotten plenty of information about our targets and other things that were helpful to know,” senior Charlotte Milam said, “It was kind of a switch off. We would give others information and get some in return.”
The game transforms from careful planning to thrilling execution. The quiet, informational phase gives away to the exhilarating chaos of the hunt as seniors prepare to unleash their carefully crafted plans and embrace the chaotic, unforgettable final chapters of their highschool experience.
“I have not laughed as hard as I have laughed with my partner because of the crazy stuff that we are doing,” Michael said. “Even the first day, it wasn’t even late enough into the game to be worried about anything, but of course we ran so fast from the driveway to the door, and we were just cackling. We were literally fine, but we’re so paranoid and it was so funny. So even if I get out, I don’t care, it’s still fun.”
All the nervousness, excitement and anticipation leaves seniors with memories that they will remember to be a part of their last year in high school. The tradition is passed down each year, giving each new group of seniors the opportunity to participate in the exhilarating game.
“It was definitely memorable,” Milam said. “It was a fun experience. I would recommend every junior to play Assassin. Even if you don’t make it that far, it is still fun. I truly think that it’s one of the things I looked forward to most for senior year, so the anticipation of being able to play makes it so much more fun.”
In connecting with others during the game, seniors have the opportunity to create final highschool memories in the time they have left. New friendships and experiences shape the rest of their year and create a memorable time for participants.
