By: Jesus De La Rosa and Lauren Albrecht (@OwlFeedLauren)

The annual Senior Assassin game began and excitement is running high. The game consists of 22 teams playing for a $515 cash prize.

The seniors are loaded with a variety of water guns and are supposed to hunt down members of the other teams. The last person standing wins the cash prize for their team, which they split evenly.

Of course, simply hunting down the other members would be too easy, so that’s why the participants are supposed to wear an assortment of pool related attire, including floaties, goggles and water shoes, in order to be “safe.” If they’re caught without this gear, they’re free to be eliminated.

There’s also safe zones, where participants could be safe from elimination. The safe zones include the Agua Fria campus, workplaces and any religious areas.

Throughout these past couple of weeks, seniors tried to hunt each other down, causing paranoia, but overall fun as well.

On September 4th, 2017 from 11:30AM-11:30PM, senior assassins worked together in teams to eliminate their competitors on what was designated as the first purge night of the game.

“Why don’t we just start it off with a bang?” AFHS Senior Assassin Game Coordinator Kylan Sullivan thought when scheduling the night on Labor Day. “It was a good way to get the game started.”

Indeed Sullivan was correct. The atmosphere of the game on purge night changed the perspective of both players and game makers.

“On purge night, nothing matters… You’re very on edge trying to look everywhere and people track you down and show up at your house so that adds a lot of anxiety to the game,” a player involved in the game who will be remained anonymous said. They will be referred to as player A.

Player B, who will also be remained anonymous said, “I was cautious [but] nobody was targeting us that much… I could say I was pretty calm.”

The purge night was a victory for some and a failure for others. Teams eliminated a total of 10 players that night, the highest record of kills in a 12-hour-period since the game began.

Most recently, a second purge night on Saturday, September 16th, 2017 for a full 24 hours. There is not as much data on this night, as it was not as eventful as the first.

Minor incidents occurred, but overall it was a fun experience for everyone involved. Stay updated on more of the Senior Assassins game by following their Twitter page @AFAssassins18.