Senior Assassin: Why some local teens are running in fun fear while others wear swim goggles

Local teens are working hard to ‘kill’ some of their classmates

Assassin (also Killer) is a live-action game in which players try to eliminate one another using mock weapons, in an effort to become the last surviving player. Assassin (also Killer) is a live-action game in which players try to eliminate one another using mock weapons, in an effort to become the last surviving player.

By Joe Kelley

My 17-year-old twin sons introduced me to the concept of ‘Senior Assassin’ over the weekend and I was instantly hooked!

After doing a little research, I found that Senior Assassin is a role-playing game that has been taking place for years across American college and high school campuses.

In simplest terms, it’s like a community-wide game of tag, but using squirt guns or Nerf guns.

In the local high school version in West Orange County, game-playing seniors will ‘hunt down’ other participating seniors and attempt to squirt them with varying forms of squirt guns. Students cannot be ‘assassinated’ while in class, at school functions or at their job site.

In a defensive move, students cannot be ‘assassinated’ if they’re wearing swim goggles or a pool floaty. So if you ever seen a group of teens hanging out at McDonalds or Chick-fil-A wearing swim goggles, you’ll now know why.

As you might imagine, versions of this game have drawn unwanted attention from law enforcement agencies around the U.S.

Part of the rules includes that any ‘kill’ must be recorded on video and posted to the appropriate social media site set up for the game.

As you can see from the below sizzle reel of Senior Assassin ‘kills,’ the students are having a great deal of fun playing the game:

Here are some students at Horizon High School stalking and ‘killing’ a classmate recently:



Senior Assassin sign up