The killer game of Senior Assassin returned to Potomac this spring for another dastardly round. The game’s objective is to eliminate your assigned target by shooting them with a water gun. Once you “kill” your target, their target (before they were eliminated) becomes your next victim–assuming you have avoided getting squirted yourself in the meantime. The sole survivor wins a cash prize of $350.

Surprise: A game in which players try to kill each other may itself become the victim of administrators who want to kill off the game. Has a last hurrah for graduating senior class turned into an unacceptably exclusive and tone-deaf pursuit?

Last week, senior grade dean Mr. Robert von Glahn sent an email to 12th graders about his concerns over Senior Assassin. While the game is not sanctioned by the school, the administration is well aware of it–and is none too pleased with the game’s insensitive imagery or even its name.

Before the start of the game, a senior created an Instagram account to announce the rules and broadcast kills to the participants. The kills posted on the account make it clear that it’s hard to compete without a car to drive to the location of potential targets. Mr. von Glahn pointed out, “Not everyone can get to everyone else’s neighborhood and not everyone feels comfortable going into each other’s neighborhoods”.

Another major point of contention is the use of water guns, given the frequency of school shootings. Mr. von Glahn said, “I do worry about adult-sized people running through a neighborhood with something that could be misconstrued as a gun.” He encouraged the senior class to either modify the rules of the game or better yet, scrap it all together. Conversations with seniors suggest that Mr. von Glahn’s email would have limited influence, but with this year’s game already coming to a close, next year’s seniors will have to decide whether the fun is worth it.