by KELLI FONTENOT
Published March 11, 2009 in The Current Sauce
This curious change was due in part to the strategies of several students who are taking part in the second annual "CAPA Assassins" game.
"This is a really great way to meet people because you're trying to find somebody you don't know, or you're looking for someone who doesn't know you," senior liberal arts major Joshua Nuss said.
Nuss, the treasurer of Phi Mu Alpha fraternity, is monitoring the game this year.
Once 71 students (and one faculty member) signed up, Nuss added their names to a list. Nuss assigned each "assassin" a "target," whom the assassins must now locate and "kill" with handheld water pistols.
The winner will receive a $25 prize, but the rest of the proceeds - including the $3 entry fee each assassin must pay to play - will go to the Grant High School band program.
"Assassins" has raised about $275 so far, Nuss said.
The game began Monday at midnight and will last until every player is "legally killed."
As of Tuesday at 4 p.m., 27 players had been eliminated.
Allen Carpenter, a freshman music education major, has not made any kills yet, but he said he's playing assassins simply because it's fun.
"You get to shoot people with a water gun and get away with it," Carpenter said.
Assassins must report their kills to Nuss, who ensures that kills are valid and keeps track of who is still alive in the game.
"You can make alliances with people, and you can break alliances with people," Nuss said. "You can sit outside of their house and wait for them to take out the trash and shoot them, which actually happened 10 minutes into the game."
While some view the game as a way to bond with their peers in the music department and form truces with each other, others prefer to sit back and watch the chaos.
"It's really great when those alliances crumble and fall," Nuss said.
Carpenter agrees with Nuss.
"It's a sure way to see who will stab you in the back real quick," Carpenter said.
Each assassin was provided with a detailed list of guidelines concerning forcible restraint, psychological manipulation and weapon restrictions. Nuss noted that assassins are only allowed to carry two small handguns filled with water.
It's only fair, Nuss said.
"If someone has a huge super soaker that can shoot 20 yards, there's no fun in that," Nuss said.
The competition will continue to heat up this week until there is only one student left standing.
