Paranoia has set in among seniors surrounding acts as small as walking out of your own house due to the 2025 game of assassins beginning on Feb. 17, 2025.
Last year, Trenton Casa, who was a junior at the time, and Jack Tobin, who was a senior at the time, won the 2024 game of assassins and split the money. Because of this, Casa is now running the game this year.
Currently, there are 23 players still alive in the game and 17 players that are out. However, as of March 3, the “buy-backs” are now open until March 15 to allow players revival back into the game. Everyone is only granted one buy back, and if they are killed again, then they are permanently out of the game.
Assassins is a game driven by Nerf darts and attack strategies that’s been played at PRHS for numerous years, starting in 2024 by previous seniors Kameron Paine and Kylee Dayton. To play the game, students buy into the game to get a “Life,” but if they are shot by the much-feared nerf dart, then they are eliminated. The last person standing gets the “prize pot” of money that is created by people buying into the game, estimated this year to be around $400
Starting at $5 buy-ins, juniors and seniors were allowed to purchase their “life” in the game, though currently only seniors are participating. Late buy-ins, for those who wanted to participate in the game after Feb. 17, were priced higher at $10 and open through Feb. 25.
Hannah Bourgault, one of two girls playing who currently has one “kill”, described that she was excited for this year’s round of assassins.
“I played last year and I made it to the top three people, so I’m happy that I can play again this year. I feel like I have more strategies on how to play better this year and hopefully I could win,” Bourgault said.
In order to protect people’s privacy and orderly conduct, there are a few rules set in place. People are not allowed to go onto other player’s property or in their house unless they have parent approval, no one is allowed to be targeted at work, reckless driving is not tolerated, and school hours and school-affiliated events are safe zones.
Kill attempts and kills must be videoed in order to count, and any rules that are broken can lead to disqualification. Every video of a “kill” is posted on Instagram, and the people in/out of the game are kept track of on a Google spreadsheet.
“It’s made me so paranoid because people have tried to kill me after my track practices. I’ve had to run to my car so that I can stay in the game,” Bourgault said.
Though it may take a while to get to one final player standing, the stakes are still high as all competitors want to win the continuously growing money prize.
