After Zombies consideration, RPC sticks with Assassins

By Josh Rutenberg     3/26/09 7:00pm

Put on your best camouflage suit and prepare yourself - Assassins: H2 Double-O-7 is back.Assassins, an annual event hosted by the Rice Program Council, pits student against student in an effort to become the last assassin standing and the last one dry.

Each year, around 200 students participate in the campus-wide game where students use water guns to eliminate their targets from the competition, Director of Campus Wide Programs Boyd Beckwith said.

Students interested in registering for Assassins can sign up online between Thursday, April 6, and Monday, April 11. From this pool of registered players, each participant will be randomly assigned a target. Cards displaying the target's name will be distributed to the players on April 13, with the game beginning on April 14.

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At the start of the event, each player must find the other player they are assigned to, which becomes their first "target." To stalk their targets, players are permitted to use resources such as Facebook and MySpace. When hit by another player's water gun, the targeted player is eliminated from the competition and must hand over the name of their target to the shooter, who will now pursue this new person. A prize is given to the last assassin to survive the game. Previous awards have included gift certificates, and last year, a trophy. However, RPC has not yet decided on this year's prize.

Initially, RPC considered going with a Zombies versus Humans theme, RPC President Michelle Kerkstra said. The idea was first suggested by Hanszen College senior Amanda Melchor in a February 6 column in The Rice Thresher.

The primary difference between the original game and its Zombies counterpart would be the setup, in which one person would be designated as a "zombie" and all other participants would be humans. Each time a zombie successfully attacked a human, either through water balloons or a similar method, the human would be "converted" into a zombie, Kerkstra said. The winner would be the last human to survive the zombie assault.

Kerkstra said recent events played a role in the RPC's consideration of Zombies.

"The reason why we considered Zombies was because of the Virginia Tech shootings [of April 2007]," Kerkstra said.

RPC discontinued Assassins following the Virginia Tech shooting in April 2007, when using toys such as water guns that looked similar to real guns fell under heavy scrutiny on campus, Kerkstra said. She believed switching the focus of the event away from using guns would improve the event's image.

"[RPC] switched to the H2-Double-O-7 theme last year," former RPC Secretary Bhavika Kaul said. "Assassins became sensative after Virginia Tech."

However, Kerkstra said RPC members felt a Zombies theme would alter the game too drastically, taking away from the original feeling of Assassins.

"After doing research, Assassins is a lot more involved [than Zombies]," Kerkstra said. "The reason why Assassins is so popular is that it involves stealth and spying. The assassins actually have to stalk their prey." With the addition of a zombies element, Kerkstra said she felt the competition would be too random and public, far from the spirit of Assassins.

Kerkstra and Kaul said RPC will make some alterations to the game this year, in the interest of keeping political correctness. For instance, RPC will streamline its rules, allowing only RPC-approved waterguns in the competition.

For more information on Assassins, and to sign up for the event, visit rpc.rice.edu.

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