The Urban Gaming Club, known for hosting Humans vs. Zombies, hosted another game earlier this semester called Assassins.
“Assassins is a game of deception where you metaphorically ‘kill’ your friends,” junior computer science major and President of Urban Gaming Club, Fletcher Conner said with a laugh.
This is not the first time the game has been hosted by the club, Conner said. It’s his first year as president, and his first time running the game, but he’s been a part of the game since he became a member of the Urban Gaming Club.
Students signed up to participate, and a program was created to assign each participant a random target, another participant. The game reset every few days, giving each participant a new target to find.
“Normally, if you were ‘killed’ during a week, you would be out of the game and unable to participate anymore,” Conner said. “This semester, however, we have two brackets: a Living bracket and a Dead bracket so everyone can still participate in the game.”
Conner said Assassins has really helped with the numbers of the Urban Gaming Club, and he considers the game an absolute success.
Junior political science major AJ Newman was one of the participants in the game this semester.
“My first ‘kill’ is still my favorite,” Newman said. “I had no idea who my target was; I tried to look him up on Facebook, but I still wasn’t sure. My logic at that point was that I wouldn’t get the points for that round; I’d just try to survive.”
Newman received his target on a Sunday. The following Tuesday, while he was eating with friends in Boozel Dining Hall, Newman’s target approached him, asking to pass him a spoon. Newman asked for his name, and, upon learning that he was his target, promptly ‘killed’ him, receiving bonus points for a special ‘kill’ using a spoon.
“It makes you try to be as creative as possible trying to catch and ‘kill’ your target,” Newman said. “There’s a bunch of different specialty ‘kills’ that mean more points.”
Similar to Humans vs. Zombies, a typical ‘kill’ was done with a Nerf Blaster. Along with the typical, spoons could be used as knives, earning the Assassin extra points; a ‘bomb’ could also be used: if the Assassin was able to get ahold of their target’s phone and set an alarm to go off, extra points would be earned, as well.
“It’s just pure, utter lying to everyone playing in every sense of the way,” Newman said. “I could literally just tell you I’m not playing the game anymore, and you may or may not choose to believe me because I could be lying simply about that.”
Newman said Assassins was very enjoyable, although it was the cause of serious paranoia. He said he was always looking over his shoulder, but in the end, the ‘kill’ was incredibly rewarding, as well as the points that came with it.
“I would definitely recommend playing Assassins next time it comes around,” Newman said. “It’s pure fear, but it’s really a great game.”
