Hunting For Bison Students engage in a campus-wide game of Assassins during the spring semester. Beginning Jan. 16, 105 students participated in a large game of Assassins. Students were given the name of a student they were assigned to “assassinate” by spraying them with a water gun. To receive the point, each player recorded their kill and sent it to the Assassins Instagram account, @hardingassassins. The game cost $3 to play and was an annual tradition. There were two winners of each game: the player with the most kills and the person who survived the longest. Spectators appreciated the game by following the updates and supporting their friends. Seniors Katie Green and Halina Hunt were the Game Masters who led the game in spring 2025. “The main reason I wanted to be a Game Master is that I love the game and think it is so fun,” Hunt said. “I had so much fun playing. One of the best parts about the game are the challenges, and I knew I would enjoy planning those and watching players participate.” Throughout the game, the Game Masters would create different challenges and advantages such as immunity and ways to gain extra kills. “My favorite part of being Game Master has been to see behind-the-scenes drama that I haven’t seen in the past,” Green said. “We get some really funny DMs and all sorts of random things. I like being able to know who has who. It’s all randomized, but one time someone had their brother, and he was like, ‘Bruh, why do I have my brother?’” Students playing Assassins were encouraged to create strategies to play. Some joined alliances while others stalked other students solo. For sophomore Max Thweatt, this was his second year playing, and he hoped to win it all. He shared his favorite memory from the experience. “Getting back into the game by acquiring an advantage last year and then killing the person who killed me was pretty awesome,” Thweatt said. “[That was] closely followed by jumping over a fence to avoid Cam Traughber this year.” Students who played said that the game was one of their favorite memories during the spring semester. Friendships were built between people across disciplines. The Game Masters also emphasized that players were “liable for [their] own actions during the game,” in the handbook. Students who participated in the campus-wide game used skill and strategy to make it to the end. Written by Alyson Voigt 14 Student Life
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