HERNANDO, Miss.— In recent Hernando High School history, it has become a tradition for seniors to not only spend their time getting ready for life after high school, but also playing a competitive game called Senior Assassin.
Senior Assassin has a short history, only first becoming popular in the early 2010s with mostly 12th-grade students from the United States and Canada. The objective is to eliminate your target with a water gun or water bottle.
“The day the game started I went out and bought a water gun and googles” says Senior Bode Hess.
Although rules and playstyles vary across the different games, most schools use the Splashin app to keep track of all the students.
The Splashin app allows you to get an updated location on your target every couple of minutes, which is essential for locating your target to get them out.
“At first i checked the app like 40 times an hour to see if my targets were near by” Hess says.
Swim goggles and floaties were the only way you can be immune to someone trying to assassinate you outside of the safe zones. The safe zones included the inside of school, inside of a religious building or event, and private property unless allowed.
In this video, you can see Hess eliminate Senior Van Rowell inside the local McDonald’s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWEmghUjUOS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
While all this is considered harmless by students and parents, this game doesn’t go on without controversy. Whether it’s someone breaking the rules or trespassing on private property, this game could be mistaken for crime.
In Portage, Indiana, earlier in April, a senior was arrested and charged with a felony of intimidation. The cause was his water gun, which had no orange markings.
This incident caused the responding officers to believe it was “an imminent active shooter situation.”
This incident shows that the game can become a serious situation if precautions are not taken. Here is a local news story if interested.
Hess decided to purchase a water gun that is very clearly a water gun.
“I love it” is all Hess had to say.
Currently, in Hernando High School’s 2026 game of Senior Assassin, there are less than 30 people still active in the game.
Many seniors started their own school’s Senior Assassin Instagram account to post the videos of the participants getting out.
It is required to film you eliminating your target in order for it to count. Here is the link to the Hernando Senior Assassin page. https://www.instagram.com/2026seniorassassin2026?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
Currently, the winner of the game gets a grand total of $670. All the money comes from the participants’ $5 entry fee.
“All that money is going to paying for college, no joke”- Senior Bode Hess
All together the game is a HHS tradition that the seniors always look forward to.
