Picture this. It’s five in the morning on a school day. It’s about 40 degrees outside and I’m sitting outside of a house in nothing but a pair of basketball shorts and flip-flops waiting. With me are two water balloons, a small pistol sized water gun and a friend who has been deemed the getaway driver.
We sit behind a small bush for about two hours until our selected target decides to make his way to school. By this point we are already late for class so we are already trying to make up a good excuse for why we are late. Finally, our target shows his face.
The target is Alex Washington, a fellow high school student. Like many of us at this point in the year he appears nervous and uneasy. He peeks out of his door before closing the door while still inside. After about five minutes the door opens again and his mother appears while he hides behind her as he travels to his car. His mother checks to see if the close is clear before deciding to go back inside. …show more content…
As Alex goes to unlock his car I jump and toss both of my balloons at him whiles my friend films for visual evidence.
“You’re out,” I yelled. “And don’t even try to deny it because RJ is here to prove it.”
Welcome to the 2012 “Hunger Games” also known as, Senior Tag.
The game is simple. Shoot others and don’t get shot.
The rules, well they’re not so simple. Those are a bit more complex and in a way borderline sketchy.
There is only one guaranteed way to avoid getting shot in Senior Tag, get naked.
Your nakedness is your safe haven and your lifeline. It keeps you out of harms way. When you’re naked you’re untouchable. Now of course there are some exceptions as to where you can be naked and you should be smart about it. School grounds, churches and pretty much anywhere where you walking around naked with a water gun could possibly you charged, as a sex offender probably isn’t a good play to play. There’s no rule against it, but come now be smarter than that. Ok never mind the rules are pretty simple too; if you’re naked you’re safe, if you’re clothed you’re in danger at pretty much all times. You can use whatever tactic you want to get another person out, but just don’t be stupid about it. Now that you know the rules its time to put together a team. Teams are can be anywhere from four to seven people. If you’re smart you get with a team of people who are “homebodies;” otherwise people more prone to stay at home then go out to a bunch of social events. Oh yeah that reminds me; if you’re in your house you’re safe as well. Pretty much don’t do anything illegal. The game is played tournament style. Every week you face a new team until only one team remains. Tiebreakers are conducted through a sudden death standoff in a near bye woods (This is why we called it the Hunger Games”). This would occur when both teams were down to only one person being left in t he game for the round. Each person would be given one gun and both would go into the woods and try to find each other. Whoever shot the other one first wins. Technically Senior Tag isn’t illegal, but it is frown upon. Many restaurants and public places in Columbus make it a point to let it be known that playing the game on their property is banned and warned to call the police if you were caught. My school decided to take it a step further when they called a senior only assembly to warn us of the consequences. “The game of senior tag will not be tolerated at this institution,” our principal Dan Garrick said. ““Any student caught participating in the game will not graduate.” Of course no heeded this warning. From our understanding he never said we could play senior tag at all. Technically he said that we could not play at the school and we couldn’t get caught. My mother knew I was playing, she wasn’t happy about it but she knew. Every morning
We sit behind a small bush for about two hours until our selected target decides to make his way to school. By this point we are already late for class so we are already trying to make up a good excuse for why we are late. Finally, our target shows his face.
The target is Alex Washington, a fellow high school student. Like many of us at this point in the year he appears nervous and uneasy. He peeks out of his door before closing the door while still inside. After about five minutes the door opens again and his mother appears while he hides behind her as he travels to his car. His mother checks to see if the close is clear before deciding to go back inside. …show more content…
As Alex goes to unlock his car I jump and toss both of my balloons at him whiles my friend films for visual evidence.
“You’re out,” I yelled. “And don’t even try to deny it because RJ is here to prove it.”
Welcome to the 2012 “Hunger Games” also known as, Senior Tag.
The game is simple. Shoot others and don’t get shot.
The rules, well they’re not so simple. Those are a bit more complex and in a way borderline sketchy.
There is only one guaranteed way to avoid getting shot in Senior Tag, get naked.
Your nakedness is your safe haven and your lifeline. It keeps you out of harms way. When you’re naked you’re untouchable. Now of course there are some exceptions as to where you can be naked and you should be smart about it. School grounds, churches and pretty much anywhere where you walking around naked with a water gun could possibly you charged, as a sex offender probably isn’t a good play to play. There’s no rule against it, but come now be smarter than that. Ok never mind the rules are pretty simple too; if you’re naked you’re safe, if you’re clothed you’re in danger at pretty much all times. You can use whatever tactic you want to get another person out, but just don’t be stupid about it. Now that you know the rules its time to put together a team. Teams are can be anywhere from four to seven people. If you’re smart you get with a team of people who are “homebodies;” otherwise people more prone to stay at home then go out to a bunch of social events. Oh yeah that reminds me; if you’re in your house you’re safe as well. Pretty much don’t do anything illegal. The game is played tournament style. Every week you face a new team until only one team remains. Tiebreakers are conducted through a sudden death standoff in a near bye woods (This is why we called it the Hunger Games”). This would occur when both teams were down to only one person being left in t he game for the round. Each person would be given one gun and both would go into the woods and try to find each other. Whoever shot the other one first wins. Technically Senior Tag isn’t illegal, but it is frown upon. Many restaurants and public places in Columbus make it a point to let it be known that playing the game on their property is banned and warned to call the police if you were caught. My school decided to take it a step further when they called a senior only assembly to warn us of the consequences. “The game of senior tag will not be tolerated at this institution,” our principal Dan Garrick said. ““Any student caught participating in the game will not graduate.” Of course no heeded this warning. From our understanding he never said we could play senior tag at all. Technically he said that we could not play at the school and we couldn’t get caught. My mother knew I was playing, she wasn’t happy about it but she knew. Every morning