"One victim was assasinated when his attacker walked onto the Sanders Theater stage during an HRO rehersal and shot him without saying a word," Shah says.
Another victim was seduced into a room to compare problem sets.
At times the game degenerates into advanced hide-and-seek. One killer hid behind a washing machine for over an hour before shooting her unsuspecting victim.
Leverett's game began on Monday at midnight. By 12:15 a.m. two students were killed when they returned to their room. The assassins were waiting inside. Early deaths can affect a student's future as an assassin.
Eric Brown '97, a Crimson executive, had his childhood visions of grandeur crushed last year when he was shot within 24 hours. "Rambo wouldn't have been proud," the Leverett resident laments. Brown decided to sit this year out.
Daniel L. Cohen '97, Brown's roommate, understands Brown's pain and concerns. When asked why he isn't packing a watergun, Cohen responded "I don't want to be living in fear."
Others, however, disappointed with their finish in years past, have redoubled their efforts this year.
A Leverett senior who was killed in less than two hours last year got in shape for this year's competition.
"My thesis is complete and I thought to myself, 'What better thing to do than improve my cardiovascular condition?" the senior says. "Now I can outrun would be assassins."
The exercise didn't payoff, as she was killed early this week on her way to class.
Ritualized Violence
Participation admittedly requires significant time commitment. Leverett resident Dave C. Hursh '97 is one of many students who, faced with term papers and finals, decided not to play.
"The end of the semester is crunch time," Hursh explained while eating a chickwich, "I would have done it at a different time."
Why, then, do the house committees plan the event so late in the semester?
It may be that warm weather combined with the neo-industrial wasteland-like apperance of Quincy and Leverett provide an atmosphere which encourages games of war.
Some students argue that it is exactly because of the tension and pressure that assassin is so successful. By the end of the year, some students are fed up with their classes and housemates, that they just want to kill someone.
Assassin provides a safe, fun alternative to violence.
Todd A. Bangerter '98, who bought four guns for the Quincy competition, says that the ritualized violence is a direct result of long stretch without a break from the beginning of April through the end of May.
Bangerter believes that there is "a distinct possibility" that the angry, tired student body, now armed with toy guns, will rise in protest of Harvard's academic calendar on the steps of University Hall.