Family names range from "The Spite Girls" to "Boogie Knights" and are variously armed and dangerous. The "Scrote & Dagger" team (S&D), intent on victory, recently purchased Motorola Talk-About Plus walkie-talkies, at $150 a pop, in order to properly stake out the Quincy gate and courtyard area.

In addition, each S&D team member is equipped with two large Nerf guns. The team says the Super Maxx 1500, with a rotating bullet chamber, is a particularly popular model. One member of the team has evenbeen known to strap a Nerf rocket launcher,accurate up to 100 feet, to his belt.

Above all, the team strives for slickcoordination and strategic action.

"We move in pairs," S&D team member Daniel B.Kamins '98 says. "We have different exits andentrances that we use. We try to mix things up."

Team members use their extensive technology tocarefully track each of their assigned victims.

"If we see any movement, we can alert eachother," Kamins says.

According to Christopher R. Coyne '99, the teameven applied for a Undergraduate Council grant for$16,000 to purchase a nuclear Nerf bomb. Theirapplication was denied. Yet the team is confidentthat, despite the fiscal set-back, at the end ofthe day they will reign victorious.

"We will win," Coyne confides. "We'll throw aparty with the money. Ultimately, our win willserve Harvard."

Although past Assassin games on campus havebeen marked by massive student hide-outs and fewpublic stalkings, the Quincy version hasemphasized active pursuit. Participants say thegame has encouraged them to become more activethan the average Harvard student.

"We get up at 6 or 7 a.m., which is theearliest I've gotten up since I came to Harvard,"Coyne explains. "I actually go to breakfast. Irun. I hide behind trees. It really gets myadrenaline pumping."

Even so, much of this increased activity isdevoted to one pursuit--victory in the game.Serious players find their time becomes extremelylimited during season. Many skip classes in orderto par-take of extended play.

"It's hopefully teaching people that they don'tneed to go to class," team member Steve Sakins '98says.

"There's no time for anything else," saysCoyne.

The team reports they even dream of the game.

"We're surrounded at Harvard by people whospend their days working," says Kamins. "They needto feel the thrill of the hunt, the blood on theirhands."

But some competitors can't handle the 24-hour aday pressure of the game. One player committedsuicide after the rest of his team was killed.