To the editors:

The first major House event in Dunster this year was the annual Assassin game. I figured that it would be a opportunity to meet for the first time all the upperclass students roaming the halls. I knew that I'd also have an advantage because I normally kept strange hours, and so I could play without the game affecting my daily routine. Sticking to that golden rule throughout the game, I had fun. I hunted targets, made alliances, and for much of the game was the top assassin before finally losing to the eventual game winner. The most rewarding part of playing Assassin was after the game ended when I was left with a host of friendships from my targets, alliances and teammates that have outlasted the game itself.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Assassin as a game, and at least in Dunster there were rules restricting the games to Dunster after dark and requiring the use of bright neon colored plastic dart pistols which no one could mistake for the real guns. As for Leach's experience playing Assassin, I can only say that any game you play that you take too seriously ceases to be a fun.

James D. Mayers II '01

April 19, 1999