‘Assassins’ Seize Campus

By Connect2Mason Director Grace Kendall

Students move stealthily through the residence halls of Presidents Park, stalking their targets. Armed with only a name, photograph and their weapon of choice, they are fighting to be the sole survivor of Mason Assassin.

They aim to kill.

Assassin is a live-action roleplaying game where students work to "murder" targets as quickly as possible using fake weapons like spoons and silly string.

Mason’s game is currently run by Nishant Kanitkar and his partner in crime, Tyler Cabell. Kanitkar had seen newspaper articles about the game and thought it would be fun to start at Mason.

Though gameplay can become complicated, the premise is simple: kill or be killed.
“The only person you know is playing is your target,” said Kanitkar.

"Anybody on this entire campus can be your assassin and you'll never know." And with over 30,000 students at Mason, that only makes the game more exciting.

Junior Josh Deboe is one of about 40 participants. He and his roommate John Myer started out as allies collaborating on kills until the tables turned and they ended up fighting each other.

“We went out one evening to get our next guys, and John goes into the room with his target and kills him,” said Deboe. Never one to let down his guard, Deboe waited to hear the announcement of the next target.

As the number of participants dwindled, the chances that his name would be next increased.

Sure enough, his paranoia paid off. As his name was announced, Deboe waited with a rolled up sock—a melee weapon—in hand, ready to strike.

After a second’s hesitation, socks began flying and within seconds Deboe had successfully taken Myers out of the game. He is now working on his next kill—there is no sleep for an assassin.

The second round of gameplay is currently still in session and will be wrapping up before Spring Break. Kanitkar plans on starting a third game sometime in April. For more information, visit http://masonassassin.com/