Intricate disguises, phony pizza deliveries and post-practice stakeouts. Every rustle in the bushes and every unfamiliar car that pulls down the street is scrutinized with a keen eye and trained ear. The phrase that lingers at the back of the mind: watch your six. 

The dawn of May marks not only the beginning of the countdown to summer but the start of Senior Showdown, a longstanding Staples tradition previously known as AP Assassin during which seniors are both assassins and targets, actively pursuing their victim while simultaneously avoiding being eliminated themselves.

Senior Showdown begins May 23 and senior students who wish to partake in the duel must pay a $20 entry fee. 25% of Senior Showdown’s entry fees are allotted for a donation to the Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit organization based in Newtown, Connecticut with the mission to ending gun violence. 

Ally Schwartz ’22 is one of the two co-coordinators of the game. Devoid of a target on her back, Schwartz will work behind the scenes to ensure the tournament transpires without issue and that participants adhere to gameplay guidelines. Schwartz sought to be involved with the activity as a staple of senior year without the stresses that come with being a designated target. 

“I wanted to be able to facilitate a venue for all seniors to be able to come together and play with others that normally wouldn’t enter their circle ” Schwartz said. “It’s a great, crazy way for students to conclude their thirteen years together within Westport schools.”

Prior to 2021, seniors who did not take an Advanced Placement (AP) course were not permitted to partake in the activity. The change in standards have correlated with an increase in participants as senior students perceive the contest as one of the final festivities that brings together the whole class; nonetheless, the anxieties that come with gameplay are of no interest to certain students. 

“During my internship, I don’t want to worry about people hiding out at my house or trailing me to an office,” Pragathi Ashok ’22 said. “The first months of senior year are stressful, and in the weeks before graduation, I want to relax and be carefree.”

The hallmark of Senior Showdown resides in the deceptive tactics and intricately constructed plots seniors form to hunt down their targets. Come the start of the tournament, as nerf guns are deployed and the player pool gradually decreases, stories of wild mock executions become commonplace. 

“My sister had opened a terrarium business her senior year and a junior pretended to purchase the plants only for her assassin to take advantage of drawing my sister outside,” Mairin O’Neill ’22 said. “Thankfully, my sister never left her car and the engine was running, which is a violation, so the shot did not count in the end.”

 Students do not take the possibility of winning what remains of a sizable pot lightly, and many are willing to go to the extremes to avoid elimination. 

“The ultimate strategy for success is to never leave your house,” Max Tanksley ’22 said. “For the next few weeks, I only plan on leaving my room for meals.”