130 Pembroke students are currently involved in Oxford University’s biggest game of Assassins.
The game, which has taken nearly two months to set up and will be played out until 7th week, involves all participants being given another student as a secret target that they have to ‘assassinate’ with the help of a sock ball.
Once students have dispatched their allocated target they must then try to
assassinate their original victim’s target until there is only one assassin standing.
The so-called ‘Guildmaster’ of the Assassins has also offered a cash prize of £50 and an honoured place in the Assassins guild for the last man standing.
There will be another three rounds held between 3rd and 5th week, also with cash prizes, allowing students who are not particularly skilled at the game to have another try and those with exams to get involved later.
The latest rounds of Assassins follows on from a game held in Trinity last year, organised by the then rusticated Dan Pennington, who was able to give Cherwell an insight into the scenes we might be seeing later this term. Last year’s efforts produced examples of amazing Oxford ingenuity, with one student jumping off a punt onto the banks of the Cherwell in order to assassinate his unassuming victim, who was out jogging.
However, the game also appears to strain friendships, and any would-be winner must start to develop a healthy level of paranoia if they are to survive, as supposed best friends sell-out secret knocks and trust in an effort to win.
Tensions are running high. Third-year and veteran of Pembroke’s two previous games of Assassins, Caspar Donnison, said, “The game has got off to a fantastic start.” He also noted that, perhaps counter-intuitively, the game is proving “a good choice for my revision” as the library, along with other non-residential parts of college ware ‘safe zones’.
He also spoke of narrowly avoiding a recent assassination attempt and his own use of a Fresher called “the information guy” to get closer to his target.
If staying alive and knowing who to trust wasn’t confusing enough, the air of mystery surrounding the game has increased as the Guildmaster has apparently been captured, requiring new assassins to fight to regain their
leader, a narrative that an insider has told Cherwell will be developed “over the course of the term and over several JCR meetings before the explosive finale at the end of 7th week.
