Wharton profs become 'assassins'

If you're in Wharton, your professor is probably out to get you.

At least if you're a participant in Hostile Takeover, the Wharton Council's version of the popular game Assassins.

For the first time since the game began four years ago, faculty members will participate in the event.

Their access to student files - that include class schedules and residences - will provide them with an advantage over students, who are only told their target's name and graduating year, said Wharton sophomore Vas Natarajan, a member of the Wharton Council who is co-organizing the event.

As a result, popular strategies from previous games - like deactivating accounts on Facebook or replacing profile data with misleading information - might not be good enough any more.

But as students scramble to think of new strategies, some recall past ones that proved effective.

"I stayed in another dorm for a night," said Wharton sophomore John Bninski, who reached the final round last year. "I skipped classes and spent all afternoon at the Newman Center."

"It's how much you care about the game," said last year's winner, Wharton junior Matt Perkal.

Participants in the game receive a target that they must "kill" according to a specific set of rules and guidelines.

Another new feature this year is immunity. Four members of the Wharton Council will walk around wearing T-shirts bearing large targets. Competitors who hit all four targets with nerf balls on one day will be granted immunity until the end of the current round.

The game's organizers are also planning to inaugurate new online features, including a list of each round's ten fastest and most creative kills and a blog for participants to discuss the game and how to find their targets.

This year's game will more than double last year's participation: 330 people had already signed up by Friday afternoon.

The first three rounds will run from Wednesday through Friday of next week, and the final "board room" - a free-for-all showdown in Lehman Quad that some participants likened to dodgeball - will be held on April 1.

Many agree that the final's format is a necessary evil.

"I prefer the rest of the game," Perkal said, "but it's kind of hard to eliminate the last ten people if you don't do something like that."

Wharton and College junior Jen Chen said she wishes that "they would change the last round so it was more reflective of assassins as a whole."

The winner, who must get through the final round alive, will receive a Nintendo Wii ,while the runner-up will be awarded Bose-brand headphones.

"The real reason I got into it last year was the prize was an iPod. I always enter contests when the prize is an iPod," Volotzky said.

Registration for the game, which is open to students across the University, ends tonight at midnight.

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