At Thomas Worthington High School the students are starting the annual senior tag game. The game is bracket-style with 7 students per team. This started on Monday, April 6th and will go till Friday, May 1st.

 In the game a team will go head to head with another team and plan on getting players out on the other team by squirting them with water guns. By Friday at midnight every week the team with the most players left in the game wins. There is a cash incentive for the game, the buy in per team is $140. The winning team will earn roughly $375 per player, thus causing a strong effort from the players to compete and win the cash prize.

Hope Adams is a referee for the game and works with 3 other referees to regulate the game and make calls on conflicts in rules. Throughout the first week of the game there were a lot of conflicts between teams that created a stressful and harsh environment for the referees to work in.

 “So far, senior tag week 2 has been going a lot more smoothly than week 1”, Adams said. “During week 1 we had a lot of conflict between players and teams, but after talking to all the team captains about just playing the game and having fun, it’s been a lot better”.

Collin Chase is a player for one of the teams, he expressed that senior tag has been a very fun and enjoyable experience for him with being able to hangout with friends. It has had a great impact on his day to day life and how he has to be aware of his surroundings at all times.

 “I catch myself being careful when I walk outside and like running to my car at all times”, Chase said.

Mr. Studebaker is a teacher at Thomas Worthington. This game is at the center of attention for many seniors while at school. This being a distraction to the students and preventing them from getting work done and other education advances. Mr. Studebaker thinks that this game is a distraction to the students along with it being a dangerous game to play.

 “Its a distraction in class and I find it very annoying,” said Studebaker

Senior tag at Thomas Worthington is a different breed. Throughout the 5 week game there is betrayal, surprise, and nudity. Players are having fun while referees seem to be struggling to keep up with the pace

 “It’s denfinitely not fun getting calls and texts all day– I would say it’s not worth being a ref,” Adams said.

 There is a set of rules that prohibit the nature of some ‘kills’ making them illegal and therefore they don’t count. There is a large cash incentive for the winning team causing some strategic and gritty play. Senior tag has impacted many aspects of the lives of seniors. 

Even friendships have been affected because people are taking it more seriously than they need to, “ senior Olivia Stewart said. “ At the end of the day, it is just a game.”