Illinois Police Warning Parents About Trending “Senior Assassin” Game

A new game is trending this spring and police are calling on parents to watch out for it.

NBC Chicago says that police in Illinois are noticing an uptick of kids playing a game called 'Senior Assassin' and they're warning parents about it.

It's a traditional spring game that's trending nationwide (though the rules of the game vary by location) and mostly, the game itself isn't a problem, but the way it's being played is.

What Is 'Senior Assassin'?

For Illinois, police say that teams form in a "tournament-style competition", as students eliminate their competitors by "tagging" them with water guns. Game rules specify that the game can't be played during school hours or on school property. Players try to find their opponents at various places, like home, parks, or other spaces. Students will hide in random places, chase their targets around, or pop up in a car, according to police.

In some Illinois towns, players wear ski masks to hide their identity.

It's water guns. That's fine. But.

Water guns can also resemble actual firearms. In Gurnee, a group of students walked into a place wearing ski masks holding water guns that looked a lot like actual guns. Police said this is how that situation went down:

They were targeting other students who were dining in the restaurant and attempting to spray them with water. An adult, who was a concealed carry holder, in the restaurant mistook the situation for a genuine threat, and the situation could have escalated quickly. The gravity of the situation cannot be emphasized enough; it had the potential to lead to serious consequences.

So you can see why it's a problem.

In Bartlett, the game begins on April 14th. Police obviously aren't okay with the game and they're encouraging parents to talk to their kids about the issues they could run into by playing it.