2008 Woodie Awards
The Spoon Assassins
Craze Captivates Colgate Campus
Kate Preziosi
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Last month, 72 Colgate students, faculty and staff participated in a round-the-clock elimination game based on creativity, stealth and espionage. On September 14, this circle of "Spoon Assassins" each received a "mark" from the players. From that point on, they were, according to the Facebook.com group, "at risk 24/7!" of being "assassinated" by non-violent means with a spoon. The game's "umpire," and creator of Colgate Spoon Assassins, is sophomore Christian Rathkopf.
"You must be in control of the spoon at all times," he explained. "While you can't fling it at someone, you could, say, attach it to a string and fling it at someone."
Each day, players sought their targets and tried to avoid assassination by adhering to the daily immunity stipulations posted by the umpire on the Web site. On the opening day, players wishing to earn immunity had to carry "full salt and pepper shakers on their person," which, Rathkopf noted, resulted in many missing shakers from Frank Dining Hall.
The requirements for immunity got progressively more complicated. On Monday, October 1, the website stated that "Players wishing to earn immunity must have on their person at least half of a liter of tomato soup contained only inside of a plastic Ziploc brand bag, no hard shell containers may be used in the storage of the Ziploc Bag."
As the game went on over a three-week period of time, the "kills," or players eliminated, were posted in order on the website. With the competition heating up over prizes for "Last Man Standing" and "Most Bad-Ass Kill," some players got creative.
"Rachel Suprenant got her friends together, and they dressed up as pirates and stormed the rock wall where Mike Nitzberg was working as a spotter," Rathkopf recalled.
"I know Nitz from [Outdoor Education]," senior Suprenant said. "I knew he was pretty into the game, so I decided not to insult him with a wimpy kill. He deserved to go by pirates, clearly. It was my friend's birthday that night, so we had the pirate theme going already, and we knew Nitzberg's schedule…so we ambushed."
"You must be in control of the spoon at all times," he explained. "While you can't fling it at someone, you could, say, attach it to a string and fling it at someone."
Each day, players sought their targets and tried to avoid assassination by adhering to the daily immunity stipulations posted by the umpire on the Web site. On the opening day, players wishing to earn immunity had to carry "full salt and pepper shakers on their person," which, Rathkopf noted, resulted in many missing shakers from Frank Dining Hall.
The requirements for immunity got progressively more complicated. On Monday, October 1, the website stated that "Players wishing to earn immunity must have on their person at least half of a liter of tomato soup contained only inside of a plastic Ziploc brand bag, no hard shell containers may be used in the storage of the Ziploc Bag."
As the game went on over a three-week period of time, the "kills," or players eliminated, were posted in order on the website. With the competition heating up over prizes for "Last Man Standing" and "Most Bad-Ass Kill," some players got creative.
"Rachel Suprenant got her friends together, and they dressed up as pirates and stormed the rock wall where Mike Nitzberg was working as a spotter," Rathkopf recalled.
"I know Nitz from [Outdoor Education]," senior Suprenant said. "I knew he was pretty into the game, so I decided not to insult him with a wimpy kill. He deserved to go by pirates, clearly. It was my friend's birthday that night, so we had the pirate theme going already, and we knew Nitzberg's schedule…so we ambushed."
Be the first to comment on this story