Jack Brown ‘23
Sports Editor
Two weeks ago, a mysterious group, the enigmatic “Spies Justicars,” announced the start of a game of Assassins open to all members of the Law School. While some critics questioned if a supposedly “serious” professional school is the right venue for a game typically played in high school, there was overwhelming support for the juvenile game throughout the Law School classes. With roughly 150 students participating, and no cease-and-desist sent by Student Affairs (yet), Assassins has been a success so far.
Interested in finding out more about the game and getting the scoop on some of the most dramatic kills so far, I began the arduous journey of meeting with the secretive group behind the game. After sending several emails using the only known contact info of the Spies Justicars, I received a response in the form of a letter tied to a knife in my front door one frigid morning. After completing several dangerous trials, I came face-to-face with the spokesperson of the Justicars, who was able to give me the tidbits of information I had been looking for.
So far, the game has gone fairly smoothly, with a shocking lack of rule appeals from law students and most people (we assume) reporting their kills in a timely manner. Many of the initial kills came from the 1Ls, who, with their public schedules and general enthusiasm for life, butchered each other the first week. Unsurprisingly, the 3Ls have also excelled at killing one another, though this is more due to the class’s burning hatred for each other, rather than a desire to collectively do something as a class. The 2Ls have lagged far behind either of the other classes, possibly due to many of them now having firm offers and not putting the effort in to come to school. Or it might be because they didn’t read the instructions and aren’t reporting their kills and should get on that.
While most of the performances so far were described by the Justicar spokesperson as “laughable,” one assassin in particular has stood out. Makenna Cherry ’23 was able to get six kills in a single day, demonstrating a level of bloodlust that impressed the otherwise stoic entity. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to top the single-day record in this iteration of Assassins, but the ancient Justicars do intend to run the game in the spring, if it continues going well.
With my last question before being escorted out of the Justicars’ subterranean headquarters, I asked them: Why are you doing this? Why run this game? Their leader, otherwise silent for the entire meeting, rose from his marble throne to simply say, “Because it is fun.”
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jwb4bb@virginia.edu