CSE 143

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Assassin Rules

adapted from original rules written by Stuart Reges

This document describes the rules that will be in effect for the optional assassin game being played by members of this quarter's CSE 143 course. If you are not participating, you can ignore this document.

  1. Participating: Participation in the game is open to CSE 143 students and CSE 143 TAs only. If you want to participate in the game, you should send an email to cse143-assassin that contains the following:
    • Your full name
    • Your nickname that you'd like to be called during this game
    • Your UW Email NetID @u.washington.edu (if you send your message from your UW email account, you don't need to include this)
    • An attached recent photo of you that clearly shows your face
    To be included in the game, you must email us this information no later than Monday, February 8 at 7:00pm.
  2. AssassinManager: One of our TAs will serve as the game administrator (our Assassin Manager) and will contact players through email. We will send email to the participants before the game begins informing each person of who their target is. We will also provide a display of participant photos and nicknames (online and/or outside the instructor's office door) so once you know who your target is, you can see what he or she looks like.
  3. Start/End/Hours: The game begins at 8am on Tuesday, February 9, and continues until only one person is left alive or until 8am on the day of our final exam, whichever comes first. Participants can be assassinated only on weekdays and only between the hours of 8am and 6pm. Participants also cannot be assassinated on university holidays. To avoid causing undue stress, the date of our midterm exam, Wed Feb 17, is also considered a "safe" day in which no one may be killed.
  4. Assassinations: Your goal during the game is to find and assassinate the target you are stalking. You are allowed to assassinate only the person you are currently stalking. When you are being stalked, your only option is to try to escape, except for the special case when only two players are left.

    To assassinate your target, you must establish physical contact with the person and then say the phrase, "You're dead." You can establish contact by touching them, e.g., tapping them on the shoulder. You do not have to maintain contact while you say the entire phrase. For example, if you tap someone on the shoulder and then say the phrase as they try to run away, you have still assassinated them. The key is to first make contact and then say the phrase.

    You can also establish physical contact by manipulating some kind of device that establishes contact between you. For example, you could use a 10-foot pole to make the contact. If you can manage to touch them with a piece of string that you are holding, then you have established contact through the string. Silly string will also be considered a legal device for contact for the purposes of this game.

    You can't, however, claim that the air or the ground is the device you are using and you can't use a light-pen or other light-based device to establish contact. Also, simply propelling an object towards a person is not the same thing as establishing contact. You can't, for example, throw a ball at someone, use a pellet gun, toy gun, water balloon, etc. and claim to have made contact.

    When you assassinate an individual, you should ask that person for the name of their target. This becomes your next target. You also must send email to the game administrators telling her who you assassinated. When you have been assassinated, you should also send email to the administrators telling us that you have been killed and who killed you.

    When the game gets down to just two people, it may be difficult to determine who wins. They might both make contact at more or less the same time. In that case, the person who first finishes saying the phrase will win the game.

  5. Safe Zones: The following campus locations are considered "safe zones" for the game at certain times specified below. No player can be killed inside a safe zone.
    • the KANE building where we have our 143 lectures (safe on Mon, Wed, and Fri only);
    • the various buildings (BLM, CLK, EEB, JHN, LOW, MGH) where we have our 143 sections (safe on Tue and Thu only, except CSE/EEB and MGH which are always safe);
    • the CSE/EEB building where Marty has his office (safe at all times);
    • the Mary Gates Hall building where we have the IPL programming lab (safe at all times);
    • the Odegaard Library building that serves as a general-purpose computer lab (safe at all times);
    • within 20 feet of any city bus stop or shuttle pick-up (to be fair to students who rely on public transportation).
    You may not assassinate anyone inside of any of these places. But you are allowed to assassinate someone outside these places, such as by waiting immediately outside the building's door. If any part of your target's body lies outside the plane of the doorway of the building when you make contact, the person is considered outside and may be assassinated.
  6. Attendance: All players still alive in the assassin game are required to come to lecture and sign in with the TAs during each lecture. (This is to avoid a player trying to win the game by staying home and never coming to campus.) We will bring a sign in sheet that you can initial. You are not allowed to sign for anyone else. If you miss more than 3 lectures, you will be removed from the game.
  7. Mutual Respect: At all times you are required to treat other game participants with respect and to behave in a manner that does not jeopardize their safety and comfort. For example, punching or tackling your opponent or slicing them with a sword are forms of making contact, but obviously you are not allowed to do things like this in our game. Drenching your target in water would also be unacceptable. Once you have made contact and said the phrase, you should sever contact. You should also obey the law and university regulations while playing the game. You may not sneak into someone's dorm or residence illegally to assassinate them.
  8. Prizes: There will be at least two prizes awarded: one for the person who wins the game and one for the person who assassinates the most players.
  9. Disputes: Bring any disputes to the game administrator and instructor for arbitration.
  10. Amendments to Rules: If these rules need to be amended in any way, the instructor will make an announcement in class and post it to the class newsgroup. So please pay attention in case some new rule is instituted.