Chaos reigned in Olds Residence this month as roommates betrayed each other, RAs paired off against residents, and one freshman racked up eight kills in the dorm’s inaugural “spoon assassin” tournament.

“At one point, multiple roommate pairs had each other,” sophomore resident assistant Kate Mureen said. “There were lots of skirmishes that went down, especially towards the end of the game.”

Mureen introduced the game to the dorm. The rules of spoon assassins are simple: Competitors must keep their spoons visible and grabbable at all times. Steal your target’s spoon to kill them or tag them if their spoon is not visible. Then take that person’s target as your next victim until only one woman remains standing.

In the Olds tournament, students could be killed anywhere but the dorm or in class.

Maureen said she didn’t last long in her own game. 

“I got out because I was tabling, and one of the other RAs came to me, and said ‘It’s good to see you!’ and hugged me,” Mureen said. “While she was hugging me, she grabbed my spoon and said, ‘And, you’re out.’”

Freshman Caylee Norris came out on top after 17 days and eliminated a third of the competition. The two other freshmen women who remained in the game at the end, Madeline Olson and Josephine Ziegler, surrendered their spoons to the victor. 

Norris got the edge early, eliminating two friends on the first day of the tournament.

“Their heads weren’t in the game yet,” Norris said. “It was easy eliminating the clueless competitors until I had to get one of my RAs.”

Her friends refused to help her, but Norris said she was able to take out the RA in Saga while she did not have her spoon on her. 

“My next target was my roommate,” Norris said. “At this point, I was freaking out, because my roommate is pretty competitive, as am I, and neither of us was gonna go down without a fight.”

But the roommate — freshman Sophia Cantrell — was soon vanquished. Oblivious to the fact that she was Norris’s next target, Cantrell chatted with Norris at a table in Saga during dinner, and then, letting down her guard, put the spoon on the table.

“When I started to leave, I saw that she set it on the table,” Norris said. “So I go back under the pretense of getting a coat that I wasn’t actually wearing, and I turn to my chair. I said, ‘I’m going crazy. I didn’t leave my coat, but I did leave this!’ and I grabbed the spoon and held it up. She was shocked.”

For runner-up Ziegler, spoon assassin was a contact sport. She said someone threw a sweatshirt over her head and grabbed her in one attempt to win the spoon. 

“I just held it in my hand 24/7,” Ziegler said. “I got tackled four times by girls who were trying to get it. The first two lasted four or five minutes outside class.”

Olson and Ziegler ended with one kill each for Norris’ eight. 

“I got somebody on the first day, and I only ever got one person. I just made it to the end,” Ziegler said. “I’m competitive, but I’m not crazy.”