SPHS Bans Spoon Assassins Game

South Pasadena High School administrators have stuck a fork in Spoon Assassins. 

A game popular on both college and high school campuses around the country, Spoon Assassins drew more than 200 SPHS students' participation in the latest round of play, according to the school's online newspaper, Tiger Online. The players all kicked in varying amounts of money to receive a spoon with the name of their “target,” the article explained. If their “assassin” caught them without a spoon in their hand, students could be tagged out, or "killed.'' The last student standing would win prize money collected from entry fees.

The problem is, that's gambling, according to the high school's Feb. 19 daily bulletin. 

"To all students-- No more Spoon Assassins. It is a form of gambling and underage gambling is illegal. All spoons will be collected by teachers,''  the Tiger Dispatch stated. 

Another issue, as pointed out in the Tiger Online article by Social Studies teacher Annalee Pearson, is the germ factor.

“Personally, I just think the spoons become hygienically disgusting,'' Pearson was quoted as saying. 

Assistant Principal for Student Services Terrance Dunn also told Tiger Online that the game is disruptive. Students have interrupted class to try to tag out their target, the article states. 

Wikipedia defines the popular game as one in which "players try to eliminate each other from the game using mock weapons in an effort to become the last surviving player.'' And since an elimination attempt could occur at any time, "successful players are obliged to develop a healthy degree of watchful paranoia,'' the definition reads.

To read the Tiger Online story about banning Spoon Assassins click here. To read the Tiger story that outlines the game's objectives, click here.

Patch Asks: Have you heard about this game? Do you know anyone who was playing it? 

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