Jackal Season

It’s that time of the year where High School Students start counting down the days until graduation and until they are done. There are many activities that go on, like the senior field trip, senior mom and tea, and the end of the year game jackal.

Jackal is a game where two seniors are partners who have to eliminate their targets by shooting them with water pistols, while trying to avoid being shot. There are many places a senior cannot be shot including work, school, after school activities, and a place of worship just to name a few. This game gets very intense with lots of car chases, foot pursuits, and camping out early in the morning waiting for your target to leave for school.

It is only $20 per team and the pot for winning can be almost $1,000 or even more. There is thrill and excitement building as seniors are getting ready by picking partners and coming up with strategies on how to get through each round. Seniors with older siblings who have played have had some information which is heightening the excitement. Senior Vishal Tailor gave the statement, “I helped my sister play and it seemed like a lot of fun.” Vishal has had some experience with helping his older sister when she played, which he thinks gives him a good chance at winning.

With all the excitement building up for the start of the games, there is stress and a lot of work for the senior running the game Justin DeFrancisco. When asked if he was a little disappointed that he couldn’t play, Justin responded, “I do wish I could play sometimes because it sounds like fun. My brother played and it was fun to help him out. But, a lot of people know where I work so it wouldn’t be ideal for me to play and win, so I decided to just host.” Justin has a lot to do to prepare, like making sure that he isn’t liable for anything that happens during the games. He has to also collect registration, write rules, provide working water guns, sent out target assignment emails, and dealing with people disputing about being shot or not. There are always good stories that come out of jackal, and with registration due this week the excitement continues to build up.