By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer
Spoons! They’re everywhere! Often found in PFM, students’ dorms, and, most recently, on noses. February marks the start of NCSSM’s annual Spoons competition, a game similar to the well known senior assassin. The game kicks off on the first day of the spring semester, or in this year’s case, the first full school day back on campus. Players will receive a plastic spoon with another player’s name on it, that is their target. The goal of the game is to (gently) tap your target with a spoon to get them out and gain their target as your new one.
Spoons is more than just a game, but rather a community builder. It relies on students getting to know each other better in order to kill their targets. The Spoons community has especially been beneficial for this season’s Spoonmaster, Rex Chen ‘26, “I think spoons allows many within the NCSSM community to engage in a fun, campus wide activity, which I believe is especially important during a stressful time of the year.”
Beyond creating bonds between peers, Spoons pushes students out of their comfort zone; it’s impossible to be invisible in a crowded hallway when you’ve got a spoon on your nose. At a school that places such a high priority on academic and extracurricular achievements, we often forget that there is more to the school day than academics.
“I had a rough second semester of junior year, where I felt like I tried to do too much and ended up not doing enough. Spoons was one of the highlights that helped me stop worrying about the ‘what-ifs’ and focus on the present moment, which really improved my mindset,” explained Chen.
As one of the last three players (Spooners?) standing, Chen has definitely proven to know the ins and outs of the game well. Though the game was never officially concluded by last year’s Spoonmaster, Chen was the last junior alive, making him this season’s Spoonmaster as per Spoons’ rules.
The rules of Spoons are always updating. As people try new tactics, the Spoonmaster gets to decide whether or not they are legal or illegal. Students are constantly getting new updates in the Messenger group chat about new safe zones and banned actions. This is one of Chen favorite aspects of the game, “I find it pretty funny how many people proposed crazy spoon designs (like bluetooth enabled spoons and drone-controlled spoons) to try and get an advantage in the game.”
Spoons is one of those games where it is what you make out of it. If you put forth a lot of effort and are an active participant of it, you’ll often be in the game the longest and have the most memorable experience with it. Spoon enthusiast Finnegan Davis ‘27 expressed, “Spoons sounds pretty easy, but it’s really not. It’s hard to keep track of who is targeting you, where your target is, what zones are safe, and what zones are not, and it’s even hard to keep track of your spoon.”
Though it is far too early to say who the next Spoonmaster is, when the game will be concluded, or who will be the last player standing, I am confident that we will be seeing spoons around campus for the foreseeable future. So, from us at The Stentorian, best of luck Spooners! And don’t forget your spoons!
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