JACKSON - Beginning the week of Oct. 15, nearly 200 students are the targets of single minded assassins. Determinedly, the hunters stalk their victims until catching them unaware and going in for the kill.

It's all fun and games, of course, and nobody gets hurt.

The Millsaps women's lacrosse team is leading a campus wide game of "Gotcha" as a fundraising event for its travel and gear budget. For \$3 and a bit of personal information, 180 students became part of the slightly sinister but silly game. 

"Gotcha" -- known variously as "Assassin," "Juggernaut" and "Elimination" -- is a multiplayer organized competition wherein a participant is assigned another player to "assassinate" or tag out.

Students gave the lacrosse team a photo, "their names, class rankings, their major, what buildings their classes are held in and what activities they belong to" to facilitate a more traceable target, event organizer and junior Leanna White said. A sealed envelope containing the individual victim's information and photograph was delivered Monday to each player's campus mailbox.

The "kills" must be made in the presence of a witness, who may or may not be a player himself and are accomplished by hurling a knotted sock at the target. After the target is tagged out, they must tell the "assassin" the identity of their own intended victim. The assassin then assumes the eliminated person's target as his own, and the game continues until all but one player have been assassinated.

"At previous games (played in high schools), it could take anywhere from a month to just a few weeks depending on how into it people get. Or it could last until spring break, who knows?" junior lacrosse team captain Katie Dennis said. "Judging how excited people have gotten over it, it will probably last too, too long."

The game can get intense and often induces some good natured paranoia.

"We've been getting students who say they're going to change their appearances, people trying to disguise themselves in their pictures and saying they're going to shave their heads," laughs Dennis.

"Gotcha" has been by far the most profitable fundraising event the lacrosse team has ever seen, raising over \$500 in its first go around.

To learn more about the women's lacrosse team or how to get involved, please contact first-year head coach Tracy Cepnio at cepnitr@millsaps.edu.