One minute, Nick Levy '07 was casually walking back from class. The next, a tennis ball was flying in his direction, and Jesse Palermo '07's careful ambush ended successfully with the unsuspecting Levy hit in the back.
Surprise attacks like this, however, were just part of the game in Death Ball, an activity created and played amongst a group of freshman in the weeks following Spring Break.
Death Ball is a unique game that combines tag and hide-and-seek with the throwing of tennis balls, appropriately called Death Balls.
Jayk Dorler '07 and a couple of friends in Forbes College created the game to foster greater student interaction.
"I started it as a way to bring a lot of my friends that didn't know each other particularly well together," Dorler said.
While most of the players in the game's first installment lived in Forbes College, there were some as far away as Rockefeller and Mathey Colleges.
As the game progressed, people got to know each other through emails, stories and even attempts at elimination.
Rules
The rules for Death Ball are complicated. Each player starts with twenty-four hours of life and tries to be the last player alive by hitting other participants with tennis balls.
When a player hits somebody with a ball, he or she loses two hours of life. The player who was hit then has possession of the ball and tries to hit somebody else.
Players are eliminated from the game when they are hit with only four hours of life left.
Death Ball offered students the ability to get involved in a fun activity without having to make a definite time commitment.
There were no regulated hours, so students could play whenever they wanted, Levy said.
Despite this flexibility, players took the game very seriously.
"Laundry, homework, classes, eating all fell to a lower priority and hitting some one with the Death Ball became of utmost importance," Dorler said.
Palermo even remembers staying up all night to take someone out as well as attack Levy.
Another time, he even waited in the cold rain at the Princeton train station to hit someone.
Participants could be hit anywhere on campus except for dormrooms, which were off-limits.
One particularly memorable shootout took place in the Forbes dining hall.
Palermo and Jeff Pinner '07 attacked fellow freshman Arthur Burkle and eliminated him from the game.
Game's end
When only three players were left, the rules were revised. Palermo, Levy, and Eric Marcotulli '07, the three finalists, were each given one Death Ball.
"If you got hit, you were out," Levy said.
In the end, Palermo and Marcotulli were eliminated and Levy was declared the winner.
The game culminated with a Death Ball party held at Terrace Club.
After a successful first game, the players hope to play a second round. They are discussing revising the rules to make the game shorter, however.
They are also in the process of creating a Death Ball website.
"The next round is on the horizon," Levy said.
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