On April 2, the Class of 2027 was invited to spice up the already-turbulent end of the semester with some friendly competition. Sophomore Tap Out, which began April 7 and ran until Monday, gave sophomores a chance to compete with fellow classmates to win a free 40-inch TV. Sophomore Class President Juliette Leclerc ’27 was responsible for the uproar, which was initiated — like much of the excitement here on campus — via a mass email. According to the email, which was sent to the entire Class of 2027, the goal of the competition was to “tap out” fellow sophomore competitors and, through wit or sheer determination, be the last person “in.” 

Interested students filled out a Google Form attached to the email, and the game commenced on April 7 at midnight. Everyone in the competition was assigned the name of a fellow sophomore, who they then had one week to “Tap Out.” To successfully complete this challenge, they had to (lightly) tap their oblivious opponent between the shoulder blades and clearly exclaim “OUT.” Evidence of all “taps” was recorded and submitted to @kenyonsoph, the Sophomore Year Class Committee (SYCC) Instagram page. Players then received their next target, until there was one last student standing. 

The game was inspired by a similar competition that took place in Leclerc’s high school and follows in the tradition of “Senior Assassin” games by establishing a sense of friendly competition among students. “I thought it would just be something fun,” the class president-turned-game-master said in an interview with the Collegian. “But it’s also just a good way to get to know people’s names. You get assigned somebody and you have no idea who it is, and you have to interact with them.” Kenyon’s small campus infamously creates a forced intimacy between students, yielding a plethora of awkward interactions among strangers, friends, failed situationships and the like. However, the size of the student body proved advantageous for the rules of the game: “You couldn’t do it anywhere else, where people don’t know each other. Because it’s such a small campus, I think it reinforces one of the positive things of being a small community,” Leclerc explained. 

The videos submitted by competitors were posted on the @kenyonsoph Instagram page, allowing the success of the victor to live in infamy online. However, the videos became a unifying force for players looking to ensure a fair competition. “Honestly, I’ve had the people of the game keeping me in check [for rule violations],” Leclerc said. “People have been pretty interested, so they comment on the Instagram.” In a rare instance of social media serving as a beacon of justice, Leclerc told the Collegian, a video captured a player saying “TAP,” instead of “OUT,” and their target was disqualified. After receiving pushback from comments underneath the video, Leclerc acknowledged the mistake and the eliminated student was reinstated in the game. 

There was no shortage of enthusiasm among participants, and as the amount of remaining players continued to dwindle, the competition began to heat up. One player, Leclerc shared, even made a Quizlet with all the participants’ names and faces. Leclerc, who distributed her phone number among participants to send confirmation texts once their video was validated by SYCC members, received enthusiastic text messages from players awaiting their next target. “Every single time I don’t send people their target within a couple hours, they text me like ‘Who’s next?’ They’re really into it. It’s been fun.” 

On Monday, a post on @kenyonsoph revealed that the last player standing was Meagan Lacombe ’27, who ended the game with six successful tap outs. Although the competition is over, those looking to compete should not despair, as Student Council hopes to run another game of Tap Out next semester. Until then, interested players have the summer to train for the game of their lives.