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The Third Annual Raleigh Wars Assassin’s Ball

This past Saturday was the Third Annual “Assassin’s Ball“, held at the soon to be opened Isaac Hunter’s Oak City Tavern. It was a gathering of participants, their guests, and others to celebrate the end of another round of “Raleigh Wars”, an urban assassin game that takes places a couple of times a year.

I first wrote about Raleigh Wars about six months ago, when the game was kicking off for the first time on custom-built management and communication software. The number of participants in each game has grown from a small handful of neighborhood friends into a wide cross section of residents from all over Raleigh. You can also view the rules of the game to learn more about it.


The Assassin’s Ball is held at the close of each round, and is where the winner is declared. The event is free to everyone that participates in the game. For a small admittance fee, everyone else is welcome to attend to enjoy great beer, mixed drinks, live music, food, and other live entertainment.

This year’s live music featured Fine Print, Raspberry Ants, and a favorite of mine: Lake Inferior.

Katie Magee (hula-hooping above) is one part of the two-person team of Acroentertainment, a staple at each event. If you aren’t familiar with this juggling, hooping, and acrobatic duo that performs in the area, read some of our past articles on them.

The number of participants and those that attend the post-game celebration grows each time. Some time early next year, the web application used to manage this game will be available for use in other games in other cities.

Brief explanation of game play:

The game is played like this: each competitor is assigned another competitor as a target. You have to assassinate that target with a water weapon. If you succeed you inherit whomever they were hunting. While you are attempting to make your hit you are being hunted by another assassin. If you are assassinated, you lose. The game continues until there is only one assassin left.

Raleigh Wars web site

Isaac Hunter’s Oak City Tavern