Two students race through the quad, brandishing spoons. Previously, this scene was a quintessential sight at Lynbrook during second semester: the climax of the classic senior game Spoons. But an avalanche of student safety concerns forced the scrapping of this iconic game, and prompted the development of a brand new game for the class of 2018.

This year, the senior class will be playing Scavage Hunt: a competitive, team-based scavenger hunt. Players were randomly assembled into 31 teams of 6, and teams will be eliminated as one unit. Each Sunday at 4 p.m., a list of items are released. The teams have until Judgement Day, Wednesdays and Fridays at lunch, to locate the items and present them to the judges. Points will be given for each item properly found on an all-or-nothing basis, and the team with the most points at the end of the week will get an exclusive look at the next week’s list 24 hours in advance.

“These teams are randomized so that students can meet new people and also have new experiences with peers that they’ve never even met before, never even talked to,” said senior class vice president Ritik Batra. “That was our way of creating unity within the class.”

There will also be activities, usually during lunch. Points for activities will be awarded by place — 30 points for first, 20 points for second, 10 points for third — or by completion. At the end of each week, the teams that do not meet the predetermined quota will be eliminated. Toward the end of the game, however, teams will be dissolved and players will compete individually.

The last player standing at the end of the game will win two Senior Prom Bids. Members of the team with the most points at the end of the game will be entered into a raffle to win a Senior Prom photo package, and senior Picnic raffle tickets will also be hidden throughout the game.

Along with the allure of the prizes, a senior game also serves to connect the senior class. By bringing all seniors together in an exclusive game, students can come together for one last time before graduation.

“A senior game is one way to really unite all the seniors,” said senior class secretary Felicity Wang. “It’s also a fun experience in their final semester of high school.”

Spoons may have served as a unifying force at Lynbrook in the past, but administration has expressed concerns regarding student safety during the game, as many students were injured in the past few years.

“Spoons was more of an individual game, and there were survival and animalistic qualities in it,” said Wang. “This year, we tried to mitigate that.”

Several activities also took place without administration’s oversight last year, making injuries sustained at these events an even larger concern.

“The game was starting to get away from the judges,” said Batra.

Clear communication between class officers and administration is a top priority for this year’s senior game, to ensure the safety of all participating students. The senior class officers have been working diligently with administration to make sure that everything has been settled ahead of time; all four weeks of Scavage Hunt have already been planned.

“We’ve shown everything to admin and updated them on every step of the process,” said senior class vice president Meghna Allamudi. “We’ve all cooperated to create this game; admin has been a supportive and positive contribution to the development of the game.”

Scavage Hunt was created entirely from scratch, and draws inspiration from college class games. Unlike Spoons, Scavage Hunt highlights teamwork, and requires students to work with people that they may have never met before. The game will also take place completely on campus, in order to better enforce student safety.

“I know that Spoons was a game that was developed over ten or twenty years,” said Batra. “My personal goal is for Scavage Hunt to continue developing every single year. I know that there will be mistakes. People may not be sure whether they want to play or not, and I totally get it. I hope that as the game progresses, people will start to enjoy it.”

Scavage Hunt brings a brand new senior game to Lynbrook, in the hopes of keeping students safe while upholding the legacy of Spoons.