Dressed in camouflage and their skin coated in paint, students wait outside your house as early as 5:00 in the morning looking for a “kill.”

“Don’t get me wrong, the game is so much fun but waking up extra early on a school day and waiting at your opponent’s house is just not for me,” senior Greyson Marks said.

The prize is as much as $1,500 for the last team standing.  They track one another at work, sporting events, and even religious activities.

“I played last year and thought it would be a ton of fun. It turned out to be very stressful and I was constantly thinking about the game when school should have been on my mind,” senior Adam Dock said.

Some students pay other kids to spy on the other team setting them up for ambushes. They chase one another in cars and “block” the other team in and prevent them from escaping.

Both boys and girls run through neighborhoods stripped down to no more than thongs. A rule that has stood for years, in order to not be “killed” by the other team, you must only wear a thong and drag your belongings by a string on the ground.

The game can last as long as six weeks starting the day back from spring break. Students may only use Nerf dart guns and PVC pipes as weapons. Nerf guns use springs to compress air and shoot soft foam darts.

“I love the whole concept of the game; your whole team has the chance to plan how they want to attack your next opponent. You constantly have to be on your toes and it is such an adrenaline rush,” junior Miles Goldfarb said.

Some students describe it as harmless, challenging fun.  Dartwars dates back to the mid-90s where it originated at SHS.