Bronto Assassin 2010: Fun But Deadly

It Begins

On Thursday, April 8th, Bronto team members were given a nerf gun and a “target” during a company meeting. They were tasked with hunting down their target and “shooting” them with the nerf gun. At the same time, they were in danger of being killed themselves by their assassin. This annual game of Bronto’s Assassin pits Bronto vs. Bronto, friend vs. friend, teammate vs. teammate in a fun and fast paced game of strategy, athleticism, and skill.

The office and office bathroom are the only no-kill zones in this battle. All other areas are fair game for Brontos to stalk and kill their targets. It’s not uncommon to see Brontos staked out in the bushes around the office or simply in the office hallway waiting for their target to make a rookie mistake of attempting to move to the bathroom.

Tough Competition

Within the first 18 hours of competition, 7 Brontos had perished. By the end of the weekend 17 Brontos were “dead.” As with every game of Assassin, the competition was fierce. The Sheriff (Bronto Social Committtee Member, Caroline Smith, official of the game) received word of some well thought out and involved assassinations, such as:

Parking lot run-downs
Office stakeouts (both inside and outside the office)
Stakeouts at a target’s house

All “deaths” were documented so that all participants could keep track of the action. Here’s an excerpt of one of the most creative killings:

“Skip (Bronto Director of Account Manager) – DEAD AS OF 5:29pm April 8, 2010 – at his quarterly Band Together Board Meeting, sitting in a board room in the CAPTRUST tower at North Hills (Raleigh), immersed in the throes of parliamentary procedure, blue blazers and mahogany veneer, this soul was dispatched as such: the sudden thrusting open of the board room door revealed a cold determined stare, an uninvited guest – whose swift movement around several chairs and their befuddled occupants, and as the chairperson’s mouth stood agape in the very breath of a motion to approve a motion, the nerf dart met its mark. There had been no attempt to escape as the sheer surprise had left the victim in possibly the first stages of pre-rigor mortis. Then, the perp left as swiftly as he entered, and one of the Board members was heard to say, “What the hell was that?”

Silver Bullet

At the 2009 Bronto Holiday Party, Bronto CEO Joe Colopy and COO Chaz Felix bestowed the prize of the “silver bullet” to one lucky Bronto. This new addition to the Bronto Assassin game, allowed the winner the ability to instantly kill their target, with no questions asked. The silver bullet could not be used in the final round, but could be used at any point during competition. Kristen Gregory, Email Marketing Strategist, the recipient of the silver bullet, and after six days of tough competition, unleashed the bullet on her unsuspecting target, Lead Qualification Associate, Tim Dorris in a very creative way (see picture to right, using the Coors “Silver Bullet).

Deadly Finale

The last Brontos standing on the final day of competition were Jameson Lopp, Software Engineer, and Darren Pierce, Director of Business Development. In the past, the last round of Assassin has seen a blind shoot-out and a Thunderdome battle royale. This year, aided by excellent weather, the Bronto Social Committee setup an assassin to asssassin run-down course in the center courtyard of the American Tobacco Campus. From opposite sides of the courtyard, Jameson and Darren sprinted to an obstacle course where they had to:

Deflate (read: pop) 5 balloons
Shoot a Traveling Bronto from 5 ft away with their nerf gun
Crawl for 6 ft.
Spin on a dizzy bat five times

Upon completing the challenges, the assassins entered a “kill zone” where they had to reload their nerf ammunition and kill their assassin. With the entire Bronto team watching at “high five” (5pm on Friday, April 16th) Darren shot Jameson with a deadly nerf bullet.

Have trouble viewing the video? Try blip.tv http://blip.tv/file/3516806

Strong Finish

After an exciting battle, Jameson was awarded a $50 gift certificate to any Bronto retail client, in which he quickly chose Gander Mountain to spend his winnings. Coming in 2nd place wasn’t the only accolade that Jameson racked up, he set a record number of 7 kills during the competition. Jameson was promptly renamed “the killing machine.” Darren received a $100 gift certificate to any Bronto retail client and the ultimate prize of Bronto’s first Assassin Champion Trophy. Darren’s name with be etched in the trophy and next year the trophy will be awarded to the winning assassin, making for the first ever Stanley-Cup type award in Bronto’s history.

Even though the competition is tough, it’s a great way of bringing Brontos together. Brontos make alliances with each other to watch out for their assassins. Every year Bronto looks forward to this fun and exciting event and this year was no different. Many thanks to all those who participated in Assassin and congratulations to our winner Darren Pierce!

Caroline Smith
Community Marketing Manager
@bronto
@brontocaroline

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Tagged as: Bronto, Bronto Assassin, Bronto Assassin 2010, Brontonation

Author: Caroline Riddle

Caroline is the Community Marketing Manager at Bronto. She is the editor and contributor to Brontonation, editor of the Bronto Blog, and manages all social media channels at Bronto Software.