Every year, West Bloomfield High School students participate in Water Wars, a fight to the non-literal death of seniors. Most of the time, this event is a fun time for everyone involved, and results in great memories that could last a lifetime. This year, however, things are a bit different. Many people are angry with the 2016 season and how the judges seem to be handling the rules. The main complaints include judge bias, not following rules, and randomly changing rules.

To get to the bottom of the feud, Spectrum interviewed students on all sides of the dispute. Unsurprisingly, some of the people who are angriest with Water Wars are those who have been eliminated. One defeated participant, Lauren Alo, commented on the entire game by saying, “It’s lame. I got out because my teammate is an idiot. The judges suck, the rules suck, and it’s not fun. Don’t pay twenty dollars to do it.” However, Lauren is not the only one who’s upset. Justin Dooley angrily tweeted out, “You guys are making a game that is supposed to be fun NOT fun at all,” following with another tweet, “Wanna end a friendship fast? All you have to do is join Water Wars. It’s that simple.” So it seems that one of the big issues with the event involves friends and teams not getting along.

Many other people have complained that there is some serious cheating going on in the battle. Players refused to admit that they were sprayed while others broke several rules just to get an illegal elimination. Madeline Hughes commented, “It’s usually the boys that can’t take the L. Just follow the rules, find the loopholes because it’s so easy to find them, and just kick the boys booties.”

However mad people may be at other players, a lot of people have found themselves getting frustrated with the judges, most of that anger being directed at the judge-run 2016 Water Wars Twitter account (@wbhsww2016).To bring some insight on their point of view, judge Rachel Zuckerberg explained, “People are upset with water wars because if something doesn’t go their way they automatically assume the judges or the other teams are biased against them. People don’t fully understand the rules so they think that they’re right when sometimes they’re wrong. It can be very frustrating at times as people can be rude and judgemental. But I do enjoy being a judge. I like keeping things organized and keeping the rules enforced and stuff like that. ”

Overall, a lot of students are frustrated for many reasons at the game. Many people agree that everybody just needs to relax and remember to have fun because that’s what these activities are all about: having a great time and creating memories to look back on in college.