As most Benet students know, Benet Academy’s Christmas Drive is a successful and unique tradition that raises money to support a variety of causes including helping families in need and supporting Benet itself. The hot chocolate in the lobby is delicious and Mavions is always amusing, but one of the most involved events, with almost 150 players, and successful, with over one-thousand dollars raised, is You’ve Been Elfed. 

How to Play

You’ve Been Elfed is a game that operates similar to assassin-style games in which participating students are assigned a target from any grade level, except for seniors who have their own bracket. Participants must find and eliminate their targets by the end of the school day but not during class periods. Elimination happens when a student sticks a sticker on his or her target and receives the eliminated person’s target. If students are eliminated via sticker or they are unable to eliminate their assigned target for the day, they are out.

Rules and Winners 

Part of what makes You’ve Been Elfed so exciting is the limited time frame of the game. Participating students’ best chance to find their targets is during passing periods which are only five minutes, so the consequence of not watching your back in a crowded hallway for even a few seconds could mean elimination from the game. Still, one of the main goals of You’ve Been Elfed is to raise money, so for the first several days of the game there is a buy-in. However, the winners of You’ve Been Elfed are judged based on two criteria- the first being how long they stayed in the game without a buy-in. Second, typically the winners of You’ve Been Elfed are never eliminated, as was the case for this year. The second criteria in how they are judged is the amount of targets they have eliminated. This year’s winner of You’ve Been Elfed, Diya Patel, eliminated eight players and survived all three days. Her win was especially exciting because she beat out the second-place participant, Grace Cline, who survived all three days and also eliminated eight targets by completing her eliminations faster.

Ready for Next Year?

You’ve Been Elfed is more than a fundraiser. The primary organizer of the event, John Augustyn remarked, “To me, You’ve Been Elfed was less about the money raised, and more so about building a community and fostering school spirit, which is something that the competition continues to do year in and year out”. Clearly it’s traditions like You’ve Been Elfed that allow Christmas Drive to be the heart of the Benet Academy. Next year when the emails start rolling out inviting you to play, sign up, tell your friends, and maybe you’ll be the champion of You’ve Been Elfed 2026.