The Office of Dr. Sally Sogart, Minister of Campus Security and Internal Affairs, issued a twelve-page memorandum last Thursday, stating that: “[e]ffective immediately, the high-risk interactive advisery activity colloquially known as ‘Thumbtack Tag’ is prohibited in all instructional spaces at New Trier.”
The game in question—Thumbtack Tag—involves a blindfolded student, wearing gloves that are lined with outward-facing thumbtacks, chasing other students through an obstacle-filled room. A notable recent incident included three pierced spleens and “a traumatic ocular deflation event,” per medical reports filed by the Nernst advisery.
Samuel Simmons, a prominent historian of Thumbtack Tag, stated that “the game is an ancient tradition, dating back to at least 2018, when a substitute teacher looked the other way for ten minutes. Since its introduction, the game has grown rapidly in popularity, becoming a school-sanctioned sport at North Shore Country Day.” Per David Planck, 2023 New Trier Thumbtack Tag Champion, “the gloves are mostly safe, so long as the eyes and major vital organs are avoided.” Planck rose to regional fame after his “generational performance” against then-reigning champion Carl Nocie, who went on to suffer career-ending injuries after falling on his own gloves in a high-risk maneuver in the semifinals of 2024.
Cash prizes have totaled over $10,000 in Thumbtack Tag Senior Invitational (TTSI) extended advisery tournaments. Participation in said tournaments has increased 240% year-over-year, despite a 600% increase in puncture wounds rated as “causing permanent damage or disfigurement” over the same time period. Regulation gloves—which are strongly recommended, but remain a non-mandated standard—have a regulatory maximum of forty-seven thumbtacks attached; student-owned equipment commonly used in the Nernst advisery, home of former champions David Planck and Carl Nocie, frequently contain over 150 tacks.
An independent analysis of Thumbtack Tag’s impacts on New Trier by McKinsey & Company revealed a strong positive correlation between puncture severity and reported student engagement, concluding that “high-impact tactile feedback environments” may represent an underutilized pedagogical tool. The firm recommended a phased reintegration of Thumbtack Tag under a newly proposed “Controlled Penetration Framework,” emphasizing scalability and competitive benchmarking across peer institutions. When compared to observable metrics of comparable secondary institutions such as GBN and GBS, New Trier’s academic engagement per injury rate leads all surveyed schools, decreasing relative truancy by 24% and increasing relative average SAT score by 50 points. Injuries sustained during the game are “wholly within the acceptable upper and lower bounds and remain a recommended synergic student-driven solution for promoting value-add academic outcomes.”
Despite substantive engagement gains and only moderate increases in irreversible injuries, the administration has pressed on with its ban, citing the “inherent dangers” of the activity.
Following the Thumbtack Tag ban, students in the Westing advisery have developed a replacement sport: Hatchet Hockey. In Hatchet Hockey, students are tasked with using their lightly-dulled throwing axes to move a puck down the hallway, bypassing or besting defenders and a goalie to score. Currently, Hatchet Hockey has a lethality rate of 9% and rising; engagement has already eclipsed the all-time peak of Thumbtack Tag within four months of its introduction by Westing advisery students.
The Office of Dr. Sally Sogart published a secondary memorandum last week, condemning “in the strongest possible terms, the reckless, illegal, and anti-educational behaviors that have gained a foothold in New Trier’s student body.” A spokesperson for Dr. Sogart noted that “the appropriate measures will be taken to restore a safe and controlled learning environment.”
Reports filed by McKinsey & Company Director Susie Lancing describe Hatchet Hockey as “a remarkable kinetic-based learning-driven annuity… Hatchet Hockey pilot programs tested in freshman-forward corridors exceeded targeted engagement metrics fivefold.” Hatchet Hockey, much like Thumbtack Tag, has come to be seen as “a necessity for student growth optimization and radical interdisciplinary learning experiences” in the professional world of learning optimization.
