Anyone who follows Elizabethtown College athletics knows of the school’s long-standing rivalry with Messiah College. One of the biggest games for the rivalry every year is the Marshmallow Game. Every fall semester, with the exception of fall 2020 due to COVID-19, when the two schools’ soccer teams play each other, spectators come to the game equipped with bags of marshmallows.

Throughout the course of the game, spectators use the marshmallows as ammunition and chuck them at the opposing spectators in the bleachers and soccer players on the field. The game is a harmless and fun way for each school to express their loathing of the other and typically has a large turnout in comparison to normal games.

Recently, some students have expressed the desire to change the name of the game from the Marshmallow Game to the S’mores Game and allow students to throw s’mores instead of the traditional marshmallows. Other students have expressed their concerns over the idea of having a s’mores game.

“I think it’s a great idea because you’ll get free chocolate thrown at you… it would also add to the weight of the marshmallows so you could throw them farther. Or the s’mores could come apart and turn into multiple projectiles, sophomore Sophie Hanenfeld said.

However, not all students share in the excitement over the idea. “It could be messier because of the melted chocolate and graham cracker crumbs flying everywhere. The marshmallows are already sticky and messy enough… I don’t want s’mores thrown at me, sophomore Kate Santangelo said. “But I would eat them if they were handed out at the game… It could bring us all together after we pelted each other with marshmallows.”

S’mores would certainly be much messier and harder to clean up than the traditional marshmallows, and there is a greater potential for serious injury of spectators and players. However, the idea of delicious snacks made of golden-brown marshmallows, melted chocolate and crisp graham crackers flying through the air sounds appetizing to many.

The idea has been presented to Etown Administration, who will have the final say. If they deny the change from marshmallows to s’mores, it is fair to say that they do not like chocolate and graham crackers.