The Happiness Olympics Opens with a Splash

The Happiness Olympics kicked off Saturday night with what began as a series of structured water balloon face-offs and ended in wet, colorful chaos.

In the first round of battle, the approximately 30 participants—divided into several small teams—played a dodgeball-style game of avoiding each others' watery missiles in the dark. Next, participants used two giant slingshots to hurl balloons at each other. Then, with hundreds of leftover balloons and multiple water guns, the competition dissolved into a free-for-all.

About an hour after the fighting began, the soaked participants were rewarded for their efforts: since the turnout was lower than expected, each player received a pizza of their own to take home. We caught up with some of the participants and organizers after the event to talk about the watery fun.