The final days of 2016 were marked by the deaths of legendary Stars Wars’ actress, Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds. Fisher’s untimely death was caused by a heart attack at age 60. Within a day, “Singin In the Rain”’s star and Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds passed away as well from a brain hemorrhage.

Like a one-two punch, the world lost two premiere actresses in a 24 hour span. After the death of Fisher, Reynolds mourned her daughter’s death and was quoted wanting to be with her daughter again. Fifteen minutes later, she suffered a massive stroke. Not surprisingly, a family member has a 66% higher chance of dying within three  months of a loved one’s death.

The music industry also lost 1970s’ icon David Bowie, and one half of the musical duo WHAM, George Michael. Hollywood lost actors Alan Rickman and Gene Wilde while notorious Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro departed in 2016 as well.

As unfortunate as kicking the bucket may be, local GHS students have seen the fun in death. Based off the 2016 box-office sensation, Deadpool, kids took bets on celebrity deaths in 2016.

The competition spanned an entire year. Each competitor pooled together 50 celebrity predictions, from OJ Simpson to Pele to Jeb Bush. Selected celebrity’s age at the time of death, minus 100  equalled the number of points of earned.

“Mrs. Rosenthal told us about the celebrity dead pool contest she’s in. We thought it was morbid so naturally we started our own.” said Julian Butts.

Betting on celebrities to bite the big one embraces a thoughtful strategy. Younger predictions, while less likely, can be still be a winning gamble in the long run: high risk, high reward. Carrie Fisher’s unexpected death amounted to 40 pts.

Wagering on the elderly can also be a safe bet. In the preceding year’s competition, Fidel Castro reigned in 10 points with his death at 90. Muhammad Ali’s death at age 74 chalked up to 26 points as well.

“Deadpool is a fun way to approach a terrible subject. When beloved celebrities die it’s tragic, this a good way to soften the blow,” said Luc Pham.

Unethical? Completely. Disturbing? Totally. Inappropriate? Downright deadly. What celebrities will die in 2017? Take your best shot at 50 celebrities and join a deadpool group to see if you “win” for 2017.