A Brush with Paintball
I first heard of a game called 'paintball' some years ago. A few weeks ago, I got to play the game. I am told it is now quite popular. Though fun, the game does have edge of danger to it.
It is an outdoor game with two teams. All team members get "guns" with 50 paintballs as ammunition. Everyone gets into a tree-covered area that has lots of bunkers in it. The idea is to hide behind the bunkers and "shoot" a member of the other team.
All participants get protective gear -- jackets and a helmet -- because the paintball bullets can hurt if they get you on the wrong places. It is fine so long as people get hit by the "bullets" on areas covered by the jacket. Otherwise, the bullets can hurt enough to form ugly welts.
Once the game gets going, you can see the way people play the game reflects their real life attitudes. While some people hardly pulled the trigger (and save all their bullets for other members of their team), others kept shooting quickly exhausting their quotas of paintballs. Some were thinking of their enemy's safety as they waited till they could aim at the "safe-to-shoot" places of their opponents. Some moved quickly, getting into offensive mode, quick-footing it from bunker to bunker.
I managed to survive for quite some time in the defensive game, hiding behind one of the smaller bunkers and shooting intermittently and ineffectively. It was hot and sweaty with the jacket, the helmet, the heavy gun, and Bangalore's April sun. Since it looked like the game would take some while, I pulled a rubber tyre that was lying around close to my bunker and squatted on it. I stayed quiet, looking for someone from the opposite team to emerge from behind their bunkers so I could shoot.
I shot five bullets. Three disappeared into the trees and two others hit the ground. After a fairly long time, someone hit me on my right tshirt sleeve and I was out.
I played a defensive game, and managed to hang around for a good time. But I don't know if real life is like that. Wonder if one can survive just sitting quietly and playing a defensive game!
The paintball bullet caught me on my forearm. There was no pain, only paint -- a splatter of yellow liquid with tatters of scarlet plastic. Someone said it looked like the shit of a bird that had eaten red chillies.
It is an outdoor game with two teams. All team members get "guns" with 50 paintballs as ammunition. Everyone gets into a tree-covered area that has lots of bunkers in it. The idea is to hide behind the bunkers and "shoot" a member of the other team.
All participants get protective gear -- jackets and a helmet -- because the paintball bullets can hurt if they get you on the wrong places. It is fine so long as people get hit by the "bullets" on areas covered by the jacket. Otherwise, the bullets can hurt enough to form ugly welts.
Once the game gets going, you can see the way people play the game reflects their real life attitudes. While some people hardly pulled the trigger (and save all their bullets for other members of their team), others kept shooting quickly exhausting their quotas of paintballs. Some were thinking of their enemy's safety as they waited till they could aim at the "safe-to-shoot" places of their opponents. Some moved quickly, getting into offensive mode, quick-footing it from bunker to bunker.
I managed to survive for quite some time in the defensive game, hiding behind one of the smaller bunkers and shooting intermittently and ineffectively. It was hot and sweaty with the jacket, the helmet, the heavy gun, and Bangalore's April sun. Since it looked like the game would take some while, I pulled a rubber tyre that was lying around close to my bunker and squatted on it. I stayed quiet, looking for someone from the opposite team to emerge from behind their bunkers so I could shoot.
I shot five bullets. Three disappeared into the trees and two others hit the ground. After a fairly long time, someone hit me on my right tshirt sleeve and I was out.
I played a defensive game, and managed to hang around for a good time. But I don't know if real life is like that. Wonder if one can survive just sitting quietly and playing a defensive game!
The paintball bullet caught me on my forearm. There was no pain, only paint -- a splatter of yellow liquid with tatters of scarlet plastic. Someone said it looked like the shit of a bird that had eaten red chillies.
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