COLUMN BY MATT PRANGER

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AirSoft more thrilling than zipping through channels

posted 08/12/05
I’m crouching behind a tree in some woods on San Juan Island, hoping not to be the first of my team to be taken out. Hoping to eliminate a member of the other team.

Thwipp, thwipp, thwipp. Shots rip through the brush near me. I decide to make a break, thinking if I draw fire it will expose my opponents’ location.

Darting down an overgrown road dividing the two teams, Three hits sting me in the neck. They feel like giant mosquito bites. "I’m hit," I say and raise my gun and other hand and exit the playing field. My sacrifice attempt fails but my team eventually wins the battle.

So went my introduction to AirSoft, a live-action game similar to paintball. Instead of balls of paint, the AirSoft guns shoot 6-millimeter plastic of soy-based BBs.

Most Sunday afternoons, Friday Harbor AirSoft hosts the strategy games. The company, owned by Eric Kristenson, rents or sells gear for the games. Players sign up in the Forums section of his website fhairsoft.com.

AirSoft players use life-size replicas of real guns. I believe I was sporting an M-16 knockoff. It felt considerably like the real thing.

"A lot of people like it for the gear," says Eli Black, 22.

The teams hunt each other until one team eliminates all the members on the other team. Players use the honor system, announcing when they’ve been hit.

"It’s great, it’s giving kids lots to do," says Jarret Urdhal, 21.

"You’re playing a video game for real," says Kristenson, 23.

Unlike video gamers sitting in front of a computer or television screen, AirSoft players are "active and interacting with other people," Kristenson says.

"It’s an adrenaline sport," Black says.

"It’s fun to work with a team," he adds.

OK, remember playing army as a kid? It’s similar to that only there’s usually no argument whether you’ve been hit. And AirSoft’s games tend to be more complicated.

And for a 43-year-old whose sporting activities usually involve a recliner and a remote, it was an fun, exhilarating heart-pumper.

"It can be as much of a workout as you want it to be," Kristenson says.

"You can be as active as you want to," Urdhal adds.

Of course they tell me this after I’ve worked up a sweat. At least I’m not covered with paint. And judging from the other players’ comments, I’d prefer AirSoft to paintball.

"I like it better than paintball," Black says. "The people seem more friendly and it’s more realistic."

"It hurts less than paintball and it’s less expensive.... You don’t have to go take a shower," Urdhal says.

After an afternoon of AirSoft games, trees and other obstacles aren’t coated in paint.

"The biggest minus is, the guns look real," Kristenson says.

To differentiate AirSoft guns from real guns, the muzzles of AirSoft guns are painted blaze orange. AirSoft players also notify others that they are playing a game so they are not confused with real gun wielders.

"It requires responsibility," Black says.

The players take safety seriously. No one plays without adequate facial protection."“There are dangers to the eyes and it will knock a tooth out," Black says.

"We try to make people feel safe," Kristenson says. "We want parents to feel comfortable with their kids coming to play."

The game is not just for young people. "It’s a great thing for dads and sons to do,"Urdhal says.

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