Paintball!!

Paintball at Snipers Den Melbourne

Who says games are only for kids? Here's one game that's just for grown-up!
I'd first heard about Paintball in Big Bang Theory, and knew that it involves making war-like strategies and tactics. BBT of course had a funny take on it with Sheldon's brave sacrifice, but watching it made me feel like I definitely wanted to try it one day.

Sheldon's Sacrifice for his team - Big Bang Theory

I'd wanted to do it, and was afraid at the same time. I'd think...who would want to voluntarily hurt themselves? Yet this year, in March, I suggested to hubby that we should all go play paintball for Holi. Ha ha.. by the time we finally did it, it was December. Still, a good idea for Holi away from India - the only activity outside India where you can splatter others with colours and not get arrested :)

So, coming back to our plan. Hubby's the planner - always so organized and reliable. He got together a mixed gang of 17. Someone from work had told me about a deal where they were offering paintball passes valued at $25 for just $1. We knew there would be catches in it, but didn't expect what was coming! It comes to about $70 a person, no matter what deals you get. With a few cancellations, we were a group of 14, with Faisal joining in at the last moment..

3 Agashes, 3 Nairs, 2 Patodekars, 2 Chitales, 2 Diwadkars, Ashtosh & Faisal



 Oh yeah, you need proof of identification when you sign the consent form that you are responsible for any permanent damages to your body. I had nothing on me to prove that my face has my name. Luckily a scanned copy was ok for them, and we all could play!

None of us had played at Moorabbin before, and only Ashutosh and Ashish had ever played paintball elsewhere earlier. Ashish tells us on the morning of the game, after we meet that the gear they give us will not protect our clothes. Most of us are wearing clothes for a rough day, except the Agashes who arrive in jeans and Jhelum who comes wearing sandals. Luckily for us, the place we went to gave awesome gear, full army overalls, and vests for women. Jhelum managed to change into sports shoes in time. Men have to buy crotch protectors, and they sell extras like gloves separately for hygiene reasons (their take) or extorting more from innocent first timers (our take).

We had to reach by 10:30 for our game at 11. The briefing, and the decking up etc takes a while, so it is a really good idea to be on time, if not early. We girls were nervous by the time we were geared up, and had decided to call it quits even if one of us said so. And our war strategies involved bribing our hubbies to go easy on us or else (no dinner etc)

They gave us a semi training, all with test shots et al, and we were all set!! They divided us into two teams - Red and Green.

Team Green

Our coach/refree told us about the ammunition at our disposal - Apparently the guns we were handling were the AK56s of Paintball :), and gave us the rules of the game. The objective of game 1 was to get a white ball on the other team's side, without getting shot. Easier said than done!! Nikhil - Team red, kept getting shot by his own team members, until he decided to shout "I am Nikhil!! Don't shoot me" to his team. Amogh from the opposite team (Green) got the brilliant idea that they could penetrate Nikhil's team, and easily move unharmed if they just shouted "I am Nikhil don't shoot me". Haha guess which team won that round!! Green!!

The objective of game 2 was open fire and defense  Team red won with flying colors, calling the match even. The last round was terminator round - no teams, total annihilation. The unlikely winner of this round was Vrisha, who managed to have ammunition till the end, and be the only one standing. By this round, all our fear of getting hurt was gone.

Game over! None of us could stop talking about it!! And we are still at it, discussing our injuries like war veterans.
Playing paintball reminds us of what our soldiers really play on the battlefield.
Lest we forget them... signing off with these lines sent to me by Ashutosh..
"Jab Desh Mein Thi Diwaali
Wo Khel Rahe The Holi
Jab Hum Baithe The Gharon Mein
Wo Jhel Rahe The Goli"

Go play it once! Conquer your fears!

Cheers,

La Pensive