The truth is that between the cold in the north of the Community of Madrid and the nerves I have in case the balls they are going to shoot at me will hurt me, I am rethinking whether I should have come or No. After going around a couple of times to find the exact path we arrived at the Airsoft Empire farm and I see how there are several groups already made collecting the airsoft material and preparing their equipment .
Almost all of them are young people, some very close to the age of majority (18 is the minimum age to be able to play) and others are not playing for the first time. Thank goodness that in my group we are almost all newbies, that gives me the security that there is someone in my situation ;)
Once they have taken our roll and we are all in uniform, they begin to give us the instructions to play airsoft:
- Do not shoot at a distance less than 5 meters. If you come across someone at that distance or less, you will have to shout "dead" to eliminate them. Obviously it's something they wouldn't do in a real war...
- Never, under any circumstances, take off your glasses during the game. It is true that it is not a dangerous game, but you have to be very careful so that a ball does not hit your eye, otherwise you could suffer the consequences... Only the monitor can tell when to take off the glasses (it is usually between game and game to explain the instructions, at the time of rest).
- Never, under any circumstances, point somewhere other than the ground when we are at rest. During the different game modes there is a short break in which the monitor explains how the next game will be played. It is at that moment when we can take off our glasses, so everyone gathered together must lower the replicas and point them towards the ground. You never know if there may have been a ball left in the chamber, even when we are without the magazine in and with the safety activated.
- We must shoot with a clear point of view, that is, even if we know that our "enemy" is at an exact point, we have to see where we are shooting. Therefore I never know You will be able to shoot with the replica showing (leads to expulsion).
- Nor can you shoot at enemies that are in the elimination zone (bases or respawns).
With the rules clear, we start the game. Our instructor takes us to the base and explains to us how we have to proceed: 2 teams, one against the other, trying to be the team that manages to eliminate the most players. After a few minutes of playing and after being shot for the first time, I see that it doesn't hurt (even though I scream!). I convince myself that airsoft is more fun than it may seem at first.
The second game is the typical paintball modality "recover the flag", where each team has a briefcase and we have to manage not only to protect it, but also to steal that of the opposing team and take it to our base. The third game consists of protecting a VIP who our team has to eliminate, but is escorted by our enemies. Included in this game is the figure of the sanitary, the person in charge of saving those who have been eliminated.
After playing several times (2 for each mode) and spending 3 hours "hitting shots", I feel like new. Tired, yes, but I have released the accumulated stress: goal achieved.
It was worth getting up early on Sunday: the cold first thing in the morning turned out to be not so much when you get into the game and start walking up and down the field and the white balls turned out to not be as painful as I thought. I feared. Experience that I recommend to everyone. I will repeat for sure!
