General
Airsoft Rules
Muzzle velocity limits
All participants use ONLY Airsoft guns in their games. These guns
must conform to the muzzle velocity limit that your group or country
has decided on. Some countries have legal limits on the power/muzzle
velocity of Airsoft guns so make sure to check in your area
Protection
All participants MUST wear eye protection! Mouth protection is
recommended. Ideally all Airsoft players should have full face
masks, long sleeve shirts, full pants, and gloves whenever they
play Airsoft. If you plan on playing at any professional Paintball/Airsoft
locales then you will have to have a full face mask. This is for
legal/insurance reasons and cannot be avoided. It's strongly recommended
that anyone that continues to be a problem in terms of wearing
eye protection during games be banned from playing with your group.
Nobody wants to be responsible for shooting someone's eye out.
If you need to clear your mask because of fogging or some similar
problem then crouch/lay on the ground with your face as close
as possible to the ground and quickly clean your goggles.
BB hits
If you are struck by an airsoft BB then you are hit and for purposes
of the game are considered "killed". This means that
you are out of the current game unless you are using special rules
(see below). Most times when you are "killed" in a game
you have to go to a safe-zone where you wait for the next game
to begin. Hits to your weapon do not kill you. If you think that
you might have been hit but aren't sure then you ARE hit and you
should call yourself out immediately. This eliminates silly arguments
during a game. Whenever you are hit during a game you must announce
loud and clear, "HIT!" and then walk to the designated
safe-zone with your weapon held high over your head with both
hands. Be sure to keep your hands and weapon in the air so you
aren't mistaken for a player that is still in the game. A player
that repeatedly causes problems with calling himself out should
not be allowed to play any more.
A
Special Note: Eventually everyone is going to experience getting
shot after they have called themselves out for a game. The #1
reason people get shot after they are out is because they don't
readily identify themselves as being hit. If you don't want to
get shot after you call out then be sure to do the following:
LOUDLY
call out "Hit!"
Immediately stand straight up (If you weren't already) and hold
your weapon above your head with both hands;
Begin walking towards the designated safe zone ASAP. If you follow
these simple steps then you will greatly reduce (although not
completely eliminate) getting shot after you call out;
Whistle
signals
Some scenarios or fields use whistles to signal game on/off conditions.
A common format is:
1
whistle = start game.
2 whistles = end game. All players stop shooting and head for
the staging area.
Normally a game ends in one of three ways, depending on the scenario.
The
time limit for the game expires
Only one team or player remains
Scenario Objectives have been completed
3 whistles = pause game. All players stop shooting, put their
guns down and stay where they are. This is the whistle signal
normally used when a non-player has entered the field.
Minimum
engagement distance
A minimum engagement distance is normally established. Before
firing at anyone within 10 feet or 3 meters, the attacking player
must first call for surrender and the defending player must answer
immediately. He cannot find cover and then answer. If a player
fires from within the established distance without calling for
surrender, that player is disqualified from the game and the kill
does not count. If a player refuses to surrender (not encouraged
to) then both players may fire. In most instances, if a player
is taken by surprise, he should surrender as an act of good faith.
Sniper
rifles have a minimum engagement distance that can go from 14
to 40 meters (46 ft to 131 ft) minimum range, depending of the
BB weight/velocity used. This is both for safety (due to upgraded
power) as well as to increase realism. Under this range, snipers
must use alternate weapons (backups).
Optional Airsoft rules
The following rules are optional ones that you may or may not
want to use in your Airsoft games.
Medics
One player on each team can be designated as a medic and this
person has the ability to "resurrect" players once during
a game, allowing them to return to play. When using medics in
your Airsoft games it's important to remember to stay lying on
the ground where you were "killed". The medic has to
get to you and touch you in order for you to be "resurrected".
If you are standing in or on unsafe terrain such as water, mud,
broken glass, etc. then you are allowed to lie down near where
you were hit so that you don't hurt or endanger yourself.
Multiple
lives
Sometimes it's beneficial to allow players more than 1 life when
playing games. This allows a larger variety of scenarios to be
played with fewer players present. For instance a few players
with 2 lives each could be defending a bunker/structure from 6
or more attackers that have only 1 life each for the game. This
allows the defenders to stay in the game longer. When a player
that has multiple lives gets hit he calls himself out as normal
but instead of just saying "hit!" he should say "first
hit!". This lets everyone know that he isn't dead yet. This
player now has 30 seconds that he cannot shoot or be shot at.
Any shots at this player at this time do not count. The player
can use this time to get to better cover but he cannot use it
to run towards an attacker and he is only allowed to get behind
the nearest cover available to him. This prevents unusual situations
from occurring where a player with multiple lives gets hit and
during his 30 seconds decides to run directly towards his attackers
and to use cover behind them, etc.
Damageable
weapons
Some people prefer to play that if a weapon is struck it cannot
be used for the rest of the game. This prevents people from pointing
just their weapon around a corner and firing blindly, which can
be VERY dangerous to those playing the game. Obviously, if a player
that only has a single Airsoft weapon gets his weapon hit then
he is considered "killed" because he has no further
use in the game.
Locational
damage
If you are playing with people that you trust (i.e. good friends)
then you may want to try this slightly more involved system for
damage. Instead of a player being considered "killed"
if he is hit anywhere on the body this optional rule allows players
to remain playing in a 'crippled' capacity as long as they aren't
hit in a Vital region. Hits to the Head, Neck, Chest, Stomach,
or back are considered vital areas and you are "killed"
as normal if you are hit in one of these areas. Hits to the arms
or legs force you to not be able to use them until the end of
the current game. A second hit to an already damaged arm or leg
means you are considered "killed" as normal. A hit limb
CANNOT BE USED FOR ANYTHING AT ALL. This means that if your leg
is hit you must hop or crawl, if your arm is hit you aren't allowed
to brace yourself on it, open doors with it, hold your gun with
it, etc. It must hag limp or be tucked against your body. You
can see why this rule can only really be used with friends that
you trust because it's very difficult to enforce.
No
head hits
Some groups play that head hits don't count in order to discourage
players from shooting at each others faces. This is mostly for
safety reasons.
Ammunition
In Some cases groups can decide to use only fully biodegradable
ammunition. This is due to concerns for the environment or by
the owners of the field.
Also related with ammunition, airsoft groups may
restrict the use of magazines to standard capacity (LOWCAPS) in
order to have a more realistic BB quantity in game
