MISSION CAPTURE THE FLAG

Another day off ... got to have something to do outside this desolate highway town of Airdrie. A sudden spark of creative genius - Lets play Quake!! The suggestion came from a fellow IIT-ian but then this would be whole new game of Quake 3. For those uninitiated to the concept of paint-ball, read on.

Sunday morning and off we were to the battlefield. Reached there at 12 to be greeted by two huge cats ... one quite friendly!! Five more minutes and we all were ready for the battle - the aim to capture your opponent's "flag". Donned in military gear, with hundreds of paint balls (little fibre balls filled with oil paint that explodes onto you as it hits you) and air-guns pressurized upto 4500 psi (ok ok ... i cheated, the limit was 3000 psi; but then all's fair in love and war!!) off we went - the red and the yellow teams in jungle terrain with two forts to win the war!!




The rules ... pretty simple - take up a good position, work as a team, never be alone, shoot your 'enemy' at sight and cover him with paint; of course, Get the hell out the moment you get hit!!

So there we were, playing a real life Quake (or maybe CS). Need I say who won, specially after spending countless hours watching my brethren in CFW practising and playing the games over the "academic network" the institute so kindly provided to us!! For the more cynical, my count in the first encounter was four!!

End of round one; time for lunch. Hot dogs and juices galore!!



Back to the arena - round 2. This time an open field. Take your base; start running for cover the moment the game starts; your only cover - in the middle of the field behind a wall of tyres and broken cars. Sadly, had never seen such an arena ever before ... more disaster, my gun malfunctioned; we lost.

No problems - round 3. Change of teams as well. But in a jungle its familiar territory ...

Thus went on the rest of the afternoon - we completed a total of 8 courses in about 4 hours, spending close to 1000 paint balls, running for most of the time, taking out our frustrations on fellow human beings!!

End of the day I realized the childish thrill which people derive from playing the computer games for hours!! Or was it something else ...