Only 2 bruises this time...

First off there was a reservation screw-up (no finger-point, thanks) and in an incredible stroke of bad luck, this was also the night there was an entire field trip or birthday party (I've never seen so many kids in one place before)... so we go slotted in as "walk-on" players and had to wait for an extra hour before we got to play. We spent our time either browsing the wares in the pro-shop and laughing at the little munchkins through the security webbing.

We weren't mean-spirited or anything, but it was highly entertaining to see six 3'-tall people all crowded behind the SAME bunker. And then obviously 4 of the 6 being eliminated at once. And then there was that other time we cheered them and encouraged them to advance... so 5 of them started rolling the entire bunker forward! To an adult these inflatables provide just enough cover to crouch behind. But to these kids, it was like a giant boulder and it was hilarious to see.

Rules-bending aside, I was a little bit irritated to see some of the kids not really paying attention during the safety orientation... that's an accident waiting to happen. :(

As for ourselves, things worked out for me because playing only 2 hours meant I didn't go through as much paint and I wound up spending less than I normally do. It took me a little while to get used to handling my new Ion. It doesn't balance the way the rental Tippmann 98C does. The electronic marker is a little more responsive but the trigger's shape felt a little odd at first. I was so distracted that I found myself frequently the first player eliminated. As the evening came together however, I started to appreciate the speed and accuracy ...not to mention the sheer volume of paint I was spitting out once I got into "walking" the trigger.

One of my fellow players who recommended the Ion to me asked if I regretted my purchase or not. I'm happy to say "definitely not!" In fact the only thing that annoys me about the activity is having to clean up afterwards. When I got home last night, I had to rinse off my mask and do my anti-fog treatment for it. Then I wiped down the Pulse hopper. I just spent my morning stripping down the Ion to clean and lubricate the bolt. I'll leave the regulator for some other time (I figure since it was relatively clean I suppose I should be able to let it go for another month or so before having to lube the o-rings in there).

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures:

Finally got my mask christened (and what a way to go!).

And I wasn't alone: here are some of my buddies who also were all victims of head-shots all within the same game!