RULES & REGULATIONS
Player Regulations
All players participating in the event must be 18 years or older. ID's will be checked prior to registering for the game. Any registrations from people under 18 will be voided and refunds will not be given.
Airsoft is meant to be a fun game. Rules are designed not to restrict but protect the safety of its participants and ensure each player has a good time. In developing these rules, we tried to cover realism, game play and safety.
Squads will be assigned to the best of our ability with registration information. Medics will be voluntary but will also be assigned if we need more medics and not enough people have volunteered.
Uniform Requirements
BLUE FORCES WILL BE WEARING UNIFORMS IN TAN SHADES:
US Forces - ACU and Three Color Desert
US Marines - Desert MARPAT
US and British Special Forces - MultiCam
British Paratroopers - Desert DPM
RED FORCES WILL BE WEARING UNIFORMS IN GREEN SHADES:
Rebel Mexican Military - Woodland BDUs
Foreign Mercenaries - Woodland DPM, Woodland Tiger Stripe, Olive Drab, and Woodland MARPAT.
Please note your intended uniform during registration as that will affect unit assignment. If coming as a team, please be sure you are all in identical uniforms so we can place you together in a single unit. Please be aware that mixing camoflage patterns on yourself does cause confusion and can lead to undesireable situations on the field. Please keep your uniform and gear of the same type ie no tactical gear of green shades over a uniform of tan shades or vice versa.
Weapons and Magazine Limits
SAW's will be limited to ONE per squad. SAW's must be a legitimate support weapon like the M60, M249, RPK, etc. Only SAW gunners are allowed to carry hi-cap, wind-up, drum, or box magazines. If you have any doubt as to whether your weapon is a legitimate support weapon, email the event staff a picture(.jpg please) of your weapon for approval.
All other weapons are required to use low or mid capacity magazines, no wind-up or hi-cap mags.
Velocity Limits
350 fps limit with .2 gram plastic BB for all pistols, rifles, shotguns, and submachineguns.
400 fps limit with .2 gram plastic BB for all SAWs.
550 fps limit with .2 gram plastic BB for all semi-auto or bolt-action sniper weapons.
Weapons will be chronographed during registration and banded as approved for game-play. Players caught with hot guns or guns that were not chronographed prior to the game will be removed from the game with no refund given.
Velocity Reducers are not allowed. They've been proven to be ineffective when the weapon is fired in full auto. During the chronograph process, all weapons will be tested with the hop-up off unless the weapon uses a fixed(nonadjustable) hopup.
Ammunition
NO METAL BB's can be used in sniper rifles or AEG's. Anyone caught playing with metal bb's will be BANNED from MindGame Productions events. Graphite coated bbs or other specialty rounds must be approved by staff before use.
Biodegradable BB's will be required for this event. If you bring your own bio-degradable BBs to the field we ask that you leave them in sealed bags to be verified by staff. Bags of BB's to be verified by staff must say "Biodegradable" in ENGLISH on the bag. BBs will be available through advance order on the Ai500 website to have waiting for your team at the event. For a list of pre-approved brands of bio bbs, please visit the forums or read your player's pack.
Personal Protection
Fully sealing eye protection REQUIRED. Impact rated (meets or exceeds ANSI Z97.1 standards) fully sealed eye protection must be worn at all times on the game fields. NO SHOOTING GLASSES or MESH GOGGLES allowed. Players caught in violation of this rule on the field will be removed from the game with no refund given.
Red kill rag is MANDATORY. While we realize it will not stop players from getting shot after they've been eliminated, it will reduce it.
Full face protection recommended - either a balaclava or a full paintball mask that covers both your ears and mouth.
Weapons are to kept on safe with magazines out while in the staging area. There should be no shooting in the staging area except at a designated chrono area and weapons testing range.
Blind firing (sticking your gun out of an area and firing without knowing/seeing where you are aiming) around corners is strictly prohibited! You must have EYES on target before firing. You may not use optics to see around corners and fire. It's real easy to hit someone point blank in the face when doing this.
Minimum Shooting Distance
No shooting less than 10 feet. If engaging someone unknown to your position, simply bang them out. If a player is banged out, they can be taken hostage or can just be killed and must go to the staging area.
Snipers cannot shoot at less than 100 feet and are required to switch to a backup weapon if they have one.
While inside buildings, players are required to switch to semi-auto. Snipers and SAW gunners are allowed to shoot FROM a building or rooftop, but not INSIDE the building(CQB).
Bang and Surrender Rules
In close-quarter situations, no shooting should occur at less than 10 feet. If you come up close behind someone or walk up on an enemy and your weapon is pointed at them, you may call BANG or SURRENDER. All players MUST COMPLY with the call. If both players have ready weapons and call each other out at the same time, both are out or they may back away by mutual consent.
If BANG is called, the player is considered to have been killed outright. No wounding rules will apply at that close range. If SURRENDER is called, the player must sling his weapon and place his hands on his head or behind his back. He is now a POW and may be lead by his captor back to a remote holding area. See POW rules.
Valid Hits and Eliminations
A hit from a BB anywhere on your body or personal gear (helmet, vest, etc.) is a valid hit.
Gun hits do not count.
Ricochets do not count. If in doubt as to whether or not a hit was a ricochet or direct hit, take the most honorable route and assume the hit.
Friendly fire (hits from teammates) DOES count. There is no such thing as "friendly" fire!
In the event of a hit, the player yells "HIT!" and immediately raises his weapon or hands above his head and displays his red kill rag. No false calls. Under normal circumstances the player is considered killed and expected to leave the field. Wound and Medic Rules will be in effect for all games unless otherwise instructed.
DO NOT call for players to "call their hits". It is unsportsmanlike and rude. This is a game of honor and should be treated that way. Remember, it's just a GAME.
Grenade hits count the same as a hit from a BB. If a grenade lands in your vicinity (use common sense judgment) and goes off but a bb does not hit you, you are out. See above.
Wounds, Bleed-out, and Moving the Wounded
If a player takes a valid hit, he immediately yells "HIT!" and raises his weapon or hands above his head, displays their red kill rag and lays on the ground.
The player "falls in place", assuming a prone position. The player may move up to five feet in any direction if needed to place himself closer to a wall or otherwise outside the flow of traffic. He is not allowed to "stagger" a longer distance back to drop amidst his teammates. The downed player should consider laying on his back with his weapon pointed in the air or held across his chest to look less like he has merely assumed a prone firing position. Players may want to consider displaying their red "wound" cloths or handkerchiefs to lay on their chest or wrap around their weapon so not to be mistaken as a player still in combat.
The downed player bleeds out in three minutes unless receiving first-aid. If no aid has been received within three minutes, the downed player is dead. He may now rise and head back to the staging area, with his weapon and hands raised above his head. At anytime during the player's bleed out, he has the ability to be captured by the opposing force.
Until the have been given first-aid or bleeds out, the downed player remains where he lies. A downed player may be "carried" by one or more active players to a safer location for treatment. One player placing his hand on the downed soldier's shoulder represents a carry. They may move at a walk but neither player may fire. If two players put hands on a downed soldier's shoulders, this represents a two-man carry. The three players may move at a brisk jog and the carrying players may fire one-handed.
First Aid and Medic Rules
During registration, every player is given a 3' long white rope tied with five knots. This represents his first-aid kit and should be placed in a pocket or pouch. Any player may render basic first-aid, although a downed player may not render first-aid on himself.
Any event participant (including an enemy team-member) may go to a downed player, pull out player's first-aid kit and go to work. The five knots must be untied at this time (they may not be untied in advance) and the rope is tied around the downed player's arm. He is now considered "walking wounded." He may re-enter the combat or becomes a POW if an enemy player treated him.
If shot a second time, while wearing the white "wounded" rope, the player is considered killed. He calls himself out and returns to the staging area.
Each team has one or more medics, designated by medic armbands. A medic may provide advanced first aid on walking wounded by taking off the wound rope, retying the five knots, and giving it back to the player. The wounded player is now considered full restored to health. If a team's medic is the first one to reach a downed player, the player may be fully restored ONLY if the medic takes out the player's wound rope, unties all five knots, counts to twenty, reties all five knots and then gives the cord back. If a medic is killed, another player may not pick up the medic armband and "become" the team medic. The team is out of luck until the medic re-enters game play from the staging area.
Re-Entering Game Play
Some operations will have a near-continual element of game play. When a killed player returns to the staging area, he is expected to remain out of game play for at least 15 minutes. Drink some water, reload, take some rest. You may sit out longer than 15 minutes if you choose but may not re-enter play before this time has passed. Since there will be Blue squads periodically rotating between "the rear" and "the front lines", you might want to come back into the game area with one of these squads. Wandering around the field alone is only inviting an insurgent attack or kidnapping!
Once you get back into the game, you will be expected to report back to your squad leader and rejoin your original unit as a "replacement."
Pyro/Grenades
Smoke and other pyrotechnics may not be used inside the building but may be used in the woods and in the city streets. Pyrotechnic BB grenades are allowed out of doors, specific details and safety requirements will be put onto the Ai500 website. For CQB use indoors, grenades will be simulated with a noise-making, non-pyrotechnic simulator such as Deep Fire and PFI grenades, CO2 "Thumper" grenades, primer-only grenade simulators and select other grenade simulators detailed on the Ai500 website.
Prisoners of War
Taking Prisoners of War is possible during the game through the surrender rules or if an enemy player applies first-aid to a wounded opponent and takes him prisoner.
A captured POW may communicate. Yell for help, curse at his captors, etc. He risks being BANGed out in doing so, but a captor may say "Gagged!" and the POW must then shut-up.
A captured POW may be herded along at gun-point. If the POW refuses to walk on his own power, the one and two man carry rules may be used to move the POW as detailed in moving wounded players.
In addition to "gagging" a POW, a captor may "search" a POW. He says "Search" to the prisoner and counts out loud to twenty. When finished counting, the prisoner is required to turn over any game documents or special props to the captor. The counting search does not apply to weapons. Searches may be conducted on the player in question and any weapons found by the searcher must be surrendered. The POW may keep his weapons slung and holstered, but they may not be employed.
POWs may be rescued by friendly forces. If a friendly player reaches and touches a POW, the POW may re-enter the game and use his weapons. Otherwise the POW must remain where he is taken, although a guard is expected to watch over them.
If left unguarded (the guard leaves the area or is shot) POWs may try to run away, but they may not fire their weapons unless they can touch a friendly player or a downed player from either team.
POWs must be sent back to the staging area after 15 minutes of captivity. They may then re-enter the game.
Field Admins
At least one Airsoft International 500 field admin will be on the field at all times during the game. They can be identified with the black STAFF T-shirts. Please do not shoot the admins.
Field Admins will be on the field to help with game-flow, watch for safety violations and handle challenges or problems as they arise.
Rules for Actor Interaction
Our events feature a number of actors that help create a more realistic atmosphere for each event. Some of these will be VIPs, News Crews, Villagers, etc. They are there for you to get an added enjoyment out of our events. We do however ask that you treat them with respect. They are donating their time to make your experience better. When dealing with actors by all means interact with them. Talk to them. Shout at them. Act how you feel you would in a real world situation. All we ask is that you ask there permission before touching them. Do not touch an actor who says NO. Most are good sports and are willing to be manhandled a bit. Always remember to ask first and treat them with respect.