Bouncing Betty for Paint-Ballers

2006-02-17

I?ve decided on a product I would like to see. I want to see a Bouncing Betty type mine designed for paint-ballers. That would be cool.

The Bouncing Betty is a type of anti-personnel mine created by the Germans back during the Second World War. Once tripped, the mine would launch itself up to a height of about three to five feet (one to almost two meters) above the ground. From this height, it would explode and send pellets outward and hitting people in all directions and at quite a distance, such as two hundred yards.

To do this for paint ball, you would probably have to have a huge compressed CO2 tank buried next to the mine. The gas would lift a chamber into the air on a tube. More gas would come out of the tube to shoot pain balls out of the chamber in all directions. The paint balls would fly out and hit all the players regardless of their skill or on which team they are.

Why is this cool? Well, real mines are not in any way cool. Fake mines that would end paint-ballers fun for the game session. What?s more, it would teach them about some of the unfairness involved in war. This is important.

As a kid I enjoyed playing with weapons. Though not really a gun person I used to be able to shoot reasonably well. I was even better with other weapons such as sling, bow, and sword. I thought about fighting in terms of combat with other people who wanted to fight. The average civilian doesn?t want conflict in their area and I didn?t think about that.

I can understand the fun and excitement the paint ball players get from their hobby. Some of them will take this experience with them into military service. It is important that these players learn just how bad combat can be. Adding larger dangers to the game helps introduce the idea.

Ultimately, there should be some way to introduce artillery and air strikes to the game. There should also be a way to keep prisoners locked up without food for several days (weeks). It would also be nice if some of the players could be given some Oil of Ipecac to suffer the digestive difficulties typical of combat environments. For absolute realism, local civilians not associated with the game should occasionally shoot or poison the players.

Away from the game world, mines are always a bad idea. Not only are they indiscriminate in their targeting, they usually last far beyond the conflict in which they are planted. There are still mines from the last four decades that show up. This is particularly bad in conflicts in Korea, Cambodia, and an assortment of African countries. It?s civilians who lose their legs and livelihoods to left over explosives. Just say no to mines.

As for paint-ballers, that?s there problem.