[Ricochet]

Whomever owns the land upon which you play (I'm assuming your parents?), have to understand the legal ramifications.

Most airsoft fields are strictly eighteen plus; with a few allowing sixteen and seventeen, as long as parents or legal guardians are present. These fields are run by adults and have proper insurance and proper waivers. Otherwise there is no protection from a lawsuit. Most of these fields have also been scoured by the owners for certain hazards and hopefully proper controls have been put in place.

I can't tell you what to do, but here's some advice. I'm assuming your going to play airsoft anyways so you may as well even the playing field for yourself. Don't allow kids to play, skill and attitude are not the important factors at this level. Play with people no less than two years younger than your oldest player. That way you can keep it as a "group of friends playing airsoft in my backyard". This isn't necessarily a legal protection, but keeps the general responsibility fairly even between you. Let your land owners know to look into the legal side of things; as well as every parent of a youth playing Airsoft with you. If any of your members turn eighteen, get them to a proper team, you don't need adults shooting at kids.

Make the following gear mandatory; sealed goggles that are CSA, ANSI, or ballistic rated (no exceptions), a neck or throat protector, a mesh or paintball style mask, and a helmet.

It's also important that you get access to a proper chronograph such as Madbull, or X-cortex. You "must" know the FPS of "every gun" before it gets used. Set up hard decks for FPS, and allow no one to go over. Like 380 FPS for AR and 400 FPS for a sniper as an example. Always chrono with a proper 0.20g BB as heavier BBs lower the velocity, but can increase the joules (or energy). Any gas powered guns need to be chonographed with the BB weight they use as they don't react the same. So you'll need to a proper graph and equation that tell you for instance that a 0.20g BB traveling at 400 FPS has the power of 1.486 joules; so someone running a gas gun using 0.25g BBs has to shoot under 355 FPS to stay under the joule limit. I know it sounds expensive and complicated, but that's why airsoft is run by adults. You have to know though that no one playing on your field is going to take someones head off with a BB.

Hopefully you guys keep it safe and fun out there. Take up Janus on his offer, if you need help.


Team leaders set the basic direction and gameplay of the team. A team however is more than one person, that's why it's called a "team". So everyone should have concerns, opinions, and input. The landowner however has every right to set up boundaries, and safety rules.