Last weekend we celebrated the bachelor party for one of our friends. People usually organize late-at-night bachelor parties in dancing places, but we picked him up at his home Sunday morning at 8:30am, saying we had to drive a long way before getting to the place. He was then blindfolded, confused with earphones and loud music and brought in the countryside a few minutes out of the city center where half a dozen warriors were waiting for us, all dressed up in military camouflage, guns and all sorts of strange equipment.

The guys looked like real professionals while they tied to a tree our unaware friend. One of them was actually a lady and she started to talk equivocally to him, who at this point was severely puzzled and beginning to sweat. She then abruptly took out the blindfold and he instantly found himself right in front of an unfriendly berserker wearing a Friday 13th mask, screaming like crazy and ordering ready-set-fire to a firing-squad. The squad shot for real, a few dozen bullets. Of course they were innocent small plastic bullets, 6mm diameter, a quarter gram, but our friend was shocked none the less. After a few seconds he got what happened and cursed at us, who were laughing it up. Now that’s a surprise!

We were in a softair camp. Softair is a battle simulation with fake guns shooting small plastic balls by way of an electric air pump. Those guns are actual size and weight and look very similar to the real thing. When you get hit but one of those bullets it hurts a little and you instantly scream “stop it!”. Of course you need special glasses and/or mask to protect your eyes, cause bullets would be dangerous if they hit you there. It turns out the guys meet there every Sunday morning to play fake fights and even make tournaments with nearby clubs.

Of course we took the opportunity to play with them. They lent us guns and we split in two squads, fighting a few capture the flag matches. The playing field was a former motocross track, with plenty of dunes, trenches, wooden ramps and enough trees and bushes to hide behind. After a few hours I had mud everywhere but it’s been lots of fun. Finally, we changed our dress and moved to a nearby trattoria where we had meat and wine until everybody was stuffed.  What a day!