In recent years, the popularity of team airsoft games has stabilized at a high level. Events organized in various voivodeships, focusing on the symmetrical competition of a large number of small groups, regularly attract teams from all over Poland. It was no different in the case of the "Rat Race", the fourth edition of which took place after a long absence of the series on Saturday April 15, 2023.

The player briefing has started as scheduled.

The event, although it lasted less than 11 hours, encouraged over 200 players to form 24 airsoft teams and appear in the vast forests near Lubliniec (Poland) Silesia). A diverse, interesting, and in places swampy area of ​​operations with a size of about 20 square kilometers, was entirely filled with special tasks and checkpoints. In total, there were over 50 locations prepared.

worth visiting

A map of the game area prepared by the organizers. Locations of special tasks were deliberately not included.

Due to limited time of the game, it was not possible to visit all POIs by any of the teams. The commanders and navigators of individual groups were therefore faced with the need to properly plan their actions and select priorities, acting under time pressure. Achieving a satisfactory result was possible in several ways - by visiting as many checkpoints as possible, completing special tasks, or eliminating players from other teams and capturing their dogtags. It is worth noting that the number of the latter (constituting the pool of "lives" of group members) was limited, which required the adoption of an appropriate strategy and ROE in order not to end participation in the game prematurely.

Various terrain added to the atmosphere.

Special tasks prepared by the organizers were ingenious and often multi-threaded. Examples include: the need to solve a logical puzzle and conduct a chemical experiment; finding a wreckage of a plane, based on data from a black box from the last minutes of the flight, determining the place where the pilot catapulted (over 3 kilometers away) and then reaching it to obtain interesting information; and many, many more.

Props prepared for one of the special tasks.

The other aspects of the game were also refined to the smallest detail. Players coming from far away could rent accommodation near the playing area. The registration and energy measurement of the replicas went very quickly, the initial briefing for the team leaders took place without delay (any doubts about the mechanics of the game were also explained), as well as the start and end of the game. A rich starter kit, which was given to individual teams, included e.g. bandages, props needed to complete tasks, as well as numerous copies of carefully made maps of various types, printed on water-resistant, photographic paper.

Each team received a rich starter kit during registration.

The work, resources and heart that the organizers of the meeting (Czajson, kizaR, Gugiet and people helping them) put into its preparation meant that only a few days have passed, and there are already declarations of groups willing to participate in the next edition and requests from participants to extend the time of play. The presence of beautiful weather (interrupted only for a moment by a downpour with hail, which reached the players in part of the area), turned out to be an additional advantage of the game. The results were released two days after its completion and confirmed the well-received balance within the game mechanics: all places on the podium were taken by groups that adopted different strategies and focused on different ways of scoring points.

The initial energy measurement of the replicas went without any downtime.

Photos: Flynn, Logan