Action time at a game of paintball. Picture by Keshav Vitla

Bangalore, April 23: Four armed soldiers in protective gear and face mask slowly move towards their target— a group of three behind bunkers barely 100 metres away.

Stealthily, they move from bunker to bunker, advancing in pairs. Sign language and whispers aid their strategy. Suddenly, with a war cry, they move in for the kill with guns blazing. A couple of shots ring out. “I am out,” calls out Namitha, putting her hands up. Her shirt splattered with paint tells the story.

Welcome to paintball!

This is the game corporate houses are increasingly playing to build team spirit, leadership and bonding. And, of course, to beat stress.

The credit for bringing paintball to India goes to Raghavendra Raju and Naresh Seshadri, who have been promoting this game for the past two years.

“It’s fun, it’s energetic and a team-building game. This is a great tool for corporate clients,” says Raju.

Their games vary from two hours to a two-day programme where they concentrate on team building and communication through a combination of outdoor and indoor activities. It always begins or ends with paintball. “This is a high energy activity,” says Naresh as he prepares to referee a game. “Outdoor training has become popular among companies today. Paintball makes team building exciting, fun and almost unconscious. Strap a mask on, hand them a gun and suddenly they are working together,” he added.

“There are people panting under the weight of the protective gear, gun and masks as they run and crawl from one bunker to another to shoot the enemy,” he said.

A typical game is ‘capture the flag’. Here, two teams of eight to 20 members try to capture a flag placed in the middle of the battlefield and plant it on their opponent’s side. So, whoever gets ‘painted’ has to get out of the arena even as a full-fledged firefight is on.

The paint is vegetable dye packed into marble-sized balls. It breaks and splatters once it hits any surface. The gas-action gun, roughly the size of an automatic rifle, is specially made for this game. The game is also designed to bring out the killer instinct. The players learn to retreat, stalk, attack, wait for the enemy and look for the opponent’s weakness.

“Teams have to select a captain, team name and war cry before entering the arena. Only three bullets fit into the gun’s nozzle. After shots are fired, bullets are replenished from a pouch strapped around the waist. Here is where team bonding, strategy and leadership come into play. Yuyutsa, in Sanskrit, means will to win. This is apt here,” says Raju.

After every game, colleagues, who would have hardly exchanged a word at work, become familiar with each other.

Yuyutsa Consulting, as their company is called, also has a mobile model where they cart all the equipment, including nets, inflatables, obstacles and gaming tools like guns, masks, jackets, neck and elbow protectors, pouches and bullets. They have taken this sport to Hyderabad, Ooty, Wayanad and Kochi. At the permanent venue in Bangalore off Bannerghatta road, the game is played at least four times a week. “It’s all word-of-mouth. We never advertise,” says Raju.

The two gave up lucrative careers and decided to set up paintballing. Raju, who worked with Dell, readily agreed when Naresh came up with the idea. Now it is a growing business and they have plans to set up another permanent venue in Bangalore. “The new place will be a first-in-the-world exclusive pistol paintball arena,” they said. “We will have night gaming too.”

“Paintball is addictive and those who play cannot have enough of it, Raju added. Paintball was invented in New Hampshire. The first paintball tournament was held in 1981.

And what do the players have to say about the game? Madan Mohan, who led one of the teams, said this game was good for team building. Smriti Arya finds it challenging and exhausting. Anirudh said the game taught him to have a back-up plan ready.

“The most important thing here is to reach the target,” says Himanshu Saini.

And how does one enjoy the game? Eat light, wear comfortable clothes and footwear. For the rest, leave it to the instructors.