Scott Miller* drops to his knees and takes a slow, cautious look around. The only sound is his heavy breathing and the crickets chirping in the night air. He continues to creep stealthily through the terrain, blending into the inky background thanks to his camouflage battle dress uniform. A twig snaps somewhere behind him. His muscles tense as he slowly puts his hand on the trigger of his gun and whirls around, holding it at arms length. He finds himself face-to-face with three men, also dressed in camouflage, holding assault rifles pointed directly at him.

For a single moment, all is silent. Then they open fire on Miller, sending him to the ground screaming in pain. One of the enemies laughs and kicks the body half-heartedly. “Damn, man, good job,” he says, holding out a hand to help Miller up. “We’ve been tracking you for almost an hour.”

Miller is a member of Bad Karma, a team consisting of roughly 10 guys who play airsoft on a regular basis. Airsoft is the evolution of paintball, an excuse for grown men to dress up and play army on the weekends. Gone are the days when all toy guns were required to be painted neon green and orange. Airsoft guns are highly detailed replicas of authentic firearms. Right down to their weight, airsoft guns look and feel exactly like the real thing. Rather than shooting paintballs and making a mess of the genuine military uniforms worn while playing, airsoft guns shoot 6-millimeter plastic bb’s. The only marks these bad boys leave are angry red welts on the skin and bruises on the ego.

“It's an honor sport; it’s on you to call yourself out,” says 34-year-old Adam Root, leader of the SF Recon team and owner of the Orchid Bay Airsoft Arena. “It's not about winning, it's about having fun using tactics and strategies. Paintball has that 'gotta win' mentality; airsoft is 'gotta have fun' mentality.”

Similar to paintball, players compete in mock combat, but with much more attention to theatrics and role-playing. Players usually act out scenarios, like rescuing a hostage from an enemy POW camp. SF Recon holds training sessions to teach their team close-quarter combat techniques, cribbed from real military training schools. For airsoft players, it’s all about the drama, kind of like Dungeons and Dragons for military enthusiasts.

Kevin Ash, second in command of SF Recon says it’s easy to get caught up in the moment. “In the back of your mind, you know they are BB guns, but when you're in the thick of it and you see this squad of guys come up on you with guns that look real, you get a little bit of fear," he says. "But that’s part of it. It builds up the adrenaline, then you get hit and you say, 'Damn it, that was cool.'”

Many players return week after week for a hobby some consider dangerous or just downright geeky because of the adrenaline rush.

Sean Hughes creeps slowly through an enemy house. His boots step silently, his legs quaking with fear and anticipation. He pauses to wipe the sweat from his eyes. His gun raised and ready, he kicks open a door and bursts into the room. His opponent, crouched behind a file cabinet, jumps up in surprise, reaching for his pistol. Hughes yells “Surrender!” while keeping his firearm trained on the enemy. The beaten man drops his weapon and walks off the field with defeat evident on his face.

“The adrenaline—it's something that you begin to crave after a while,” admits 25-year-old Carlos Stein* with a laugh. Stein co-founded Bad Karma with longtime friend Jim Malone* when the two were in high school. “You get to shoot your friends without the serious consequences of taking a hit to the forehead and being retarded for the rest of your life," he says. "And they might call us retarded for coming out to a place we’re not supposed to be and playing, but so be it.”

Bad Karma is considered an “outlaw” team. They play illegally, usually starting their games after midnight on private property and in constant fear of getting caught by the police. Largely based in Santa Clara, this outlaw team has had more than their share of close calls with the law.

“We’ve had run-ins before, but they haven’t ever caught us,” Stein says. “We had just begun
the game—Jim was on the roof and all of a sudden, we hear the call from Jim, 'Cop, cop, cop,’ over the radio. Everyone starts sprinting away, scattering. I’m out on the grass when I see Jim jump off the fucking roof, a feat to this day I still don’t fully understand.”

Malone runs across the rooftop of the elementary school and leaps off without hesitation. His ankle twists on impact, and he takes a brief moment to groan in pain before he takes off running, the cops close behind him. His heart pounds and his ankle screams in pain, but he keeps running through the nearby woods, losing the police in the night.

Playing illegally is looked down upon in the larger airsoft community. “It bothers me because it’s bad publicity. It ruins the game for the rest of us,” says Ash, a legit player.

“It gives us a bad name, and not only that, it’s unsafe,” Hughes says. “I’ve never been involved in an illegal game and I never will be.”

Safety rules are strictly enforced at Orchid Bay. Violators are removed from the course with no exceptions. “We had one team where these guys were into the sport for the wrong reasons,” Root says. “It’s the same guys who freeze paintballs, the same guys who punch people in the face at concerts and call it dancing—it’s that same mentality. We don’t really have a spot for them in the airsoft community.”

Root and his fiancé Karen Hogan have spent the last two months preparing Orchid Bay for the public. Hogan is one of only four girls on the SF Recon team, though many players attest to noticing a larger female presence at some of the larger games.

“At first I was afraid I was going to get hit and cry,” Hogan says, laughing. “I don’t like to be the pussy crying in the corner. But for the last month and a half, I’ve actually been playing and it’s so much fun.”

“We’re getting a lot more female players, which is cool because that’s eye candy for the pigs on the field like me,” Root says. “Chicks and guns just look cool.”

Hogan has taken it a step further by inviting her sons, 15 and 7, to the airsoft games when conditions are safe enough. She says airsoft has been a positive influence in their lives. "What better family activity can you have than to go out, shoot each other and then laugh about it later?” she says. “This is a great sport for parents to bond with their kids. It's something we both have a massive enthusiasm for. I saw a marked improvement in [their] behavior and [their] grades.”

The most common reason for playing airsoft is it's a lot of fun, whether played legitimately or outlaw. “You get to escape from your daily boring life for an hour or two with your friends,” Stein says. “This is an extension of playing army when you’re a little kid—you just don’t outgrow it. A lot of people want to grow up. Fuck that. I’d rather not grow up.”

*names have been changed to protect privacy