The first shots had been fired. Two teams lined up opposite each other with one goal in mind: eliminate the opposing team. This is what the ISU Airsoft Club prides itself on in the realm of competition.

The sport of airsoft is a military-oriented game that deals with military tactics and movements and is very similar to paintball; however, it includes more military-based replica guns and strategies. The ISU Airsoft Club competes in games like “team deathmatch” and “capture the flag” as well as ops, known as operations, where the teams have specific goals and objectives that are military-related.

“Airsoft Club is different than the Paintball Club. Paintball is more fast-paced and smaller gameplay,” said ISU Airsoft Club president Alex Furman. “In airsoft, it’s focused more on objectives and military simulation. A lot of our ops are military simulation with appropriate camouflage, weapons, and objectives.”

Furman said the majority of people who start airsoft begin playing it in their backyard with their buddies with “Walmart airsoft guns,” and the club is no different. It evolved from a common interest into a couple of members wanting to create a club now four-and-a-half years ago.

The club now has about 40 members and is very active. Furman believes the club’s active ways are what separate it from other clubs.

“We will have fun no matter what. These guys are awesome,” said ISU Airsoft Club general membership officer Mike Gross. “Having fun is one of our main objectives. There haven’t been very many games that I’ve seen people walk away and they’re saying, ‘I’m never going to do this again.’ Most of the time they’re walking away saying, ‘I’m definitely going to do this again.’”

The club competed in its biggest event at the beginning of March in Illinois. It was a force-on-force match of two large teams comprised of several smaller units of individual groups. Iowa State brought 18 club members to compete in the event, which was made up of 300 people facing off against another 300 participants.

“We would get calls on the radio saying, ‘We’ve got a satellite dish down at E6 and we need a team to repair it and get it back to our operation base,’” Gross said on some of the objectives within the event.

The ISU Airsoft Club, as well as the others on its team, captured and held every objective it was assigned throughout the six hours of gameplay.

Furman said a long-term goal includes working with other universities to create a coalition in the Midwest to set up tournaments

“We want to get more out there and get our exposure a lot better. We also want to start working with other universities,” Gross said.