Rules of the Game

The game is usually played in teams of 5,7 or 10. Two teams start from different parts of the pitch. Everybody's task is to place your flag in the opposition's base. Each step to victory is awarded a certain number of points. Hitting an opponent scores 3 points, taking the opposition's flag scores 15, and placing your own flag in the opposition's base gains you 35. There is also a penalty system in place for infringements on the field. The game finishes when the flag is raised over the other side's base, and the team with the most points wins.

"You only need to visit a paintball game and experience it once to understand that it really seems like some kind of war," said Nikolai Tikhonov, president of the Russian Paintball Federation.

"OMON troops and FSB agents have never come to play," he added. "But if they did, our players would beat them in a matter of minutes."

A gas powered gelatine ball whizzing through the air at different speeds is the basic essence of paintball, a new game popular among teenagers in Moscow that is often described as a combination between chess and basketball.

And it's not just in Moscow. Interest in the game is growing in many Russian regions, according to Tikhonov. Now there are paintball clubs in 54 regions of the country, even though game equipment costs $250.00, far more than the average national monthly wage.

And though the game is most popular among men, it is teeange girls who actually are better at it, said Tikhonov.

"It is noticeable that women acquire the paintball techniques quicker than men," he said.

"This is because right from the beginning they concentrate on playing and not fighting."

Paintball is divided into three categories, professional, amateur and applied. Strength and stamina are necessary, but are not the most important part of the game.

"The game demands speed of thought, well developed periforal vision and dexterity," Tikhonov said.

People with a sense of team spirit also do well, and for this reason, many companies have turned to paintball for stress reduction and corporate moral building.

Big companies in the United States, Japan, Germany, France and now Russia are getting their staff onto the paintball pitch to turn them into real team players.

It is hardly surprising, then,that leading companies such as Coca Cola and Samsung these days are sponsoring paintball international competitions.

In Russia Prombusiness-bank has its own paintball team. They train so much that they are almost at a professional level.

A number of domestic businesses, including Vodka producers Stolichnaya and Soyuzplodimport are particularly prominent sponsors of Russia's paintball industry.

Environmentalists take note: the paint used is totally environmentally friendly. The paint balls are produced by major pharmaceutical firms, and a few minutes of rain is enough to wash it away.