Players warned of Ultimate Game risk

Press, 31 August 1985, Page 8

Players warned of Ultimate Game risk

Participants in the Ultimate Game are warned before they start that they risk being blinded if they take their goggles off, says the game’s owner, Mr Steve Constable.

Strict safety rules were enforced when the game — a military-style combat game using carbon dioxide guns and gelatine colour pellets — was played, he said yesterday. Two persons have lost the sight in one eye in separate accidents since the game started in July. The most recent victim is a university student, aged 18, who played the game'with friends last Saturday. Mr Constable said the game was safe as long as people kept their goggles on.

"We give players a fiveminute lecture on safety before the game starts and have signs up warning people to keep their goggles

on. “What more can we say? It is horrible that someone should lose an eye, but we have rules and they must be obeyed. Nothing is idiotproof,” he said. Mr Constable said there had been problems with goggles fogging up, but players were told to bring them back and change them if that happened. Anyone caught without their goggles on would forfeit the game and get no refund.

The assistant professor of ophthalmology at Christchurch Hospital, Dr Richard Clemett, said the game was obviously vigorous and carried a certain risk for players. However, the injuries suffered by the two persons were very serious and some remedial steps were needed urgently to make sure there were no further accidents.

“The organisers have to

make quite sure that they have the most effective and acceptable eye-protectors available to players,” said Dr Clemett. “The other area of concern is in the policing of the eye goggles. People must be made aware of the serious risk they take by not wearing them and the organisers must have some mechanism for ensuring players do wear the goggles.” Dr Clemett said it appeared the present goggles tended to fog up and became scratched and dirty. He had shown the organisers two pairs of eye-protectors that might be more effective and had offered to bench test any other eye-protectors at the University of Canterbury. Mr Constable said he had been to the hospital to talk to doctors about the accidents and was trying out some new equipment to try to stop the fogging problem.