What is Gelsoft

Gelsoft, more commonly known as gel blasters, are toy guns similar in design to airsoft guns, but fires a water based gel ball also known as an Orbee.

Gel blasters are often played in styles similar to paintball but follows an airsoft-like honour-based gameplay because there is no paint to show that you have been hit. Military Simulation (MilSim) games involve large areas of land where players wear camouflage and military style attire, while "SpeedSoft" players are more casual with team jerseys and often wear paintball masks. In addition to safety gear such as eye protection, the sport is heavily regulated on the field and players must adhere to safety rules.

Gelsoft Australia has a MilSim style field located in Tamborine that hosts a game day on the first Sunday of every month catering up to 200 gel ballers. 

The general design of gel blasters are to replicate the looks of a military style firearm however the internals are very different and work similar to battery powered Nerf guns. Internally, Gel blasters are comprised of a spring-loaded piston, with a T-piece to feed gel balls via a motorised magazine. The piston is either manually cocked by hand or more commonly driven by a battery operated gearbox.

Gel Balls are fragile and will simply fragment on impact. Because of this, gel blasters have a much lower muzzle energy, and the roll on effect is a much shorter effective range. Barrel-mounted frictional "hop-up" devices have been introduced to add backspin on the gel balls to increase the range and precision by using what is scientifically called, Magnus Effect. Gel balls are much safer to play with (although protective eyewear is still a necessity) and are very unlikely to cause any property damage unlike Paintballs.

The Gel Balls are also very cheap, easily transported in packets and only require soaking in water for 4 to 5 hours prior to playing. Gel Balls break up on impact and dehydrate into fine powder making clean up minimal.

That is all for now. Keep an eye out for more and see you on the field

Stephen