What Are Airsoft’s Game Modes? Here Are 32+ Variants to Try
If you are anything like me and you follow Airsoft gamers on YouTube, then you probably got confused when you saw people playing multiple sorts of Airsoft games. To adopt video-game language, these different types of matches can be called “game modes.” You may also have wondered what the Airsoft game modes are – and what makes them different from one another. Well, since I was curious about the same things, today, I invite you to peruse my list of the various game modes in Airsoft.
Briefly summarized: The most commonly played Airsoft game is the Team Deathmatch (a.k.a. Force on Force). But, other game modes are as follows: Alien; Ambush / Return fire / Officers; Betrayal / “Trouble in Terrorist Town” / Murder; Bomb / Search and Destroy; Capture the Flag; Close Quarters Combat; Commando Raid; Cops and Robbers / Police Shootout; Demolition; Elimination; Escort Objective / Escort Payload; Fort Wars; Fortress Defense; Free for All; Hostage Rescue; King of the Hill; Manhunt; Medic; MilSim (Military Simulation); Object Hunt; Paratroopers; President; Prison Break; Risk; Save One Bullets; Sniper; Special Forces; Squad Deathmatch; Survival; Wingmen; and Zombies / Infection.
What are all of these game modes all about? Read on, my friends; read on!
Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form an Airsoft expert, and so, if any of the information that I give to you is incorrect or incomplete, I deeply apologize.
Game “Modes” (Variations on Airsoft Gameplay)
Alien
In this game mode, one team is the “alien” team. The alien team is typically only made up of one person, because the goal of this game is to turn the humans (which are on the other team) into aliens by shooting them. The game ends once all the aliens are dead or all the humans have been turned into aliens.
Ambush (Also known as Officers or Return Fire)
This is a game mode where a team of snipers must ambush a team of infantry. The goal of the infantry is to reach the end of a path (which they are confined to) without the entire team dying. One key feature of this game is the restriction of allowable weaponry. Typically, snipers may only use sniper rifles, while infantrypersons may use whatever types of weapon they wish.
Assassination (Also known as President or Prime Minister)
In Assassination, one person pretends to be a leader and he or she is surrounded by designated “bodyguards.” The other team is labeled the “assassin” team.
Plainly, an assassin’s job is to kill the leader; the bodyguards’ objective is to get the leader safely through the play area to a home base or safe zone.
Many times, the assassins and bodyguards are permitted to have “infinite” lives – or unlimited respawns. (See Respawning.) But, as with all game modes, feel free to add your own little twists and variations.
Battle Royal/Battle Royale
See Free for All.
Betrayal (Also known as Murder or Trouble in Terrorist Town)
In betrayal, also known as TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town) two players are randomly (and secretly) selected to be the “traitors.” This occurs by handing the traitors some tokens – often rubber knives – which serve to identify them as traitors. The traitors are supposed to go around surreptitiously “murdering” Airsoft players. The knife both enables the killings to be done silently and in close quarters as well as represents the betrayal.
Meanwhile, another player is randomly selected to be a “detective” and is given his or her own token – for example, a shotgun. The rest of the players are designated “innocents.”
It is the detective’s job to figure out who the two killers or traitors are, before the traitors kill them all. The detective can check any player for a rubber traitor knife. There are also Airsoft guns scattered around the map, for innocents to defend themselves with, or for traitors to use to take people out from a distance.
Variations abound. Sometimes, un-murdered innocents may join with the detective to expose the traitor. Other times, the traitors may dispose of the knives, in order to better obscure their statuses. However, in this latter case, there has to be some method in place for the detective to validate his or her judgments regarding murder suspects.
Bomb
In the game mode “bomb,” (also known as Search and Destroy), there are two teams, one team being the “planters,” and the other team being the “defusers.” This game variation typically has a time limit. During this interval, the planter team must both plant a bomb inside of the defuser team’s base and defend it until the time is up, at which point the bomb “blows up.” If this occurs, the planter team is victorious. Otherwise, the planters and defusers may win by eliminating every member of the enemy team. If the bomb was planted, the defusers might also win by defusing the bomb; or by eliminating all enemies, and then defusing the bomb – which is easy when they are unopposed. (See, also, Demolition.)
Capture the Flag
Capture the flag, or CTF, is a game mode where both teams have a flag, and they must capture (i.e., steal) the enemy team’s flag, while simultaneously protecting their own flag.
There are two different types of CTF, one called “live flag,” and the other being called “dead flag.” In “live flag,” if the player who is carrying the opponents’ flag gets shot, and dies, then another player from the same team can pick up the flag right where it was dropped. In “dead flag,” if the player who is carrying their opponents’ flag gets shot, and dies, then the team must then return the enemy flag back to the base from which it was stolen.
Close-Quarter Combat
In this game mode, which is sometimes referred to as CQB, all the players must use short-ranged weapons, such as handguns and shotguns. The recommended playing field for this game mode is inside of a building, but preferably a building with no glass, as Airsoft pellets can sometimes break ordinary, thin-paned glass.
Commando Raid
In commando raid, one third of the players are the offensive “commandoes,” and the other two thirds of the players play defense. The latter defend objectives and intermediate areas that the commandoes have to “go through” to get to their “Extraction Zone.” The commandoes win by going to and clearing out each checkpoint. Then they must run to their designated extraction location. The defender team wins if it can manage to kill all the commandoes before they reach their extraction point.
Cops and Robbers (Also known as Police Shootout)
In this mode, all the players generally use pistols. One team is the police team, and the other team is the robber team. This game mode is more or less a simulation of an actual shootout between cops and robbers.
Demolition
Demolition is similar to “Bomb” (on which, see above) and involves the placement of an “explosive” in the middle of the playing field, directly in between both teams. The object of the game is threefold. Firstly, a team aims to get control of the explosive. From there, the explosive would be transported to the enemy base. Finally, it needs to be defended until it has time to “blows up.” This game can be played with an overall time limitation, which allows for the possibility of a draw. Or it can be played indefinitely until the explosive is transported and then a time limit is enforced after that.
Elimination
In this game mode, two teams battle, in order to eliminate the other team. This is basically a mock version of a “battle of attrition.” The idea is simply to inflict heavy losses until one side collapses. (See also Free for All/Last Man Standing.)
Escort Objective
See Escort Payload.
Escort Payload (Also known as Escort Objective)
In Escort Payload, the objective is for one team to carry an object (the “payload”) back to its base; the other team must stop them. Ideally, the carried payload should usually be a heavy(ish) object, so as to limit the carrier to the use of a light weapon. This assumes that if the carrier of the payload is using a heavy gun, then he or she will be too difficult to stop.
Force on Force
See Team Death Match.
Fort Wars
In this game mode, both teams start out in a “fort.” The mutual goal is to “capture” the enemy fort, while simultaneously defending your own. In order for a team to capture a fort, it must eliminate all players inside.
Note that not every player on a given team needs to be in the fort. So there will be cases where a fort is captured but where other members of the conquered team are still active on the playing field. This leads to variations.
On one variation, the game ends as soon as a fort is captured.
On another variation, the captured team is allowed a certain brief time to recover. For instance, if Team A captures the Team B’s fort, Team A wins – unless Team B is able to capture Team B’s fort within a specified time period – usually a matter of a few seconds or so. In theory, this variation could lead to longer games where forts are captured, reclaimed, recaptured, and so on. But, if the “recovery time” is sufficiently short (say… ten seconds), then this back and forth becomes less likely.
Respawning may be allowed. (See Respawning, below.)
Fortress Defense
Similarly to Fort Wars (see above), this game mode has one team (the defenders) defending a fort. The other team (the attackers) try to capture the fort. However, in contrast to many variations of Fort Wars, players are only allowed one life. Respawning is not permitted. (See Respawning, below.) The objective is simple: All either team needs to do is eliminate the players on the opposing team. (See also Survival.)
Free for All (Also known as Battle Royale/Last Man Standing)
In a Free for All, there are no teams. All players are by themselves, and the last person to be left standing wins. In other words, the objective of any given player is to kill all the other players. Everyone is on his or her own.
That said, players may form temporary and strategic alliances in order to eliminate opponents. Ultimately, however, the alliances will be broken, as the rules of the game do not permit more than one victor.
If you have ever of certain “Battle Royale” video games, like “Fortnite Battle Royale,” “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” “Ring of Elysium,” “H1Z1,” and others, you will recognize that this is basically a Battle Royale game mode. The term comes from combat sports and professional wrestling, where a group of competitors entering a fighter area or ring and the winner is the last person remaining. (For a variation played with teams, see Elimination.)
Hostage Rescue
In hostage rescue, there are effectively three teams, the “rescue team,” the “capture”/“defender team,” and the “hostage team.” The hostage team is placed inside the base of the capture team, whose task it is to defend their base from the rescue team until the time runs out. The rescue team must storm the base of the capture team bring back the hostages.
As usual, variations are possible. For example, differing time limitations could be enforced. Additionally, variants are created in terms of the number of hostages that must be rescued for the rescuers to claim victory. Some games may require that all be rescued; other might specify at least half of the hostages must be returned back to the rescue base; etc.[1]
The rescue team may be allowed to carry more guns, in order to supply the hostages with weapons.[2]
King of the Hill
In this game mode, two opposing teams try to capture a neutral point that is (usually) positioned between them. There are two main ways that this game mode can be played.
Firstly, there can be time limit, and whichever team has control of the hill when the time runs out is the winning team. This may have further variations depending upon whether the winning team is required to have full or only partial control of the hill.
Secondly, there can be what is called a “score limit.” This is where the team that is on the hill for a certain amount of time wins, due to the steady accumulation of points that they acquired while they were on the hill.
Last Man Standing
See Free for All.
Manhunt
In this mode, one player is the “prey” and all the other players are the “hunters.” There can only be one winner, either the hunter that shoots and kills the prey, or the prey, who reaches the safe zone. Although the hunters are technically working against each other, they are also on the same team, and so, the hunters generally cannot shoot each other.[3]
Medic
Medic is a game mode where two teams duke it out, like in a lot of other modes, but …there is a twist. In this Airsoft game, a downed player can get revived by the one player who is designated the “medic.”
In one variation, there may be one medic – period. In others, each team might get to elect its own medic.
One immediate goal in this game mode is to kill the medic, and then the “ultimate” goal is, as is typical, to kill all the players on the enemy team.
The medic is typically not armed or is at least not armed very well (perhaps carrying only a spring-type pistol). Once the medic is killed, he or she cannot be revived, and neither can any of the other downed players, so you need to make the protection of the medic your top priority.
MilSim
MilSim (standing for Military Simulation) is a term that, in the first place, refers to a set of objective- and team-based games that are designed to help military personnel train.
Ordinary people can play another type of “MilSim” where the players involved don’t call their hits with a hand in the air and a shout, but rather with a scream and then falling to the ground. The idea is to enhance the realism of the experience.
Thus, MilSim is for people who like Airsoft, and want to play a really realistic war game – albeit one that still doesn’t involve real guns.
Murder
See Betrayal.
Object Hunt (Also called Scavenger Hunt)
In this game mode, a (neutral) third party hides certain items around the field for the players to find. The object of the game is to have the most hidden items when the time runs out.
Sometimes there is an additional twist, namely, allowing the enemy team to kill a player and take any or all objects that he or she player has on their person. The players can respawn, but it’s best to just be careful. (See Respawning, below.)
Officers
See Ambush.
Paratroopers
In this game mode, one subset of the players (say a third or a quarter) – called the “paratroopers” – are blindfolded and led away from the other players to a certain designated area or zone.
The goal of the paratroopers is to reach a certain area, take an object or flag from that area, and bring to the extraction point – all without getting killed. They are each given maps of the area, with the objective marked on it.
The other three quarters of the players must find the paratroopers and kill them before any (in one version) or al (in another version) reach the extraction point.[4]
Police Shootout
See Cops and Robbers.
President
See Assassination.
Prime Minister
See Assassination.
Prison Break
In this game mode, one team is the “prisoner” team, and they can only use pistols – though they are frequently a significantly larger team. Their goal is to reach a certain point, which is when they have “escaped,” and they have won.
The other team, the “guard” team, can use Airsoft rifles or other “heavier” firepower, though with a significantly smaller team. The guards must prevent the prisoners from escaping by eliminating them all.
Return Fire
See Ambush.
Risk
In “Risk,” multiple teams (say from two to four or more) must battle – for an allotted amount of time – over various area of the playing field. These areas, sometimes referred to as “points,” must be captured.
Points could vary as well. One sort of variation might have the number of points match the number of teams. Other variations may have the two numbers arbitrarily associated.
The team with the most amount of points held at the end of the game wins.
Scavenger Hunt
See Object Hunt.
Save One Bullet
In this game mode, one team – the defenders – defends a fort. Each player on that team only gets one life (see Respawning, below), and they only get a very limited supply of ammo. The other team – the attackers – also only get one life (each). All either team needs to do is eliminate all the players on the opposing team, but the defenders must really conserve ammo.
Again, variants could be played without the ammunition restrictions on the defenders, or with similar constraints placed on both attackers and defenders.
(See also Fort Wars and Fortress Defense.)
Sniper
This Airsoft game mode is basically a spin off from hide and seek, where the “hider” has an Airsoft sniper rifle. In the most common variant, the hider must eliminate the seekers (yes, there are multiple) before they kill him or her.
Special Forces
In this mode, one third of the players are the “special forces,” and the other two thirds of the players are the “insurgents” (or some similar category of “bad guys”). The goal of both teams is to completely eradicate the other team.
This is usually played without respawning. (See Respawning, below.)
Squad Deathmatch
Squad Deathmatch is a game mode in which several teams (usually three or four) face off. The object is to try to eliminate the players on the opposing teams more times than the opposing players eliminate you.
The players can respawn in this mode. (See Respawning, below.) The number of kills that you must reach may vary depending on the field or the players.
Survival
Similarly to Fortress Defense, one team defends a fort, and each player on that team only gets one life. So, no respawning. (See Respawning, below.) However, many times this limitation is compensated for by virtue of allowing the defenders use of heavy armaments.
The other, larger team has unlimited lives, but is usually limited to lighter weapons. For example, attackers may only use Airsoft pistols whereas the defenders are able to use rifles.
This sort of game is somewhat unique in that there is little to no way for the defender team to win (unless all attackers can be killed in such a way as to frustrate their attempts to respawn). But, all the attackers need to do is eliminate the defending players. (For another contest with a large mismatch, see Wingmen.)
Team Deathmatch (Also known as Force on Force)
Team Deathmatch (or TDM) is the most well-known game mode in Airsoft.
It is a game mode in which two teams face off and try to eliminate the players on the opposing team more times than the opposing players eliminate them. The players can respawn in this mode. (See Respawning, below.)
The number of kills that you must reach may vary depending on the field or the players.
Trouble in Terrorist Town
See Betrayal.
Wingmen
In “wingmen,” two people (the wingmen) are hunted by the rest of the players – the “hunters.” The wingmen can stay out of sight and hide in wooded areas, but the other players must attempt to be loud and obtrusive, because they tend to have an extremely large advantage when it comes to numbers.
Like Survival, this game is often played to sharpen skills, rather than as an actual contest between two evenly matched opposing teams.
Zombies/Infection
This game mode can go a few different ways. One way, one team is the “human team,” and the other is a team of “zombies.” The zombies don’t generally have weapons, but must instead hit the humans with their hands or pretend non-firearm weapons (like rubber knives).
The zombies can get hit by more than one pellet before dying, whereas the humans die due to a single hit.
The humans can either: firstly, turn into zombies after being hit, or, secondly, just be out of the game for good.
Another way the game can start is where there is only one zombie to start out with, and he or she must tag all of the other players and turn them all into zombies. The humans still die in one hit, like before, and the zombies take more than one hit to be killed.
The objective of the zombies is to turn all humans into zombies, and the objective of the humans is to either kill all the zombies, or to reach a certain area to secure a “cure” for the zombie plague. The second objective is better for the version of this game mode where zombies respawn, but humans don’t. (See Respawning, below.)
Respawning
In some games, for example Fort Wars, players may be allowed to “respawn.” This means that downed players are permitted to reenter the game after having been killed.
Often, there is a procedure that must be observed for respawning a player. For instance, it is possible that a play automatically respawns after a predetermined amount of time.
Or again, a friendly play may have to approach the downed player to “revive” him or her. In this type, respawning is not too dissimilar from being “unfrozen” in the game of Freeze Tag. In Freeze Tag, a person who is “frozen” by an enemy’s tag may be “unfrozen” by the tag of a teammate.
Which Game is Best?
One of the best things about Airsoft is that you and your friends can make the games into want you want! There is no one “best” sort of game mode – period.
Now, you might say that some game modes are better than others certain types of play. For instance, if you want to play with two evenly matched teams going head to head, then you probably should not select Survival or Wingmen.
But, other than this sort of caveat, you can play whatever game modes you agree upon. And it’s fun to try different ones.
Another great thing is the ability to add your own twists and variations to the game play. There’s nothing that says you have to play the listed games exactly how they are described or how other people play them. You can change the rules and mix and match game elements.
Just be fair; be safe; and have fun! Happy Airsofting 😊
Notes:
[1] Along with this, there must be additional rules regarding the capture team’s conduct toward its hostages. For example, in some variations, the hostages might not be able to be killed. In other versions, the hostages might be killable – but there may be restrictions placed on when and where this may occur. This is arguably necessary to guard against an unscrupulous team merely “executing” the hostages to avoid their rescue.
[2] But see the previous note.
[3] Though, again, you could conceivably imagine variations on this game where this restriction is lifted.
[4] There may be additional rules concerning where the non-paratroopers can position themselves. This may be done to avoid situations where the non-paratroopers just station themselves at the extraction point and mow down paratroopers as they approach.