After the ASH BASH was over I was talking to Jack and Daisy Ma from The Q-Project in San Diego, California. I asked what they thought of the event and they were impressed. What surprised them the most is how there was always something going on. It was like a carnival with tons of fun things to do all day. Jack and Daisy have been to many events all over the country and one thing they mentioned is a lot of events put all their emphasis on the game itself and during set-up and reload periods between games there’s a lot of dead time. But at the ASH BASH there was always something exciting happening so nobody got bored and everyone had fun.

The most obvious thing that was going on in between games was the prize give aways. The ASH BASH has the most give-away prizes of any airsoft event in the world. Over $22,000 worth of prizes were given out raffle style. Players would crowd around the stage hoping to win one of the great prizes such as a CAW Revolver grenade launcher from Impact Games, a fully loaded custom M4 from RedWolf, a custom Patriot M4 from The Q-Project, custom AEG’s from Echigoya Japan, not to mention the other 8 AEG’s 7 Pistols, full upgrade kits, Surefire lights and tac gear. Players were flocked around the main stage, holding on to their raffle tickets waiting in anticipation, hoping to win one of the prizes. In addition to the raffle prizes RedWolf gave embroidered hats and stickers to everyone in attendance, Airsplat gave camo water bottles to every one of the 400+ players, Tokyo Marui gave folding cooler chairs and stickers, Airsoft Hawaii shirts for everyone who pre-registered, over $5,000 worth of free stuff just given away. Nobody walked away empty handed. Not bad for an event that cost only $35 per player.

Another part of the ASH BASH everyone remembers was the costume contest, a first for the ASH BASH. This contest was judged by Arms Magazine. The costumes were amazing. There were contestants from every genre related to combat. Authentic WWII and Korean era soldiers, one even had a B.A.R. by JAC (I want that gun). ASH Referee Adam had a medieval warriors outfit with an airsoft cannon which he used during a game. Dave returned as the evil clown everyone feared from the 2004 ASH BASH but this year he added giant clown shoes and a chicken gun. Pikachu and ASH Catch’em were not only represented for the costume contest but they also played the whole day in costume. But the most memorable costumes were the colonial marine from Aliens and the master chief from Halo. Both costumes were totally accurate head to toe with complete helmets and armor. It was a very hard decision for the judges. The master chief definitely stood out more due to it’s metallic blue color and mirrored visor, but the marine beat it out in the small details. The marine’s Pulse Rifle was a more accurate depiction than the chief’s battle rifle. Additionally the colonial marine had a working shoulder mounted light and best of all an actual tracking device. The tracker had a screen that would show the aliens creeping in and the sounds were identical to the ones on the movie. Congrats to the Colonial Marine. For his costume he won a MP44 from SHOEI. This awesome gun from Japan is all wood and metal construction, gas powered, full-auto, and blow-back.

Over at the Echigoya booth Shane Silva, International Sales Manager, conducted 2 different Japanese styled shooting competitions. The first was a pistol speed shooting competition. Competitors used pistols to shoot down a row of 5 bottle targets. The person who shoots down all 5 bottles the fastest wins. Many players tried, including Boss Gerira. The winner was Alan Nii of Zero-Ops. After the pistol competition the players were back on the field for a game, then came back for the full auto competition.

For the Full Auto contest players were to shoot a line through a piece of cardboard, cutting it in half with bb’s. The person to cut a line and make the board fall over the fastest wins. The winner of the event was Gavin Abe. Truthfully this contest is more about how steady and consistent your shots are. Shane proved this to me when he cut a board faster than Gavin with a gun that shot slower and lower velocity than many of the top scoring guns. But we do need to factor in that Shane has been doing nothing but shooting cardboard all day long, several days a week, since he joined Echigoya. He practices shooting cardboard like as if it was going to be in the Olympics. Well, he actually has won several awards in Japan.

There were many other contests and side events going on as well. E-Powersports had a contest for who had the ugliest airsoft gun. The Q-Project had a shooting gallery in their booth. Additionally there were a lot of special guests for the players to meet and talk to. The most anticipated were returning guests Haruka Nakajima and Boss Gerira from ARMS Magazine and for his first ASH BASH Paul Chu from Redwolf Airsoft in Hong Kong. Nakajima-San was scouting the area with camera in hand taing tons of photos of all the players and their guns; many of them appeared in the November issue. Paul was very popular because before Impact Games and Power Edge were around many Hawaii players bought their airsoft gear from Redwolf. Jack and Daisy from The Q-Project were also busy answering a lot of questions about their extreme custom processes such as anodizing, laser engraving and electroplating.

And if you just wanted have a drink, eat some food, kick back and relax that was no problem too. Impact Games set up a Pepsi stand with lots of water and Gatorade (Boss and Nakajima-San love Gatorade). And Jennifer Turner, Special Events Coordinator for Kualoa Ranch, had an awesome food booth with a BBQ pit (it smelled so good, I wish I had time to eat).

So was the ASH BASH an excellent game. Yes it was, but to call it just a game doesn’t show the whole scope of the event. The 2005 ASH BASH was definitely an action packed day of sensory overload. And all for only $35.