Third eye injury from ‘Ultimate Game’

Press, 25 January 1986, Page 8

Third eye injury from ‘Ultimate Game’

PA Wellington The “Ultimate Game” claimed its first Wellington victim last week-end, but the Accident Compensation Corporation says the game is not dangerous if safety equipment is used properly. Mr Andrew Madden, of Hataitai, was shot in the eye by an ink pellet at the Pauatahanui game venue near Porirua last Sunday. Doctors at Wellington Hospital will try to save his eye by surgery next week. v

Mr Madden was wearing eye goggles during the game, but took them off to clean them when they became fogged. “It was probably my fault,” he said. “I shouldn’t have taken the goggles off. Out of the

blue someone hit me in the eye with a pellet “If one of those things hits you they can do some damage. I will think hard before playing it again.” Mr Madden, aged 26, has temporarily lost 90 per cent vision in his left eye. Doctors hope to repair most of the damage.

Mr Madden described his misfortune as a freak accident However, it is at least the third time people have suffered eye injuries playing the war adventure game, in which participants shoot each other with ink pellets. The Accident Compensation Corporation in Christchurch has had reports of two eye acci-, dents.

The regional manager, Mr John Lorimer, said

that in one case the injured player lost the sight in one eye. “In the first'accident, in the middle of last year, the player took his goggles off because they were steamed up and he got hit in the eye,” Mr Lorimer said. The cause of the second accident had not been established, but the result was the same.

Mr Lorimer said the game instructions were clear and the safety equipment good. “The most important thing is to keep the goggles on at all times. The Ultimate Game people have come up with new goggles which don’t steam up as much, which should help.”