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Schiesskino means, roughly, “shooting cinema,” and is all the rage among riflemen and hunters in Europe. The schiesskino establishment I visited on my trip to Germany was smack in the middle of a residential area, but at an underground range. Roughly six people at a time get to shoot real rifles with real full-power ammo at projected images of European game animals. You take three shots at a time. The projectionist then replays your three shots and a red dot appears where your bullet went. (The bullets themselves end up in a trap.)

It’s all done in real time, shot offhand from the low-gun position, and is a virtually perfect recreation of what you see from a hochsitz–running critters, herds of critters, mostly pigs, but other species as well. You have almost no time in which to pick out your target, aim, and shoot. There are all sorts of different programs that can be projected.

The range is downstairs. Upstairs is a clubhouse, and in one room is a giant TV monitor on which the downstairs activities are projected so you can see how your friends are doing. Most of the shooting I saw was very good, as just about everyone had done it before, but I didn’t see anyone go straight. If you’d like to get a look at this, Google schiesskino and look for the examples with actual guns, not lasers. It’s all in German, but you’ll be able to get an idea of what the sport is about. And for God’s sake do not transpose the “i” and the “e” when you type in schiesskino.