We supply each player with two pairs of shoes. This amounts to $6o. He also gets five pairs of snap-on soles, one each for ice, hot asphalt, concrete, snow and all-purpose general. These cost us an additional $25. Thermal underwear, gloves, socks and other miscellaneous stuff like that sets us back another $30.

Traveling outfits, team capes and coveralls set us back $150 per man.

We don’t have to provide iron horses and supporters. In that department, every man takes care of himself.

In the weapons area, our long knives cost us $130 each, including sheaths. That’s because we have them specially balanced and honed. The handles and blades are constructed out of one-piece Durasteel®. The guard is set into place by a special hot forging process. The handles are wrapped in nonslip rubber. We strip the handles and rewrap them after every game because blood and sweat tend to soak into them and stiffen them up. The sheaths are made of self lubricating plastic. They’ll stay pliable and slippery for the quick draw from 20 degrees below zero up to 115 degrees.

The bleeders we have made by an English company that got its start making razor blades. Here too, the blade is a part of the handle. To make sure we stay legal with regard to amount of blade exposure, so is the guard. The handles are wrapped the same way as the long knives. The sheaths are constructed the same way. The bleeders and their sheaths cost us $95 each.

Short clubs are the cheapest weapon we have. They’re only $60 each counting their clip. That’s because they’re so simple to make. The clubs and the clips are injection molded out of plastic. The thongs are nylon. From what they tell me, the guys who make them can knock them out at the rate of about one every ten minutes. Nothing to it.

The bolas go for $105. They’re made of three steel balls, vacuum dropped up there in space in SkyFac to make sure they’re perfectly round. Then they’re encased in plastic and hooked together with thin nylon cord. Altogether, the whole thing weighs in at less than four pounds.

Not many players carry the javelins, but we keep some in stock anyway. They’re made of lightweight tubular alloy and are steel tipped. The handles are rubber wrapped. They cost us $8o each.

We don’t have to worry about the cost of the hidden safety’s rifle. Rifle companies provide us those for free. If I had to put a price tag on them, I’d say it probably costs about $450-$500 to make one.