Parcher

The price was the equivalent of 63 bucks for 350 bullets/balls each. I guess that's an ok price, but I really don't know. Considering that in my semi-socialist country where cars are so expensive that no young person owns one one has to rely on public transportation, and thus it takes forever to get there, I am not so sure. It was in the middle of nowhere.

I had looked forward to trying paintball. I love games, "matches", how could it be anything else but fun?

First of all, I was so god damned unlucky!! The first many matches, I got hit within 10-20 seconds and was the first to die. This was NO MATTER what I did. Hide at base behind a cover? Hit. Charge forward? Hit. Move slowly going from cover to cover? Hit. Hide again? Hit. Charge forward? Hit. And I got zero "kills" the first many games, even when I fired like directly at the other team. I am convinced many didn't play by the rules (the balls don't always break). Oh yeah, the genius owners gave BOTH teams (5 players each) matching camoflage suits. And a little yellow cloth around the arm of the "yellow team". Yeah, that's great, in the "heat of battle" let me stop and examine and see if I can spot a little yellow scarf back there.

Also, the map/arena itself IMO sucked. Appearently it's the biggest in Scandiniavia, but I hope not the best, because the floors were so covered in saw dust that everyone was slipping and sliding around and I fell on several occassions. And no it doesn't hurt, the saw dust is there to absorb, but it ruins the game.
And also, the arena was too damned dark and yellow combined with the "blindness" (detailed below), not exactly fun. It's not a night simulation, put up some fucking spots.
And the obstacles/covers sucked too. whatever happened to simple sandbags, walls, etc? nooo we had to have triangles everyone that provided no cover, and strange shapes with holes everywhere. This meant there WAS no cover, so a match was over in about 2 minutes MAYBE. There was absolutely no strategy (well there probably was, just impossible to construct one).

And MY GUN - no one else's, just mine - kept "misfiring". Again and again and again, and she didn't just give me a new one despite the fact that they probably had 30 or 40 in their control room. So many times where I by the luck of the Gods snuck up on someone for the perfect hit, it misfired! And he turned around and just shot me. Argh.
Oh and the helmet/facer cover? I don't get it. Mine was constantly fogged by my breath, no matter how I breathed. Nose, mouth, both, making sure to blow the exhales "down" towards the neck etc. I must have been "blind" 1/4 of the time. One of my problems is I am off-season currently, weighing 220 at 5'10 - 5'11..this itself is not a problem, but it's a problem when one has to run around ALL the time because the match is over in 1 minute. NOt fun. Everyone was dying to catch their breath, weighing 45 lbs less at 6' +. Imagine me.

I was at this event with the boys/men from my class at law school. Not the most fun and tolerant and relaxed crowd. Of course I had to take shit because I delivered a bad performance, well conditions didn't exactly work for me!
It's still a fun game, and I can see it has a lot of potential. Today was not one of the great days where I invested money and felt: "This was money well spent". Lame.

Personally I'd much rather play some kind of "Gladiator" games with fake swords and shields... much more skill, much less random.

Anyways, just felt like writing this

The Bus

This looks interesting to try but the cost of equipment is a total turn-off to me. From what I've heard from other paintball players, it's not unusual to spend $1000+. No thanks.

McHawkson

You should play paintball in late 1980's where the REAL fun are.

Parcher

I've joked several times that it's cheaper to buy a real, functioning official weapon than a paintball/hardball version/imitation of that weapon. Ridiculous. They must have fixed prices.

GuessWho

There's a laser tag place by me that still does good business.

eXcentris

I hope you weren't considering a carreer in the military.

Parcher

What's that supposed to mean?

Bushdog

It appears you do not excel at war games, so he made the (very small) leap to suggesting it might indicate you would not be good at real war. It was tongue in cheek.

Parcher

Yeah, I understand his point, but it's pretty ridiculous. To think that it's comparable to real life is ridiculous. In any event with 2 teams running around firing everywhere, nothing resembling a strategy or anything like that, it doesn't translate well to modern combat.

Bushdog

I took it as a joke, dunno.

ChiTownAbs, Inc

The only place I played paintball (and it was only once) allowed you to rent the equipment for like $60-75 + the cost of paintballs (which was another $25) + the cost of the game which is like $10-15 a game.

Bushdog

Wow, never did it and after listening to the cost never will. Might as well stick to laser tag

eXcentris

Well yeah.

Parcher, I'm sure you'd do just fine in real war. Don't take everything so personnally.

Parcher

No I am not sure I would, I don't think anybody is so sure. The fact is you could be Rambo and a bomb will just drop on you, or some sniper take you out

devilshalo

Sounds like your team was a n00b team that ended up against a seasoned team of players. If you watch the NPPL on ESPN, eventhough the games seems relatively quick, there is still a strategy.

devilshalo

It can get expensive. I stopped playing weekly because I was spending about $80 - 100 each weekend. There are some markers that can cost upwards of $1000 but there are many newer models a third of that price now that can pretty much push the same amount of paint just as accurately and quickly.

cdollaz

I don't like the "speedball" type of paintball like they show on TV where you are on a small field and it ends quickly. I like to play out in the woods where it is more about stealth, stalking, etc. You use much less paint and the scenarios are much more fun if they have forts, castles, or similar built where one team defends the fort and the othe attacks.

Parcher

That's EXACTLY what I am thinking. Stealth, strategy.. not spray and pray and chaos.

cdollaz

You should try again with one of these type of paintball outfits. It's a blast. Wearing camo, crawling around in the brush, etc. is a lot of fun.

Bell65

yeah, everytime ive played ive gotten 20-30 friends and strategized each game...at least within platoons...who would stay back, who would get the flag, what angles we would take, hand signals, etc...

im far from wealthy and have a blast playing here in Mn at combat Zone Inc for around 50 bux everytime I go out

The Bus

At $50-$100 a game that's fine if that includes a couple of hours of activity. I doubt I would do it regularly. That's like 2-4 HD DVDs!

LurkerDan

DVDs?

bigsoos

I've always enjoyed playing speedball. Might end quickly, but you get more games in.

ChiTownAbs, Inc

(CBS) JOLIET, Ill. Polls show that the war in Iraq is not popular, and some lawmakers are demanding that US troops pull out, so the Army is trying a unique way to recruit. CBS 2’s Mai Martinez reports on the latest war game: Paintball.

CPX Sports in Joliet looks like the perfect playground for paintball players, but army recruiters see something much different: a field of potential new recruits.

"We probably gain about 50 leads from people interested in the Army each time we come out," said Maj. Levie Conway, U.S. Army Recruiter.

Maj. Conway says he and his team have been approaching paintball players at CPX since 2005.

So far, they’ve enlisted 13 new soldiers. Major Conway says that’s a good number considering the fact that the US is still at war.

Even those who don’t sign up say they see why players might be drawn to military service.

"It's pretty much all of us playing army, so especially some of the younger kids that are coming out might be looking at something like that for a career," said paintball player Lonnie Colson.

Paul Dagnino, with CPX Sports, agrees. "I think that they may be looking for somebody who might be interested in taking it to the next level."

Army recruiters say that’s exactly what they’re looking for, and they’re spending thousands coast to coast to advertise at paintball venues.

"Usually the people that are interested in paintball have a propensity toward enlisting into the United States army. So what we have to do is just get them to get a chance to speak to an Army recruiter," Maj. Conway said.

Maj. Conway says because of the success the Army's already seen with this program, they are now looking at targeting other extreme sports that appeal to players in their target demographic.

The army is testing the approach in other states such as New York, Pennsylvania, and California.

jfoobar

Werd.

The game was a ton of fun and very good exercise as well up until the mid-90s. At that point, firepower started to increase dramatically and the fields just kept on shrinking and shrinking and shrinking.

Pumpguns like the Phantom and Bushmaster and the first/second generation semi-autos like the early Tippmans and VM-68s (PMI-3) got replaced with Angels and Shockers that fired 10+/second.

The game was just so much more fun in the old days.