Reviving paintball in your area

[bobthebot]

This may be a hot take, but don't go out of your way to make it easy/low effort/"family friendly". Maybe even go a little bit in the opposite direction.

One of the reasons paintball fell off and picked up a stigma was places dumbing it down to draw in young kids and party events. If you go the same way, people will think of it as a shitter version of lazertag and not engage the way you want them to. Paintball is an inherently challenging and active sport, these are strengths not weaknesses and they should be played to.

Instead, try to optimize the game to encourage people to play aggressively and creatively. Try to get your teams to make simple plans, hype up aggressive players and class clowns, and persuade the braver newbies to make kamikaze runs in exchange for glory. Go with classic game modes like capture the flag rather then using gimmicks, and NEVER allow unlimited respawn.

If you have a choice of playing area, pick someplace with lots of cover, elevation change, and terrain variety to get people strategizing, sneaking, and wandering.

I think high end guns are more of an asset than a problem as long as they aren't the overwhelming majority of players and those that do have them can be made to practice self control. In my personal experience, every single teenager who I've seen turn from a tentative newbie into an addict did so in a single moment of slack-jawed awe as he watched a Shocker or Geo rip in the distance. Needless to say, a high end lowner is an easy way to blow minds.

Limiting paint does help, although this is more a result of forcing newbies to play tactically to conserve ammo than it is a matter of intimidation.

[$L!mBo]

-if youre on the "home team" and they put you in a mixed walkon group with the rentals, play pump.
-always ask if the "birthday boy" wants to borrow an anti-fog mask and high end loaner
-play flag capture games with a "vip", hes the only player who can touch the flag, one per team. Use the rental players for the vip.
-after a couple games where the better rental guys begin to stand out, offer them high end loaner gear
-line everyone up and let the two youngest rental players pick teams

[JeeperCreeper]

I feel like the Northeast is spoiled. We have lots of good fields to pick from. We have any kind of paintball you want here. You can play in tournaments, you can play rec ball, you can go to stock class or open class pump days and events, even the magfed scene is pretty solid. Whatever we're doing up here seems to be working.

Heres my thoughts (sarcastic and semi serious, you pick which is which)
- You might have to kidnap / trick your friends into playing paintball
- Bring pizza and beer and someone will say yes 😆
- Invite anyone that you think might like to shoot you in the face
-Be consistent. You will definitely have days when nobody shows up, but dont let that stop you from trying again!
- Keep an eye on rentals. If you see some kid really getting into the game, give him a Spyder or a Tippmann or something they can call their own. It might help spark their passion for paintball

[M98punk]

Consistency is king! 10 years back or so I stared up a paintball club basically I got back into it but without a couple guys watching your 6 you can get spanked so built my people. Started with the crew from High school, remembered what their dream guns were and bought comparable on the cheap and restored them as loaners lol. Once I started organizing monthly meets on the regular it just kept growing till my 1st born was born in a December then I didn’t play for 6 years lol

[Mr.]

The problem here in se idaho, theres nothing lol. So this all has to be brought in from the grassroots level. i guess time will tell and we will see how much attn we can put on it this summer

[bobthebot]

That might be more of advantage than a drawback if you can bring together a decent crowd. You can play paintball the way it was mean to be played, without needing to deal with competition from the places who've gotten caught in a catch 22 by marketing mainly to rental parties.

[Mr.]

I agree, this summer will be intresting

[Mr.]

getting there, gunna be fun this weekend

[bobthebot]

Planning on shooting paintball guns within a few yards of your windows? I guess there's a certain appeal to living dangerously.

[Mr.]

Im waiting for some net, about 300ft

[glaman5266]

I feel like the Northeast is spoiled. We have lots of good fields to pick from. We have any kind of paintball you want here. You can play in tournaments, you can play rec ball, you can go to stock class or open class pump days and events, even the magfed scene is pretty solid. Whatever we're doing up here seems to be working.

Heres my thoughts (sarcastic and semi serious, you pick which is which)
- You might have to kidnap / trick your friends into playing paintball
- Bring pizza and beer and someone will say yes 😆
- Invite anyone that you think might like to shoot you in the face
-Be consistent. You will definitely have days when nobody shows up, but dont let that stop you from trying again!
- Keep an eye on rentals. If you see some kid really getting into the game, give him a Spyder or a Tippmann or something they can call their own. It might help spark their passion for paintball

This is such a good post. It makes me sad to think that pretty much none of that is possible near my location. We have a few fields, all just over an hour away from me. But all have their issues (safety, price gouging, etc.) and I refuse to patronize them. I'd start an outlaw field, but my wife prolly won't go for it. Not to mention insurance if someone does something stupid or a freak accident happens. I REALLY want to...

The regular scene here died in 2008 and I don't see things making a comeback with the current fields we have. And I feel like I can't do anything about it. I'd love to come out by you guys for a few days to play at Slim's or something. As of now I have to drive at least 2.5hrs for someplace decent.

[JeeperCreeper]

I'll say I know a guy that comes to Slims from Florida twice a year. If you make the journey one day, you will love the experience. It's like we get together to hang out, laugh, share stories, and we also happen to play paintball for 2 days.

[Siress]

Slim's is an absolute blast. Highly recommend. Some of the best paintball I've played since the '00s.

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

Fourth on coming to Slim's. Playing stock class has given me a 3rd life in paintball. Especially since it's like pulling teeth to get my friends out to play. I'm hoping the loaners get better cause I dragged some buddies out for one event and their Phantoms weren't really feeding. But everyone is super chill there and if you're nice most people will let you shoot their own unicorn guns.

[The Jayster]

Secure air for people to play. Rather it's scuba tanks or CO2, you'll be able to play anywhere once you have it.

Ensure new people have a fun experience while playing. You'll want them to come back.

Spot on. A LOT of potential players are turned off by a tiny minority of a-holes.

Here's my own list of things, over which I have control, that I can do to attract and keep players around:

- Be a good sport: play fair and congratulate an opponent on a nice move he or she just pulled. Conversely don't be an overt braggart if you pull a killer move;
- You may taunt the opposition in good spirits but never be a d***
- Ensure that everyone has fun. If your team has trashed the opposite teams say 3 times in a row, rebalance teams;
- Help around whenever you can. Someone has a leak? Get your allen key set and Loctite out. Someone's loader just died? Loan them one of yours, etc.
- Bring as many friends that have never played as you can. If you can afford extra equipment, loan them whatever you can.

[Brokeass_baller]

Not even gonna lie, me simply showing up in my magfed kit gets the kiddos interested. Sure, they think paintball is cool anyway. But when I break out the "AR" (468 or T15) or the "AK" (Tornado), the younger ones get real excited. I have a lightweight belt setup that's easily adjusted for size and it has 4 mag pouches and a dump pouch and I'll let any of the kids play a game with whichever they want. They all think it's cool. It's just like Call of Duty to them.

Which is sorta why I got into paintball to begin with back in the 90s. I think it was Jessica Sparks that wrote an article called "The Real Life Video Game" or something like that. And yeah, that's how I felt as a kid. It was Doom or Metal Gear, but real life and no threat.

[Brokeass_baller]

They also like my Gmek. With the Hair V2 it feels very high end to them. Like they're playing with what the pros use or something (which is sorta true with the Gamma Core, I guess)

[martix_agent]

for all thye need, it IS a high end gun. They shoot great, you can keep up with a rate of fire that doesn't make you feel under powered, and it's easy to use/clean.

I'm getting real close for it to be all I need. I own a gmek and now also an emek. I'm planning to sell everything except electronic my bob long victory.

[Refoogee]

I've had the same experience, not just from kids, but from everyone new I've played with. When I bring out the T8.1, or any of my magfed stuff, people get excited. They think it's cool. Let's be real, the people that got into paintball to play speedball were a minority. When you were a kid, you got into paintball for the "combat sport" aspect. I feel paintball dropped the ball really hard by abandoning that early "survival game" edge. You could have had a similar aesthetic to tourney ball as well, really.

[Pyrate Jim]

What would you do to help bring paintball back in your area?

Im just looking for ideas that a avg 1 man show(atm) can do

I would think it depends on location. I'm currently so far out in the sticks that it's an hours drive to the nearest dunkin donuts.
It's hard to bring it back to a place that never heard of it. Out here it's all real steel, a lot of property owners have their own shooting ranges on site and hearing them is a daily occurrence.
It's called "Deerfield" for a reason.
So, the few folks in this location are not interested. The closest fields are 90 minutes drive away and the majority are 3-4 hours.

To even consider growing paintball it would have to be a suburban area that already has a paintball presence (as in there are players with their own gear) because as a one man show, you can't supply all the gear. Assuming you have the property and a clientele you can start a club, but the minute you start selling paint or renting gear it legally becomes a business with all the added licenses, taxes, zoning, insurance and bureaucratic nonsense. I've been there, seen it, even given testimony before a city council to allow exactly that for a club that became a business and is now one of the premiere fields in CT.
So, it can be done. But it's not a one-man dream. It takes players (at least a core group) that are enthusiastic, dedicated and honest.
You find a location with those (our) kind of people, you find gold. Elsewhere, it's just mud & rocks.

[lhamilton1807]

You can, it’s a lot of work though. I have enough loaners (Tippmann/Spyder) to supply 16 people for playing hopper ball. Yes, 16x marker, mask, tank, hopper, co2/scuba tanks for refills, and paint. Plus chrono and barrel bags. It’s a lot of work but it’s slowly starting to pay off. Kids are getting their own gear so fewer loaners are needed. Games are getting more exciting and aggressive.

[bobthebot]

I would think it depends on location. I'm currently so far out in the sticks that it's an hours drive to the nearest dunkin donuts.
It's hard to bring it back to a place that never heard of it. Out here it's all real steel, a lot of property owners have their own shooting ranges on site and hearing them is a daily occurrence.
It's called "Deerfield" for a reason.
So, the few folks in this location are not interested. The closest fields are 90 minutes drive away and the majority are 3-4 hours.

To even consider growing paintball it would have to be a suburban area that already has a paintball presence (as in there are players with their own gear) because as a one man show, you can't supply all the gear. Assuming you have the property and a clientele you can start a club, but the minute you start selling paint or renting gear it legally becomes a business with all the added licenses, taxes, zoning, insurance and bureaucratic nonsense. I've been there, seen it, even given testimony before a city council to allow exactly that for a club that became a business and is now one of the premiere fields in CT.
So, it can be done. But it's not a one-man dream. It takes players (at least a core group) that are enthusiastic, dedicated and honest.
You find a location with those (our) kind of people, you find gold. Elsewhere, it's just mud & rocks.

I strongly disagree with this. Paintball was started by a bunch of weirdos in the woods with too much time on their hands. Some woods, some weirdos, and some time are all that you need to play.

[Pyrate Jim]

Perhaps I can clarify what I mean by location.
Deerfield, Virginia is smack dab in the middle of the George Washington/Jefferson Nat'l Forest. That's an area twice the size of Rhode Island with only three roads through it.
The 2020 census listed our town population at 139. The population of bears is higher than that. The terrain around here is more vertical than horizontal, and we're in the Greenbank Radio Telescope "dead zone" which means no cell towers.

Compare that to when I lived in CT. and ran outlaw games on family property up there about 30 years ago. Lotsa weirdos up there. And yes, I was spoiled. There were 10 fields within an hours drive. I wasn't in it to make money, just have fun. As I've gotten older and slower, I've tried promoting by showing off the beginnings of the game with a small museum of gear from the 80's & 90's. I still have it all ~ over 100 markers in storage.

So up in suburban areas, it's quite easy to promote. Out in the middle of nowhere it's a little different.
Have you ever seen an Amish paintball team? Neither have I, and there's a reason.

[nnolt89]

I hear that Pyrate Jim-

I too am from CT and I used to have an outlaw game every Saturday at my parents house when I was a teen. Game started at noon and went til 4ish.
Got anywhere from 3-20 people. I think the key was having it go every weekend.

Now I live in Maine and there are a lot of spaces but far fewer people.

I am considering buying a few acres and making a small course and having a regular game last Saturday or the month or something.

I would love it if people used SC markers or stick feeds but I’ll take any players!

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

Depending on the drive (I'm 13min from the CT border) I'd probably come out for an Outlaw game in Maine. I got a brother in-law I could entice into coming. There's a stock class group on Facebook you should join. That's where Slim advertises his stock class event. Maybe recruit some more outlaws there

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

There's a field near me that does "beginner days" no electric hoppers everybody does shake and bakes. I think it's an interesting way to help new players while challenging the experienced ones. I generally play pump or stock class but there's obviously a barrier for entry with the added equipment. Keep in mind those young and rental players are the future of the sport. Play nice and try not to scare them away!

[Jonnydread]

I'm with you. I think limiting paint is a great way to ensure that seasoned players aren't going volume overboard on newbies

[Mr.]

Things are starting to line up other than screwing up my knee lol

[Mr.]

Final payment made, looks like SE Idaho is going to have a full 2024 nxl field. Plan is to make it a semi private field mostly donation and sponsered based, if i can pull this off and get a small following i think it could take off. Still need to source a compressor and more netting, im feeling the cool runnings vibes lol.

You could follow us on
IG id.bruh
Fb idaho.bruh

[vijil]

Based on my experience growing disc golf in my city from zero (literally just me and nobody) to a regular club, and past experience running a PB field and coaching/captaining a few tourney teams:

Social media is key at first. Start a group/page on FB and other channels for PB in your area and start posting regularly. Interact with the posts. Share cool stuff. You don't need to pay for ads, but you do need to be regular and share the links as much as you can including places like this.

Second, get some popup stuff going. Find schools and churches etc. willing to let you use their land. Make sure you have a good relationship with them. See if you can rope in some people from a field (even it it's a long way off) to come and set up a popup. If there are fields in your area, talk to them about having club days, but only if they're ok with your crew buying almost no paint (see next section). They can help with spreading the word if they're down.

Third, and this is the controversial part: screw the speedball scene. If you let in fast guns from day one you're making the same mistakes the whole industry has made for decades, which are half the reason paintball is in the toilet. Either restrict to 50rnd hopper as others have suggested, or go hopperball only, or magfed. And keep it that way forever (or split off a separate full noise club eventually if you really have to). This is the part where fields aren't as happy because they wont sell as much paint, but if you want a sustainable scene the business model of consumable repeat revenue has got to go. I wouldn't even limit the markers since it's too hard, just enforce grav fed 50 hoppers, or magfed 20s. Ban FS.

I'm not saying play woodsball only. Airball magfed or 50rnd is amazing fun and should replace the NXL in an ideal world. I'm just saying the arms race needs to not happen from day one, and half arsed measures like H+2 or modern mech simply do not cut it.

Also pump is no good for newbies and 12gms are stupid, so no, stock class and pump is not the solution.

If it were me I'd start small and eventually grow a 50rnd speedball scene into a proper pro league, eventually buy out or hostile takeover Kore, fire/blacklist their entire exec and governance team, and laugh manically.

So yeah that's the plan. Go forth and conquer.

/rant

[The Hobbit]

I see no problems with the speedball/tournament game style. Playing with that style of equipment, during games with rentals or other casual players, does create a problem. I’ve been guilty of it, where aggressive play style and high rof created issues. There definitely needs to be a separation between speedball play and casual rec play.

That doesn’t mean speedball is bad or needs to go away. Either someone needs to find a group of like minded players or build that group. If building yeah starting out mech or hopper ball is probably the best idea. If it matures to where more players want the high rof, cool.

[bobthebot]

The problem with pump for newbies is that it requires both much more skill than semi auto and a degree of muscle memory to use the marker effectively. Sitting there and clanking away with a Tippmann can be fun for a newbie even if they don't hit much, and once in a while they may even get in a lucky shot. A first time player in a pump game on the other hand will walk on to the field and just lose, and lose, and lose, and lose, without having the opportunity to really do anything exciting.

[vijil]

Pump is too finicky.

I'm a CMO by day.

Friction and learning curve matters. Pump is too much friction. Slow or very limited semi is best.

Familiarity also matters. That's why magfed can work - people get it, despite the learning curve.

And I LOVE playing full noise speedball. But I'm also happy to admit that the insane paint volume arms race and business model is 50% of why paintball is in the toilet (gaming is the other 50%). If we'd been 50rnd hoppers from day one, the sport would be in a much better place globally including the pro level. Just keeping it separate from newbies isn't enough. It needs to die - not because it hurts, but because the business model is broken. Xball was designed not so much to be a TV sport as to sell more paint vs 7s, so the game design was massively compromised. Kore etc. actively resist anything that proposes limiting paint use for a reason, because they're all about the short term return and DGAF about the sport itself.