Economics of Paintballs

[JasperStout]

The current state of the game is actually really good. With a pump and a $15 bag of paint it’s a cheaper hobby than golf. It’s not much more than bowling if you use a pump and you still are competitive against 10 bps electros. Maybe 5.5 would be a better cap but 10 is actually pretty reasonable if it’s enforced.

I think paintball just needs exposure now. It’s a lot better game than it used to be. When I tell coworkers I play paintball they act like they haven’t heard about it for a really long time. Like I just told them I’m trying to find a furby for my sons Christmas present

I’m not sure we need to be encouraging magfed just for the newer players or for the economics of it. If anything we just need to get rid of the rental blowbacks with gravity hoppers. All the renters at my field complain about their guns. I hear more complaints about the guns than the high rates of fire

[Chuck E Ducky]

A lot of fields are going to Emek for rentals and it’s awesome! Just wish there was better option for masks that don’t fog. Some places like OSG paintball even rent masks with dual pain lenses now. A new player can walk on the field for the first time and not be out gunned and see what they are shooting at. It’s a great time for new players. Only downside is it’s easy to shoot a lot of paint and new players haven’t learned trigger discipline.

[JasperStout]

That is awesome about the emeks. And Yeah good point about the dual pane lenses. That’s really good to hear fields are starting to do that. I know vforce makes thermal lenses for their rental armor masks.... or they used too. Idk if GI is making anything now.

but yeah paintball rocks right now. It’s really really fun. But you need good equipment to play and enjoy it

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

I have issues with that last two sentences. Lol

[Toestr]

I like the idea of magfed tournaments. They're like pump tournaments, except the way rate of fire is reduced is different. I've seen videos of local woodsball and magfed tournaments being played, and they look fun. I like that mech tournaments are played on a wider variety of fields than just airball, but the rate of fire that most of those guys are shooting is still too high to entice me enough to play one.

Imo the peak of entertaining tournament play was 1995 World Cup (https://youtu.be/reEKWjopC3A). The field size, layout, format, and coverage were all very good. While I'm sure airball/hyperball/ mounds is an easier and less expensive format to film, it just doesn't entertain me like this field does. I'd like to see a woods field format put into the mix with the others. I think the more fields, the more entertaining it will be.



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[JasperStout]

That 1995 field is really cool. I’d love to play on that.

And that weird “sit up” playing position everyone seemed to do back then. Very strange.

But man its so tough to communicate on film how fun and exciting paintball is. That 1995 video comes close though

[ATBen]

Anyone tried the first strike paint yet? Reading its description it sounded pretty close to the matte shell marbz and ultra evil.

Also, which came first? The freak kit or smaller paintballs?

[Mr. Hick]

Freak kit for sure. I was still using the .695 insert on my first kit.

[Mr. Hick]

In fact: when I bought my freak kit I almost threw away all the inserts under .689 because I considered them useless. It took almost 15 years for them to have some value to me.

[Meleager7]

Yeeeah, magfed airball would be pretty close to the bottom of the list of options IMO.

I am rather familiar with paint costs on the store side, but I'm afraid I'm under some pretty strict NDAs and can't discuss them. What I can say is that, even a store that does rentals, repairs, and obviously traditional retail, paint sales make up a huge portion of a store's profit. Limited paint formats, be it stock class or magfed, is detrimental to stores or fields.

I've happy that everyone working in Paintball is making money along the way from manufacturing a case of paint, to selling to a Distributor, then to a Store, then to a Field, etc.

But if the costs to manufacture a case of paint really are as low as suspected, I've always wondered if our sport would grow if a Renter could visit a paintball field and have that great experience without the sticker shock of paying $$75- 80 at the end of the day (that would be average here in Canada with rental fees, and approx. 500 rounds) ....that is an expensive day for one person! And if you want to bring your kids out too that day, holy smokes!!! Yes, they can start to save if they decide to get their own gear, but they have to commit to joining the sport first!!!

Which I think is why paintball remains a once a year activity for most people, bday parties, corporate events, even if they really liked it.

[Meleager7]

The current state of the game is actually really good. With a pump and a $15 bag of paint it’s a cheaper hobby than golf. It’s not much more than bowling if you use a pump and you still are competitive against 10 bps electros. Maybe 5.5 would be a better cap but 10 is actually pretty reasonable if it’s enforced.

I think paintball just needs exposure now. It’s a lot better game than it used to be. When I tell coworkers I play paintball they act like they haven’t heard about it for a really long time. Like I just told them I’m trying to find a furby for my sons Christmas present

I’m not sure we need to be encouraging magfed just for the newer players or for the economics of it. If anything we just need to get rid of the rental blowbacks with gravity hoppers. All the renters at my field complain about their guns. I hear more complaints about the guns than the high rates of fire

Take that reference even older man, tell them you trying to find a Teddy Ruxpin for Xmas!

I do need try the Pump experiment one day for sure.....but man the draw of having the extra firepower with a semi always has me packing my non-pumps

i agree, any improvement a field can make to their rental fleet, will increase chances of new players taking up the sport! The Eclipse Speedster, and PAL loaders are great steps forward in this regard , expecially with the .50 cal capabilities......

[ATBen]

I've happy that everyone working in Paintball is making money along the way from manufacturing a case of paint, to selling to a Distributor, then to a Store, then to a Field, etc.

But if the costs to manufacture a case of paint really are as low as suspected, I've always wondered if our sport would grow if a Renter could visit a paintball field and have that great experience without the sticker shock of paying $$75- 80 at the end of the day (that would be average here in Canada with rental fees, and approx. 500 rounds) ....that is an expensive day for one person! And if you want to bring your kids out too that day, holy smokes!!! Yes, they can start to save if they decide to get their own gear, but they have to commit to joining the sport first!!!

Which I think is why paintball remains a once a year activity for most people, bday parties, corporate events, even if they really liked it.

Agreed, if the sport is to grow we need to try and find a formula that works for converting your once a year/party player into a regular.

Maybe a discount on your first membership, and to get the same discount the next year, you need to bring have a friend buy their first membership.

They way I see it, airsoft and party groups are what is keeping paintball alive. Not us grumpy old guys discussing the merits of paint or how entry prices keep going up while on field game time decreases.

[vijil]

Agreed, if the sport is to grow we need to try and find a formula that works for converting your once a year/party player into a regular.

Maybe a discount on your first membership, and to get the same discount the next year, you need to bring have a friend buy their first membership.

They way I see it, airsoft and party groups are what is keeping paintball alive. Not us grumpy old guys discussing the merits of paint or how entry prices keep going up while on field game time decreases.

This is where I was coming from with the magfed thing. I worked at a field for a couple years and new players got way more excited over magfed gear than they did over anything else, and they tended to be scared off by high ROF.

The people who took over the field later on put in an airball field and found that punters loved it, again so long as it was rentals only. We used FT12s.

If I was doing it now, you betcha I'd be running battle royale modes and maps (and yes, I'd call them modes and maps. Use the terminology people understand to reduce friction.)

My overall point I suppose is that we are not the future of paintball. The kids are, and they don't share our history in the sport. They don't care about mech vs electro or whatever. They care about having fun, which means not spending too much and not getting bonused by idiots with egos and refs that enable them, but it also means playing fortnite and CoD and among us in real life. What concerns me is that no marketing or prod dev effort seems to have gone into courting that new style newbie demographic. Everything is targeted at existing players and increasingly us old guys.

When the biggest revival in a market is old fellas returning, as a marketing guy, that's when I call crisis "we're screwed" meetings.

[Magmoormaster]

I've happy that everyone working in Paintball is making money along the way from manufacturing a case of paint, to selling to a Distributor, then to a Store, then to a Field, etc.

But if the costs to manufacture a case of paint really are as low as suspected, I've always wondered if our sport would grow if a Renter could visit a paintball field and have that great experience without the sticker shock of paying $$75- 80 at the end of the day (that would be average here in Canada with rental fees, and approx. 500 rounds) ....that is an expensive day for one person! And if you want to bring your kids out too that day, holy smokes!!! Yes, they can start to save if they decide to get their own gear, but they have to commit to joining the sport first!!!

Which I think is why paintball remains a once a year activity for most people, bday parties, corporate events, even if they really liked it.

Well, I can tell you that with rental prices here in Utah of $25 for a gun and 500 paintballs, it's still a once a year thing for most people.

[Seajay]

I think it is picking back up. I'm seeing some fields that went BYOP for walk-on stopping that and going back to FPO, which is a sign money is flowing again, or at least suggesting it.