Paintball

[Zwelgje]

Last weekend I played paintball with some collegues in the woods. You know, you shoot little balls filled with paint at eachother.
Before we went I was kind of sceptic on whether or not I would like it. I'm quite anti-militaristic and not a violent type at all. But it turned out to be a good way of passing time. Crawling through the mud, seeking cover, ambushing others. The best thing: shooting and hitting that person that has pissed you off for too long already!
I got hit too, it wasn't cool: I got hit in the face. I was wearing a mask but there are holes in it to allow you to breath. Obviously the paint passes those holes too.
So, anybody of you ever played paintball? Did you like it?
(please don't start talking about how you were in the army and were shooting with real guns in real combat, those stories are sooooo boring... )

 

[Ossric]

i like paintball, except on a rainy day. The mask gets damped & you can't see a thing. At one time we & our enemies were only 4 meters apart & we could hardly see each other so we were just shooting in all directions.

one thing i hate though, is that when an enemy sneakes up on you & fires from close range. You're dead, so it should stop there but diabolic as we are, we always shoot a couple more balls simple for sadistic pleasure. But when you're on the receiving end, it hurts like hell (not to mention the day after..)

 

[ArbitraryGuy]

My buddy's uncle seriouslly hooked me a group of my friends a few weeks ago. He (the uncle) owns an indoor, close-quarter training facility where the SWAT team does hostage-rescue, forced entry, etc. It was sweet. You got to practice real-life tactics in a real-life setting (rooms, hallways, stairwells, etc). It got pretty intense. My buddy's uncle and 2 of his cop buddies did a forced entrance on me and my friend... we died pretty fast. That sucked. I learned an important lesson: Never take hostages or barricade yourself in a building, the SWAT team will get you.

The best part about it... he let us borrow the guns (for the bad guys: AK-47 style guns, for the good guys: MK-5s) for free and sold us the paint at cost. Can't wait to do it again.

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Going next month.

Me? With a loaded projectile weapon in the woods? With MY reputation?

I say. . .

 

[Esckey]

It's always lots of fun. But the biggest problems is that I naturally have to rent and so the masks usually suck and get fogged up pretty fast, and to top it off I wear glasses and they get fogged up to.

But man is it fun to kill everyone that's been annoying you, especially when you headshot them and the rounds don't blow. That hurts alot! I rarly get hit cause I'm quick and I'm not an idiot....well not often. I was the last man standing so to finnish the game quickly I rushed 6 people that were all like 10 feet apart but I only got shot 3 times.

 

[bobgote]

I'm going for my first time soon!
I'm quite looking forward to it.

 

[Bacon King]

I might be going to play for my first time a few weekends from now. My brother plays regularly, he has several paintball guns.

 

[gunning1]

I've gone a few times. One time I went (about 3 months ago) I shot one of my friends in the arm from just a few feet away. It left a big bruise that you can still see today.

 

[Richard III]

My only problem: I wear glasses for distance, and those frickin masks...

 

[Riesstiu IV]

I went twice.

A friend of mine has a dad that collects military stuff. He let us borrow some gas masks and paramilitary (or shall a say police) uniforms! when we got all dressed up, we looked like some oppressive police force from the future. I managed to get two guys from the other team, but I got hit in the face. It didn't matter since I had all that heavy equipment on.

The second time I went, I put on a fake Saddam Mustache, green berate, and green military clothes (also borrowed from my friends dad). As a joke I chanted, "Death to America!" and "Long live Iraq!"... well I didn't last long in that game. The entire team went after me!

 

[Captain Carnage]

I went and I stepped on a paintball-trip-wire

 

[DS_Legionary]

I've gone paintballing several times before. Very fun if you wear enough clothes to null out the pain of being shot. Even if you don't wear enough, it's still fun. I remember the first time I went though. I was the last on my team left, and there was 5-6 on the other team. They had surrounded me (I didn't know how to breath right through the mask so it fogged up so bad I couldn't see) and then from nowhere they all fired at once. I swear I got hit by at least 40 paintballs. Now, let me tell you that hurts like you wouldn't believe. So I went out and did it again

 

[RedWolf]

Originally posted by Esckey
. But the biggest problems is that I naturally have to rent and so the masks usually suck and get fogged up pretty fast, and to top it off I wear glasses and they get fogged up to.

Originally posted by Richard III
My only problem: I wear glasses for distance, and those frickin
masks...

When I first started playing I had the same problem with my glasses - either they don't fit well inside the cheap rentals and hurt your face OR they (and the goggles) fog up.

Fortunately you do have options to counter this and once you do you'll have a lot more fun at the field:

Try to buy some anti-fog solution - a compnay called JT actually makes it but it's hard to find. Check the pro-shop at the paint ball field. The field I played at actually sold a home made variety which worked surprisingly well. Spray a little bit on the goggles and your glasses.

The other choice is to go to a paint ball store and buy one of the realy nice JT Spectra goggle systems. Not only do they fit glasses a lot better but they provide superior vision. The difference in comfort is like night and day. I'm not of the exact model anymore (I bought mine some time ago) but some models have an anti-fog design - the lenses are doubled up so that air flow goes between them - preventing the lense from fogging up. (you can NOT spray anti-fig on these lenses - it wrecks em by the way). They run for about $100 here.

I use BOTH of these methods - a nice comfy anti-fog goggle system AND anti-fog spray on my eye glasses. Works GREAT. Trust me.

 

[RedWolf]

I love paintball - it's the only sport/activity I have ever enjoyed (or been good) at in my entire life.

I love everything about it - sounds of the guns, noise on the field, the paintballs whizzing by your head and the heart pounding fear that goes along with that. I love the confusion when your plans go to hell and the sense of satisfaction when you perform absolutely perfectly under fire and EVERYTHING just goes "right".

One of the things I always tell people is that "it's fun because it hurts" and thats the absolute truth. There's something about the idea of knowing that when you screw up - you hurt. The fear contributes to the adrenaline rush and the best part is although you get "hurt" you never get injured.

It makes the game more "real" then most sports because you have a stake in the outcome. Part of the reason I never liked sports was because I just didn't CARE. Who cares how many times my team shoves a puck in a net or knocks a ball over some fence?

The other great thing about paintball is that it's a great equalizer. You don't have to be muscular or fast or athletic. All it takes is some skill and intelligence. I used to play a LOT and considered myself a good player but at the same time it was easy enough to get "killed" by some girl that had NEVER played before but simply had a knack for it - in what other sport can you have that happen?

I haven't played in some time now due to an unrelated injury and money ($50 is a lot of money to throw away for an afternoon once you're an adult and have REAL bills to pay! however every once in a while I pull my gun out of the closet so that i ca strip and clean it. "I love the smell of Paint Ball gun lubricant in the morning"

 

[hbdragon88]

I heard it's really brutal.

My friend told me that the first time he went, he got shot in the same place three or four times and had huge bruises afterwards. I've heard that a rented day can cost $50 - my friend said he went to a small place that charged $10 or so. But the guns were like $40.

Also he said it's not fun if you hve an armor plate or anything - he and his friends went out with minimal armor.

 

[Esckey]

The cost all depends on how long you play basically. I go to a place that has an entry fee of like $25 that includes gun, 200 rounds, and all the other basics. Now I play for the better part of a day so I usually spend about 40-80 dollars. Depending on the type of games we play(Capture the flag can get boring quick)

As for armour, it only hurts for a day or more. I worry more about sore muscles then bruises. I usually go out with just jeans and a t-shirt and then get the overalls that most places hand out. Well it was really hot so I ditched the overalls and I hardly noticed any difference

 

[Unregister]

now that i have a job, and money, i really want to play paintball, anyone got a spare gun i could buy?

 

[naervod]

I have played before, it is a great game. I go about once every one or two months, so I just rent stuff for a day whenever I want to go. It's fun stuff, and when I visit my uncle in Montana (former Captain in US Army), he is always up for a game, so I use some of his stuff. For protection, I usually wear a sweatshirt and a t-shirt with some old jeans or other pants and then take the stuff the place gives you. I had a few bruises, but mostly, like Esckey, just sore muscles, like when I went running 5 miles in cleats for soccer and then doing sprints.

I feel paintball is a sport that can be enjoyed by all. You don't have to be particularly strong or fast, you just have to have some coordination (for aiming) and teamwork skills. It takes strategy to play and not just athletic talent, although athletic talent could pull you out of some really tight jams, like when I get almost cornered. For example, I was behind an open top fixed defense, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone point a gun over the side. I jumped out of the way and then got around and shot the guy, all in a few seconds. However, as people have said before, it takles teamwork. Covering fire can keep people stuck while a teammate runs in to grab the flag. Other numerous occasions where teamwork takes precedence also occurs.

I highly recommednd playing a game of paintball if you are thinking about it or haven't already.

 

[Leha]

I went twice . Liked it very much . When you are hit , it hurts a little , but not that serious . I got in ambush once and was pulverised by two enemy players from 2 meter distance , well , I'm alive . Overall , paintball is great experience and good stress killer .

 

[superslug]

The first game of paintball I ever played I got captured, put down on my knees and 'executed' at point blank range in the forehead. The rest of that glorious day, vengence was mine!