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Balls of Gelatin 2: Electropneumatic Boogaloo (AKA The Paintball Thread)
So I noticed there's a few 'ballers on these here forums, but there's no thread to codify for the ages our experiences, and love, and hate, for this sport/game/money hole.
Some of you must have gear and play or have played at least a few times, so chip in with your experiences and tales of valor or mishap.
For those who havn't played? You should try it... because it really doesn't hurt like you might think. And, it doesn't take years of training to be good at it. In fact, it seems the more I think and try to be tactical, the worse I get at this game.
As for my involvement, I'm really into the game even though I'm not actually very good at it objectively... nor do I play it all the time like some people who are really into it and go every weekend. No, I work in the industry as a product designer, with a group of guys called Stark Pursuit, and I invented a few products related to mag-fed style play, where you get rid of the bulk hoppers on the top of your gun and use small magazines instead, which is pretty-much the way paintball is headed at this point. Now that tournaments are loosing popularity and more companies are pushing products in the mag-fed market, people are seeing the appeal of less ammo use and more accuracy when you aren't locked in a tiny arena where you win via lanes of paint.
The other thing for me is I've slowly basically said 'screw the woods' and moved to more urban type paintball fields where there's no bushes, brush, mud, etc. The reason for this is that, as much as I don't mind slogging through the forest, it sucks for paintball. Paintball fields love brushy woods fields cuz it sells more paint, but the games become really boring, slow, paint throwing affairs where nothing much happens. So urban fields combine the irregular geometry and crazy angles of being out in the woods, with the hard lines and clear shot angles of a speedball field where you don't have to worry about a branch or twig stealing a shot. And so if you're a magfed player like me, urban is the ultimate rush.
But yeah. Anyone with questions, comments, curiosities, stories, events they want to plan or attend, gear talk... may as well put it all here.
Some of you must have gear and play or have played at least a few times, so chip in with your experiences and tales of valor or mishap.
For those who havn't played? You should try it... because it really doesn't hurt like you might think. And, it doesn't take years of training to be good at it. In fact, it seems the more I think and try to be tactical, the worse I get at this game.
As for my involvement, I'm really into the game even though I'm not actually very good at it objectively... nor do I play it all the time like some people who are really into it and go every weekend. No, I work in the industry as a product designer, with a group of guys called Stark Pursuit, and I invented a few products related to mag-fed style play, where you get rid of the bulk hoppers on the top of your gun and use small magazines instead, which is pretty-much the way paintball is headed at this point. Now that tournaments are loosing popularity and more companies are pushing products in the mag-fed market, people are seeing the appeal of less ammo use and more accuracy when you aren't locked in a tiny arena where you win via lanes of paint.
The other thing for me is I've slowly basically said 'screw the woods' and moved to more urban type paintball fields where there's no bushes, brush, mud, etc. The reason for this is that, as much as I don't mind slogging through the forest, it sucks for paintball. Paintball fields love brushy woods fields cuz it sells more paint, but the games become really boring, slow, paint throwing affairs where nothing much happens. So urban fields combine the irregular geometry and crazy angles of being out in the woods, with the hard lines and clear shot angles of a speedball field where you don't have to worry about a branch or twig stealing a shot. And so if you're a magfed player like me, urban is the ultimate rush.
But yeah. Anyone with questions, comments, curiosities, stories, events they want to plan or attend, gear talk... may as well put it all here.
Comments
I'll only be able to do airsoft/paintball very occasionally, and only if someone else takes care of all the hassle.
Getting enough people who are willing to travel to a place that does it, and arranging the specific game type you want to play (that everyone agrees on), is a huge hassle.
I did eventually put a life vest under my jacket so that I wouldn't feel torso shots, but getting hit in the leg by a ball moving at 300 fps still hurt. We had some good times, and some really great shots. I would only think about doing it again if I was going with friends.
I don't know how to solve it yet. I'm in the industry and I talk with field operators from various areas on a semi-regular basis, and I don't think anyone I've talked to has a great answer for how to cater to the lone player or the group of 2-3, who want to play but aren't part of a group that can do its own thing.
But I bet if those lone wolves were given some incentive to go, you could see an extra 10-20 people a day showing up on their own curiosity.
Most of you are too far from where I live in South-Eastern CT, but if anyone is ever curious, let me know and you can play with me at my local field for free: Fields of Fire, Mystic. I have a good relationship with the owner and I've been designing some field-layouts and game-types here. It's a trip up from NYC, yes, but I could pick someone up from the Metro North in New Haven no problem. If a group of FRC wanted to come up some time, I couldn't get in everyone on my good graces, but, I can help organize a good event and probably get a real good rate for everyone.
Similar could probably be said for somewhere down closer to NYC or in the Jersey area, or maybe one of the fields on Long Island, I know a number of players and teams from down in that region and most are within an hour of NYC by car... so I could help organize an FRC game sometime in that area too. Can't guarantee special rates but I could do something cool.