My first time paintballing EVER! I've heard stories from friends about how it's going to hurt, people are ruthless, the better gun (marker) will win, the fields suck, the refs suck, and so on about all the places in SD. Luckily my recently SD transplanted Menifee buddy found this place. He takes his 14 yo kid here and if he can take it, I could take it.
Let's start from the beginning. Getting here is interesting because I typically drive a lowered car and the entrance is a "paved" road with lots of pot holes turned into a dirt road/parking area. Luckily I took my off-road ready Land Rover LR4 and had zero issues. So for all the low-riders, you'll make it through, but it'll be a little more challenging.
Once you park, get on over to registration. There are 2 separate registration areas, one for paintball (on the left) and one for air soft (on the right). We're there for paintball and the people in the registration area are phenomenal. For $50 it included all-day field access, unlimited compressed air, paintball gun and mask rental. They got us checked in, rental fitted, quick safety overview, and made sure we know what we're doing. After suiting up, we walked over to the filling station to top-off the tanks, (mandatory; make sure you put on your mask before entering the field) get the gun chrono'd (it's chronograph or velocity check or pressure check to be within their safety guidelines [I think, 280??]), and then off to the field.
There are several fields out there and "they" typically tell you as you walk on. Oh one big thing, they separate mechanical and electronic markers so that people play fairly. Basically a mechanical gun operator won't get demolished by a fully automatic gun that can fire 15 rounds within a second. The fields are pretty cool, granted this is the first time I've been to ANY paintball fields. There are lots of obstacles and they rotate each game by switching sides or fields. So it's constantly changing and you don't feel like you're on the same map every time.
Most players play fair. Meaning if you're hit, you're out. There are some that just don't like the fact that they got hit within the first 30 seconds of the 10 minute game. IF you're hit, just raise your gun in the air and the ref will grant you a safe passage out. I recall my last game where I was out of balls and there were 4 opposing players advancing on me. I popped my hopper lid open and signaled to the ref that I was out and he got out of there safely.
As you walk on or off the field let the refs know how many of you are there. Each game has players coming and going. You start/stop whenever you want to. The games keep rotating players, teams, and fields. I must have played roughly 15 games with my 5 buddies. We had a blast.
Here's some of my recommendations, bring a case of water (good for 6 guys all day), bring snacks (they have a hot dog/beverage cart here), wear layers of clothing, get extra paintballs (we went through 3 cases of 2000 count + 3 bags of 500 count between 6 guys all day), bring a change of clothes (change before you get in your car, my buddy was on the s#!t list for sitting in his dirty paint-filled clothes in my LR4), bags for the dirty clothes, bring extra paintball pods, and a good attitude.
Everyone here had a pretty positive attitude and is very cool. The player in the car next to us was practically lending his gear out to us, we declined, but that's the attitude here. The owner came out to the truck and made sure we were having fun and that we (beginners) should go into the speedball cage and go 3 vs 3, we also declined, but that's what makes this place so special. Again, granted this is my FIRST time paintballing EVER and everyone here made the trip worthwhile. FYI, yeah I got tagged a few times and yeah it hurts and still stings a little after 2 days. What really hurts are my legs from squatting, kneeling, running, and sitting. 2 days later, my legs are still hurting. The only way to build my endurance is to keep doing this.
Now, I'm suckered in and will pick up my own gear. Thanks a lot guys at ASG for "making" me pick up a new hobby and pouring out more money from my pockets. read more