I have been paintballing for a number of years, and have been to at least a dozen different sites.
Good points - The game fields were amongst the best I have seen and played on, with the crowning glory being an impressive multilevel fortress.
Bad points - The marshalling was rubbish. Our day was spoilt by a group of chavs who repeatedly shot at players who were out of the game, but only from behind and in the head. This happened to me nearly every time I was out of a match, by players in my own team. I have played enough to expect the odd mistake, and I always walk with my gun up and my other hand up to make it obvious, but repeated shots to the back of the head was just taking the p***. This happened infront of the marshals. One marshal did try to resolve it, but limited effect. The same group were also shooting at each other walking inbetween games, and invariably other people got hit. They were shooting each other in the gun rack areas and during game briefings. In short if they had guns in their hands they were shooting each other. At the same time there were people in the groups with masks off, often the chavs, but others as well. The marshals would ask that all guns be racked and then say that masks can come off, but they later got slack and would say masks off when people still had guns in their hands, very poor. There was a cross section of people playing from young kids, teenagers, adults up to 40 - 50 years, and plenty of girls/ladies. The majority of the marshals failed to control the group and failed to uphold safety standards. Marshals forgot to explain to one team that they had unlimited lives in an attack and defend game, which clearly impacts on the way the game is played. During the day I kept my views to myself, not wanting to whinge to the less experienced players in my group, but by lunch other people were complaining the same way.
The Predator - what a pain in the ass. You make a move take a barricade and The Predator can just shoot you having joined from the back of the field when he can't be seen. This might be good for kids, being a bit scary. I certainly didn't pay my money to get shot from behind by a marshal, who can't be shot out of the game. If you think this is sour grapes, I was not taken out by the predator, just friends on the other team, but I don't like the idea. Lastly I heard a marshal give a 10 minute briefing to a group of very young kids, playing a mini / junior version. He rattled it off without taking a breath, despite most of the group being first timers. I'm sure he met the obligations of giving a briefing but when he left a parent asked the kids did you understand that to which they all went NO, and then the parent went through the main points again. Another example of poor marshals. If the owners/managers read this, I would point out that the decent marshal was wearing a peaked grey beanie hat, the other 2 shouldn't be paid their wages. read more
