I would give zero stars if I could. My son's locker was broken into and his money & debit card were stolen. Staff showed no concern. What's the point in security if they aren't doing their job. Police were called & that's it. More could have been done. They had the guy on video. Why wasn't the place shut down and people searched? The person used his stolen card to pay for their own game. So of course they were still there! This place doesn't deserve anyone's business if they are going to show such little regard for their patrons. read more

This place is horribly run and zero fun. Overpriced, even with the Groupon we used. Staff is rude. Impatient. And spend more time standing around than doing any work. To get into a game, we waited approximately 45 minutes to be let into the course. Then we wait 10 more minutes before we started. Hope you have all day and are excited to stand. Rental equipment is shitty. So when you play the game you can't even accurately shoot. The paint balls are such low quality they burst before leaving the barrel. If you ask the staff to clean the barrel, everyone shrugged it off and told me "it's fine". Definitely a let down after a 45 minute wait. Save your money and do anything else instead. read more

The maps are fun and when I go with my friends I have a lot of fun. You can eat their food which is pretty decent or go to the Wendy's across the street. However the price of paint is pretty outrageous especially with the fact that you can only use their paint which isn't even that great. They also call way too many beginner games which really means that it needs to be on single fire mode but even with my empire mini on single fire they usually give me issues when the next guy is fully decked out with a camo suit, paintball pants, jersey, and customized AR style gun. Just gotta switch some stuff up a little read more

I have played a lot of paintball so I fee like I can give an experienced opinion. I went with a group so I left my equipment at home. The location in great for me. 20 minutes from my house. The fields seems pretty nice. The NukeTown field was a surprise. If you play COD you will know why this is so cool. They had the actual 2 story building plus the truck, not a semi, and cars. The rental equipment and staff were another matter. 1 out of 3 guns did not work. When I needed a replacement the staff member went inside to get one. He was gone for about 5 minutes so I went in to see what the delay was. He was talking to one of his buddies?! When I needed a ANOTHER replacement with just over 10 minutes left in a 15 minute game, he left and came back with less than 1 minute to go. I made the same round trip walk in 2 minutes so I can only assume he stopped to finish his conversation. Basically if a gun broke, and a lot of them did, you were done for the round. I was part of a party with only 3 rounds of play so I estimate I was able to play less than 10% of what I payed for. Overall the staff was VERY lazy and did not seem to care one bit about us, the customers. I will stick with the other field that is a 90 minute drive from my house. At least there I get to actually play. read more

Went on Labor Day. The theme of the day was waiting and rudeness. When we arrived there was just a line outside of the park with no instructions. After waiting 20 minutes and seeing the line not moving I walked further up to see what was ahead. I was told that it was a half hour wait once in the building (more on that later). Having promised my oldest son, and sending my other kid's on another adventure, I decided to wait it out. 30 minutes later we're in the door, YEAH. It took another 40 minutes to make it to a register. The funny thing is they say that they are climate controlled rooms, the only thing they controlled was the 100 degree inside wait area. Not a single fan?!? Finally the "Wait" is over! I bought an upgrade and paint, the pregnant lady who helped was great, everyone else terrible. Finally the waiting is done. Wrong, into the pick up spot. Again no instructions. Am in the right line??? There are 3 to choose from. We pick one, and wait and wait. It's not moving? Finally after an hour more people arrive, still not very efficient. We finally make it ro the counter and the girl tells me the don't have the upgrade I purchased and I could get a refund.?!? First I've been waiting in line almost 3hours and you're telling me you don't have qhat I've waited for, and I'll have to wait longer for a refund. You've lost your mind. I ask to speek with her boss, same reaponse more attitude and a snicker when I tell her ro get her boss. He upgrades us and I call it a wash. I'm not shocked by how rude the staff is after reading the other reviews and knowing they probably don't make enough to care. Even though it's CUSTOMER SERVICE! Finally after 3 hours time to play! More confusion. The PA system sucks so you can't hear unless you are at the top. We figured it out. At just under 4 hours we're playing! The courses seemed fine. Why they don't have people explaining thing's is baffling. We had to figure out how to fill the air tanks ourselves. Another player helped, we almost used the wrong one. Like we would know this stuff. We played our 3rd and final game and my son's gun wouldn't turn on, so we decided to wrap it up. We go to return our stuff and guess what, another long line and wait. At this point all I want to do is leave!!! Finally we get there and turn our gear in. The girl says she's not qualified to check the gear in and we needed to wait for someone else! If you're not qualified why are you there? I said no I was done waiting and left. This is where it gets interesting they tell me I can't leave and stalk me out of the park telling me I can't leave. I informed them my day of being held hostage by them is over. I've read the other bad reviews and have seen the owner not acknowledge any fault ever. Here's the facts, arrived at 11am left at 5pm. 2 1/2 game's played. Rude beyond belief customer service (besides the pregnant women). No explanation of anything. And being chased out like a criminal because you're done waiting. Let's not forget this was all done in front of my son on what was supposed to be our special day together. Unacceptable! read more

Paintball Explosion - Six hour's 2 1/2 game's! - Paintball Near Me - East Dundee, Illinois

I took off the whole day at work in order to attend this event. We drove almost two hours to this place. However I was very disappointed that they kick us out just after two games. We paid the money for the whole day. And there were 20 of us there. It was very disappointing. The attitude of the staff member ls were rude and not inpatient with us. We r not going back to this place and wouldn't recommend to any other people that are planning to come here. Especially the big group of people. read more

Went with a group (some of us over 50 years old) to Paintball Explosion Park in the summer of 2013 and all of us had a wonderful time. Park personal were very helpful and safety conscious. You will get yelled at if you screw around by not wearing your face shield on the field or your paintball marker is not locked on safety when you are walking around between games. I appreciate their safety program. Price is reasonable when you consider the cost of equipment and expense of maintaining this Park. They have an indoor area as well as multiple paintball fields with various structures. The Process: You first check in, pay your entry fee and get your rental equipment. You will go through a safety lecture on how to use the equipment. You then go to the outdoor area and "gear up" by loading your paintballs into the markers and securing your gear bag that may contain a change of clothing, water bottles and such. Bring a lock so the gear bag does not walk away. You have to buy paintballs by the box and that is tough to estimate. Some players focus on their shots and some just hurl paint downfield. Best if you buy one box and share to begin with. You then can choose which field you would like to play on. You walk to the field entrance and will be assigned to a team to play on. Your team will take a side and a referee will indicate that the game begins. Typically, you have a set time for your team to take over the other side or capture the flag. Referees will be checking to be sure play is fair (some players may not admit to being hit with a paintball and a referee will usually call the player on it). If you do get hit, you are either out or you have to go back to a point on the field to "respawn". Play stops when the referee calls it based upon a clock or due to a stalemate. Food is actually good and the pop/flavored water selection is very good. Yes, food and drinks are not fee. Typical pricing but you will drink and eat more due to the workout. It is a fun time and getting hit with a paintball is not that bad. Get tough. Those girls that you may see working the counter can whip you butt on the field. Just sayin'. Oh, bring water and be prepared to run around outdoors and you will have a Great Day. read more

Great Fun, Great Staff, It was a blast!! Best Paintball park in the area.

HORRIBLE Service. Poor maintenance and faculty in facility. PBX has expensive paint that is decent to bad quality. PBX employees don't even act like they work there. Take your money to O'hare Paintball or CPX, you will have a better time on their fields. read more

Everything about this place is pricey. The basic gun rentals don't always shoot very well. A case of paint is over $80 bucks or half is $50. You are required to use their paint! There are upgrades for a better gun that cost extra. No outside food or drink is allowed. The nice thing about this place is the cool objects they have on the field like a helicopter, ambulance, cars, houses, etc. There are groups for league, open, and beginning players. This is a pretty busy place in terms of the amount of people who come to play. Therefore, you have to sit and wait around to play the next game. They also have no speed ball! read more

Took 17 sixth graders here for a private birthday party. From start to finish, they did a fantastic job. My birthday girl said it was the best birthday party she had ever been to. They reserved parking spaces for us, completed our check-in quickly, had our guns loaded and ready for us. Louis, our ref, was great! He got us geared up quickly and onto a field within 30 minutes of arrival. He led our group on and off the fields so quickly that the kids were asking for a break after the first 1.5 hours. All in all an amazing day! I highly recommend! read more

I will never return to this field. I cannot trust the referee staff at this facility. I have been playing for more than 20 years and believe that the staff here does not use good judgment when dealing with young players. It is my opinion that the referees at this location allowed unsafe and dishonest play to continue when they were informed AND saw it first hand. Parents of beginning players should be cautious, and play at their side if possible. read more

drove 30 minutes here with some friends to try paintballing for the first time for fun. the website and posters surrounding the building advertise a two game package for $25 with mask and gun included. we go inside only to find out that the moment you get shot, the game is over and you can't keep playing. the lady who dealt with us said "your $25 game could either last 20 minutes or 20 seconds." like hell if i'd pay $25 to play for that little time. of course you're going to get shot! then she tells us that you can do a different package where it's $35 admission, $15 mask+chest guard, $10 gun and $100 (yes, $100) for a box of paint balls. is this company serious? what a joke. money down the drain. will never recommend this place or ever spend money here. read more

Paintball Explosion is an awesome place to go to get an adrenaline rush and the thrill of "hunting" your friends or family down. I've played there twice, and the staff are unbelievably cool and share their love of the sport with those who play there. They have a variety of fields to play on, each maintained for the safety of the players. They have an indoor and an outdoor speedball field as well as scenario based fields. The front field features a missile, another has a buss and a helicopter, and another features actual "old Santa's Village" props and buildings. Santa's Village was a part of my childhood and now it's a part of my adulthood too as I will continue to play there frequently. They have everything you need on site for a full days worth of fun; Rental equipment, bathrooms, concession stand, vending machines, lockers, and a pro shop. Oh and they even have a bar for those who like to share war stories and battle scars over a brew or cocktail after a long day of play. I do have 2 complaints. 1.) Parking. It shares the lot with Santa's Village. Its gravel, so there are no painted lines or "order." On busy days, people tend to park where ever and how ever they want. They even had to make an announcement that someone was completely blocked in. 2.) No outside food or drinks permitted. Yes, they do have a concession stand and yes they do allow you to go in and out of the park. Those 2 things are minor and definitely did not spoil my experience at all. So grab some buddies and head over to Paintball Explosion. ***UPDATE 5/8/12*** I visited there on 5/6 and it was obvious they are uin the process of renovating the parking lot and the front entrance. They are still open during construction which is good so I can still get my paintball fix, but its definitely reassuring that they are putting forth an effort to keep the grounds up to par and appealing for their growing customer base. Cheers PBE! read more

Great! Came here for my cousins birthday party, a private party. Our referee was Connar and he was great! He gave us clear instructions and answered all our questions and made sure we understood. He had a great attitude and made everything really enjoyable. I will definitely be coming back and requesting Connar again for sure! 5 stars all around read more

Great set of fields and plenty of variety. I've been paintballing for 9 years and this is definitely my new go-to field. It is easy to get to and even has a good Sunday crowd, the refs are friendly and get you into games fast. They have good concessions and there is other food nearby, there's even a bar to wash that paint-taste out after too. Don't wait go this weekend! read more

Let me start off by saying our ref Julio was great, no issues there. We came here for my bachelor party and for the most part had an amazing time. Roughly two hours into our session we had someone steal our paint from a designated area in which we were told to leave our things BY OUR REF. I figured management would make it right by refunding us our money (85 dollars for a case of paintballs) or just replace the case. Nope, the manager Joe was literally the shittiest manager I have ever had to work with. I've worked in The customer service industry literally my entire working career and can not believe that "sometimes people are shitty and steal stuff, shouldn't have left it there" is a response. This dude was a disrespectful POS and I have no idea how this kid has a management position anywhere. Sucks that these guys have someone like him being the face of the management team. I have already deferred another group of friends from going here next weekend and will continue to do so. read more

What a great deal for hours of fun for the kids! Had my sons birthday party here! Staff was great about explaining what the kids needed to do! $6 rented them a locker for the day, that they could go in and out of as much as they wanted!!! This is a place we will be coming back to!! read more

So I will first give you an idea of why I am leaving this review. I have been playing paintball for about 15+ years now and have played in multiple states and parks. I have managed and worked and plenty as well and managed a few teams. This is based off my first experience and paintball explosion. 1 the park- awesome layout and great mix of woods ball and receive ball fields. I like how they split up beginners, from open play to advance. This gives you plenty of options. Even though I sadly didn't get to play on the nuke town field it looked awesome. Every field I did use was in great shape. There was a bit of sorta on lockers but I usually tend to carry my gear around d as I play pump. The staff- spoke and kicked it with a few refs and what can I say, refs are usually under paid for what they do and u Der appreciated. Though paying attention to these guys it was a mix. I saw one specifically that caught my eye as taking his job seriously Viking. Though I had I believe a Kevin helping me chrono my marker for a bit. Other staff- not the most friendly or knowledgeable. But you can't expect to much as the majority of these your cute girls I am sure are there for PR. Dislikes- 90 dollars a box of what they call eco and environmental safe paint for their park. Yea Um all paint is that and this is not even A grade paint. I would prefer evil from empire and this is similiar. Which evil is 65 at most a box. This park screws their customers on paint. Won't stop me from going since I play pump though, this should be a crime. Also they don't have a stand alone chrono field. You have to get are to sit there and stand as you adjust your marker. A bit annoying. They should have a firing range with a hands free stand alone chrono field. There were like 3 or 4refs just standing around smoking cigarettes waiting to help someone chrono. This could probably cut down in some costs. Not gonna say much about rentals or anything as rentals are rentals. They all suck. Except I did see you can upgrade to an etek and that's nice. Not sure how they manage their gear but that is a nice option. All in all this is a cool and great park. They would definitely get 6 stars in my opinion if they didn't steal from their customers in their paint costs. It is ridiculous! Seriously. Paint should never be more than 65 bucks for tournament grade paint. read more

It's a great place I love having the fun and meet a lot of people including the staff members also having great time at clowns and zombies event. I am differently bringing my family here also great experience . Also getting to meet my friends there to read more

Staff was very helpful and the fields were fun. Wish the place was a little bigger with more fields but enjoyed our time there. Nothing like going on a weekend and getting pelted with paintballs by 12 year olds. There's no mercy in paintball, I don't care if you're a kid! read more

I came here today, it was my first time ever doing paintball and I was pretty excited. My friend got a groupon for four of us to go. It wasn't until we got there that we were informed that we still had to pay $30 EACH for the actual paintballs! But we drove all the way out there so we gave in and paid, whatever we were determined. All of us were first timers so we expected a full tutorial video (like how a lot of laser tag places will show you a video about how to play and all the rules) but we had nothing, which is surprising considering that paintball is much more dangerous. We went and got our guns and the girl telling us how to use them spoke so fast I didn't even catch what she was saying. None of the employees seemed to care about their jobs. We were just wandering aimlessly trying to figure out how/where to play and it wasn't until we were completely lost that an employee gave us any attention. There is no organization whatsoever. We never had any idea when a game would start/where to go for it. In the end, we spent 4 hours there and only played 2 GAMES, 10 minutes each. Also, because there was no schedule available we didn't know that there weren't any beginners games that day, so we were put up against pros and got shot right away. AND we paid $6.50 for a locker to keep our things safe. It's a see through locker and you're given a lock WITH THE COMBINATION ON THE BACK OF IT. Anyone could flip the lock over and steal everything! That just completely baffled me. This is DEFINITELY NOT a place for beginners. It's expensive, unorganized, and don't expect to get any help or guidance. read more

We were very disappointed with Paintball Explosion. I took my 11 year son and his friends for his birthday party. After waiting in line for over 2 hours the boys finally got in. The boys were finished with the whole thing in about 15 minutes. They came out and said it was not fun at all. I purchased the Groupon and thought this would be great for my son's birthday party but was not the case. In addition we had to purchase another $30.00 of paint balls as we were told to buy b/c we would run out. The boys ended up running out of paint balls half way throughout the field. You also do not have free reign to run through the fields as you wish you are shuffled through in a line with 30 people. The whole experience was very disappointing and a very expensive adventure that was not fun at all! P.S. Save you money!! read more

Still the best paintball park i have been too. If you haven't been here yet you need to. The open play rocks and the big games are awesome. Staff and refs are on point and keep you safe. Grab a bunch of paint and get shooting. Best stress reliever ever. read more

Trey was great, we did a private party and he was cool and efficient even when we ran into issues with size of party and accommodations he was on it so it made for a great time. Fields are cool, but the 3 that are attached to the parking lot NEED some barrier/netting in between. There's 3 maps pretty much within one, but you end up shooting and being shot at by other sessions going on not with your party. You should also have a ball cart/caddy walking around selling balls for a few extra $ rather than having to walk all the way back up front id pay it in a heartbeat for the convenience. read more

Really nice paintball courses very well laid out maps, refs are a lot better then at other local parks. There is a small bar inside where you can grab a drink when you are finished paint balling. They still have some of the old santa's village rides in place for obstacles. Really have nothing but great things to say at the place. read more

Check in,gear rental , getting everything ready took 3 hours. You are not allowed to bring your own water!

We took our son here to play laser tag and we had a blast! We were the only people there to play laser tag so we got lucky that one of the employees came in early for his shift and was able to play with us. The laser tag arena is huge, three levels and set up really cool. There is a humve and police car on the floor and a helicopter hanging from the ceiling, lots of barrels and crates to hide behind. They put you through different games, we did regular laser tag and slapstick(capture the flag) and elimination rounds. It is not the average laser tag where you just shoot blindly, you actually have to aim to get your target. Everyone was very nice, from the girls up front to the arena referees. We will definitely go back, hopefully with more people! read more

I like playing here it is one of my favorite places to play at and it's not far from where I live. One thing I like about their field is that if you buy a paintball marker there or at their store in Skokie you get a free membership this gets you paintball cases discounts and free entry. It would be cool if they had separate games for people that play mag fed, pump or just limited ammo. read more

Paintball Explosion is a great place to spend Bro-time on a regular basis. The ability to remove yourself from all worldly problems and focus exclusively on dodging paint rounds provides a calm and solace that helps me get through the coming 50 hour work week. Pro Shop - your first stop. Staff up here are hit and miss, but far more hits than misses. I've spent many-a-dollar here, and the nice ladies have been more than happy to help me in any way possible. One specific one stands out for going above and beyond to meet my requests. Proshop isn't as robust as I had hoped - as they have parts for ultra-common items, but don't have rebuilds or parts for markers made by their own sponsors. Rentals - Run of the mill. Have had limited experiences with the markers. For the most part - I can say...they shoot paint. Their rental fleet is becoming more robust. Adequate for first timer experiences, but putting money into your own gear will boost your experience 10 fold. Air Fill - Its nice to be able to fill your own tanks. I've never been keen on handing my marker setup over to someone else to fill for me. Consistent 4500psi fills - more than I can say about any other local park. Park common areas - For the most part, they're as clean and as well maintained as they can be. Benches could be a bit more available - and it'd be nice to have more spectator friendly areas - but, I suppose its a paintball field, not a daycare. Fields - I started playing here a bit over a year ago. At the time, the fields were fresh and new and shiny. At current date and time, they do feel a bit worn and are starting to show wear. I understand that they are working to open new fields, but as a critic - it couldn't hurt to take a power washer to some of the buildings and props on the fields...at least to get the old paint off. Officiating - This started out beyond stellar. A field, by the players, for the players, run by people who play? Wicked. The ref's once were turning games so fast you barely had time to grab paint and air. Since then, the old staff has been promoted to higher positions, and the underlings don't seem to be players themselves. There are exceptions, but more often than not - the open/advanced group gets 3 officials, 2 of which are still being trained. I can't speak on the beginner group - as I'm not permitted to play with them. The employee turn-over is pretty quick - so there always seems to be someone getting trained....can be positive - but usually isn't. I'd like to see less variety in ref faces on the field, but the idea of hiring responsible individuals who strive for safety and balanced games... would probably drive prices up... which would further deter customers. I've considered throwing my hat in the ring, but have since decided that the level of compensation wouldn't be worth sacrificing my weekend over. Rest Rooms - leave a bit to be desired, but I'll let it pass, as this place is literally a testosterone haven. All in all - when compared against all other experiences I've had in the 10 years I've been playing, this place still is very solid. Pricing is lower than it was 10 years ago, it brings back memories of my childhood and going to Santa's Village, and it lets me take a load off, remove the stresses, and just live 10 minutes at a time...dodging paint rounds. read more

Mixed with 10 new players with 1 full time membership player who plays from start to close. Had my two young kids. Think they need to separate the experienced players and alternate sessions. Was a waste of money. Won't do it again. Organizers don't care as they already have your money. read more

Had a great time with my coworkers here! I set up a corporate event and rounded up 20 people to go at it with each other. Making a reservation went smoothly, although check in time...not so much. It took quite a while to check in our party. Maybe about an hour or so. Now when you have the place reserved for only 4 hours it kind of sucks because it dips into your paintball time. Other then that, the fields were fun and our ref was friendly. Out of all the fields, Vietnam was the best! All in all I would go back again, but if I had a huge party, then I would prefer Badlandz because the check in time is so much quicker. read more

Awesome fields. Hands down the best place to go for all paintball needs. The place is fun and the people here are great. I went in with a group of 11 and had a blast. read more

Very nice paintball field,judges are very friendly and they have couple fields for different levels,the big one outside is ver awesome,have best experience in paintball here read more

Great place. Hard to improve on the many good reviews, so I will just direct you to read the four and five star comments. Seven years into the game and this location has it down cold. Refs are serious and keep it safe. Keep up the good work guys. read more

Really cool looking field. Cool staff. Bar! Worth checking out for sure.

I have got to say, I have only went paintballing once, and this place did it right! The fields are great, they have all kinds of unique features, buildings with two floors, old helicopters, over turned city buses, old Chicago ambulances, just really really net play areas. Well spread out and well though out. Me and my buddy, both rented a Gun, Mask and 2000 rounds and all day play for $100, I thought it was a great deal. The staff was very friendly and dealt with the very large crowd well. We had some waiting times, but it was one of the first beautiful Saturday s after a long winter, so you cannot really blame them for being busy. Again, I don't know a lot about paintball, but this place was neat well run and a good value. If you have never done it before, I really recommend it! Very fun way to spend the day! read more

Had my 13 year old's birthday party here this past weekend. The best paintball park we've been to! We had eleven 12-14 year old boys and three adults playing. The party coordinator/ref, Luis was great! Everything went as planned and the day was stress free. Love that we weren't stuck playing on just one map. He took us to a few different ones which the boys loved. My only complaint was I paid $10 for "cake cutting". Unfortunately that does not include actually cutting the cake. Luis told me that was only for them to bring the cake out to us. Other than that, everyone had a blast and all the boys are raving about how much fun they had and already planning on the next visit. Thank you for helping me make my son's 13th birthday memorable! read more

Paintball Explosion - Paintball Near Me - East Dundee, Illinois

Ever since I started playing paintball about a year ago, Paintball Explosion (store and field) has been my go-to spot! The fields are AMAZING, super friendly staff/refs, and this place is so close to the city!! Can't say enough good things about this place...CHECK IT OUT!!! read more

Called to see if they offered repair services. They told me they definitely had a repair shop. So I told them I'd be by the next day. When I got there a girl in the front informed me they "technically" had a repair service but their one technician had another job and hadn't been seen in weeks and it could be a minimum of 3 weeks before he "had time" to come in. This info would have been great when I called. The staff was very unhelpful and just kept saying technically they offer repairs. Very unprofessional. read more