[Tina]

I've never done paintball before but always wanted to! I'd like to get some close friends together for the day and go have some fun (on a wkend of course) - Group of 10ppl...Everyone i know is experienced players for this, except me...
Do you happen to know the prices, gear that we have to bring or is it included in the price? Do they have group rates? Are they open yearly or just for the summer (what months exactly)? what are there times during the week/wkends? Do they have a military rate?
thanks for your time

[Fifthplanecomin]

Great questions and Welcome to the Forum Tina.
You'll find some of the local field operators and thier staff are active on this forum.

All the fields have the ability to outfit you and your friends with the gear you will need for playing.
I would recomend that your wear some good hiking shoes or soccer cleats as well.

The local fields also have thier own sections on this board that may have a topic thread to address some of your questions:

In Sooke - TNT Paintball: CLICK HERE

Triangle Mountain - Victoria Paintball: CLICK HERE

In Duncan - Midway Paintball: CLICK HERE

There is also "Stormin Normans" run by The Legendary Norm Trotter out in Sooke but he lacks a section on this forum right now.
For his website CLICK HERE

My favorite, as well as many others, is TNT - all the other fields are great as well and have a different flavor and style so in time be sure to check them all out.

You'll find thier phone numbers are also in thier section descriptions and info threads just in case you don't see your questions answered inside thier sections or inside this thread you just created.

Hope that helps.
Always keep your gun up and have a blast!

(Never done it before?! - LOOK OUT! - It's insanely addictive fun!!)

This post has been edited by Fifthplanecomin: 19 March 2010 - 12:53 PM

[SouthPark]

Welcome Tina. Enjoy. "Fifthplanecomin" has given some very good advice IMO. Get out and play... you will have a blast.

[ShadoWalker]

I've never done paintball before but always wanted to! I'd like to get some close friends together for the day and go have some fun (on a wkend of course) - Group of 10ppl...Everyone i know is experienced players for this, except me...
Do you happen to know the prices, gear that we have to bring or is it included in the price? Do they have group rates? Are they open yearly or just for the summer (what months exactly)? what are there times during the week/wkends? Do they have a military rate?
thanks for your time

Hi Tina, welcome to the forum!

I noticed you're from Port McNeil so not sure if you were planning a trip to Victoria or Duncan to play or if you had plans in your area. I'm afraid I don't know alot about fields near you, but I hear there are some nice Outlaw setups going around there. If you're making the trip to Victoria or Duncan to play Fifthplane pretty much covers it, otherwise it will depend on where you're going.

If you're playing at a commercial field (as opposed to out in the bush with friends) they will usually have rental gear available, if you're playing in the bush it would probably be necessary for you to come up with your own gear, find a place that you could rent gear from, or a friend(s) that can lend you gear to play with. If your other friends play regularly I'd suggest you check with them and see what they do and where you guys would be playing as they should be able to tell you for sure what you'll need. I know alot of us keep spare loaner gear which we'll lend to friends when we go out to play so it's likely that if your friends are regulars they may be able to set you up with whatever you need.

Good shoes/boots with ankle support are strongly recommended, and if you've got them knee pads of some sort will probably earn their keep by the end of the day.

Hope that's helpful,
SW

[ragewo1f]

welcome to the fourm, and the fantastic world of paintball Its always good to see new players coming out.

[steveo]

I second what the others had to say, and I will reiterate the knee pads (you're potentially kneeling and sliding on rocks and branches and whatever else, I use some light volleyball kneepads), and runners or preferably something with ankle support (cleats get really slippery on rocks).
And as someone else said, careful if you have an addictive personality, paintball may not be for you (or maybe its another reason to try it out?)


On another note:
I'm not trying to knock on Norm but 100,000 people served?
Thats ~70 new customers every single week since 1982. He claims 28 years in business, so thats right around the time paintball started becoming a sport?

This post has been edited by steveo: 19 March 2010 - 04:24 PM

[SouthPark]

Hi,

I think the northern-most commercial field on Vancouver Island is "Point Blank Paintball". Field is run by a fella named "Dave" I think... this number may no longer be current but here it is anyway: 250-218-6334 Google search for PointBlank Paintball... they are located in Courtney-Comox area... Otherwise try Tom in Nanaimo for mid island ball (pm him here on this forum as Tomn8r)

[Fifthplanecomin]

Does his site say that Steve? Ha, comical. I'm willing to bet he is counting the hundreds of people he has coached and assisted as a marshall, captain or teammate at paintball events over the past 28yrs. Running 250+ games a day at a Nationals event with over 40 teams...etc etc - but that could get confusing on a website when you read it in a strictly commercial rec ops way - HAHAHAHA

[tomn8r]

nanaimo field:

tom - (250)756-6793 10 am til 10 pm 7 days a week. or pm me here. 24 years running games. all equipment avail. military discount.

[steveo]

Does his site say that Steve? Ha, comical. I'm willing to bet he is counting the hundreds of people he has coached and assisted as a marshall, captain or teammate at paintball events over the past 28yrs. Running 250+ games a day at a Nationals event with over 40 teams...etc etc - but that could get confusing on a website when you read it in a strictly commercial rec ops way - HAHAHAHA

if thats the case then awesome on his part, just the way it reads is misleading:
"Welcome to Stormin Norman’s Paintball Adventures. The best and the professionals in paintball. This year marks our 28th year in business and we have a lot of exciting changes going on. To date we have served over 100,000 customers, providing them with an outstanding adventure of the highest quality."

[tomn8r]

5,000 a year is 400 a month is 50 per sat and sunday. so yeah, over 20 years with those #'s you could hit 100,000. we've been running games since 1986, some groups smaller than 50 players, some bigger. i guess we could claim somewhat near 100,000 ourselves and we're teeny weeny nanaimo. so......

it's possible - actually, quite prpobable.

i've always hated "the best and the professionals in paintball" for one thing, they are not the only professionals on the island; dave, reiner, pete/chris, pete and i are all running fields for a living on the island. plus the sentence is gramatically incorrect. it should read, "the best and the MOST professional" not "the best and the professionals in paintball" it's just wrong.

norm's prolly had the most customers on the island though - i'd hafta agree there.

[steveo]

5,000 a year is 400 a month is 50 per sat and sunday. so yeah, over 20 years with those #'s you could hit 100,000. we've been running games since 1986, some groups smaller than 50 players, some bigger. i guess we could claim somewhat near 100,000 ourselves and we're teeny weeny nanaimo. so......

it's possible - actually, quite prpobable.

i've always hated "the best and the professionals in paintball" for one thing, they are not the only professionals on the island; dave, reiner, pete/chris, pete and i are all running fields for a living on the island. plus the sentence is gramatically incorrect. it should read, "the best and the MOST professional" not "the best and the professionals in paintball" it's just wrong.

norm's prolly had the most customers on the island though - i'd hafta agree there.

Thats not new customers every weekend though How much of it is repeat business? And how big were the groups in the 80's (consistently smaller groups would require a much higher average these days)?
I dont think i've seen many fields consistently drawing 50 people november-february either

Its not really that important though, I just thought some of the bold statements on the webpage were kind of interesting

This post has been edited by steveo: 20 March 2010 - 08:10 AM

[steveo]

Sorry for the thread hijack, back on track! (for some of the questions I dont think have been touched on)

Do you happen to know the prices, gear that we have to bring or is it included in the price? Do they have group rates? Are they open yearly or just for the summer (what months exactly)? what are there times during the week/wkends? Do they have a military rate?
thanks for your time

This info is mainly for Victoria (I've never dealt with the up island fields), but some applies to all:

As some people have said, most places rent out anything you need, but you'll pay less if you have your own gear (I'd suggest if one of your friends has a spare mask use that instead of a rental, dual pane lenses are SOOOO much nicer than the rental masks as they wont fog or get hazy on you)

Group rates: every field is different, but lots of them offer organiser incentives for groups of 10 or more (the co-ordinator plays for free or gets some free paintballs).

Times: Things slow down a fair bit from oct-feb (but lots of fields still operate in that timeframe) I personally think that late feb-may and sept-early nov are the nicest times to go, before it gets too hot out. Some fields are on a daily basis (you pay a set fee, and you play as much as you want from ~9-4 while others you have to pay more if you want to play 5 hours instead of 3 etc...
Most places only operate on weekends, or will open up during the week if the group is big enough (generally 20 players?)

Military discounts: The other fields may offer military rates (I'm not sure) but I know that TNT does

This post has been edited by steveo: 20 March 2010 - 08:21 AM

[Tina]

thanks guys, for answering my questions!
most of my friends are experienced in Paintball and are in the military..so they enjoy this sort of thing. Which one is better - Point Blank Paintball or Mid Island Ball, and why? and does both places have woods to play in or just feilds...

[tomn8r]

courtenay is closest. try them. we're next in nanaimo. try us after them. then go to midway in duncan. 100's of acres. that's 3 road moves. each 1 will be fun i can promise u that.

[tomn8r]

norm - 8 months of season a year x 30 years x 400 customers a month - 96,000. he's there. i'd bet $$$ he's there. don't 4get, 30 years. the biggest and the 'professionals' - and he was for 20-25 of those years.

[TNT Paintball]

norm - 8 months of season a year x 30 years x 400 customers a month - 96,000. he's there. i'd bet $$$ he's there. don't 4get, 30 years. the biggest and the 'professionals' - and he was for 20-25 of those years.

I'm not going to argue with you , but the answer is no.