Paintball in Los Angeles

Reviewed by: Darshadana Rating:

Overview:

Open air and social interaction. If you’ve run out of remedies against work related stress it’s time you considered paintball for your weekend activities.

Paintball is a team game, invented in the eighties in the United States, in which two or more teams engage in a “battle”, shooting jelly-like balls containing colored paint with a compressed air pistol called a marker. The team that eliminates its rivals first, wins. To eliminate a player all you need to do is hit any part of his/her body with the paintball. The player must then leave the field definitely or for a set period of time.

This is the gist of the game. The rest is left to the imagination of the players.

Not to be confused with its “older cousin”,  softair, in which the players shoot hard plastic balls, paintball today  is a game of growing popularity. It involves an army of  keen, trigger-happy enthusiasts from all over the world. Players meet  in  fields as large as a football pitch which take a toll on their knees and on their defense strategies.  

To make the game that much more exciting and realistic, it can be played in building sites or derelict  warehouses, or in desert or snowy landscapes.  

Step 1: Paintball is an expensive game

Forward fast.

Let’s say you are now able to hit a flee between the eyes at a distance of a hundred yards, that playing with your neighbors has become boring and that your opponents have become too easy targets to “paint”.  The time has come for you to expatriate and challenge those who have invented this game.

Americans are the true champions.  

The whole of Southern California and in particular Los Angeles is where the international paintball scene is concentrated. If you need the technical equipment, but above all, professional players to challenge and with whom to exchange advice, you’ve come to paintball paradise.

Here you will find everything. Though everything has a price. For a lightweight precision marker, you may spend as much as 2000 dollars. At this point all you need are a pair of sneakers, a mask, a combat suit and you’re ready for action.

Step 2: Paintball is a game to play with the whole family

The California Paintball Park extends over 35 acres of land outside the County of Los Angeles, a few minutes from Orange County,  San Fernando Valley, Santa Barbara and San Bernardino. Immersed in a barren, dusty natural landscape,  isolated from any form of civilization or urban setting, this is the ideal place where you can shoot without harming any one.

This is considered one of the largest areas in California in which the most diverse battle simulation activities are practiced. Including paintball.

Here you can find  10 playing fields. 6 of these are exclusively used for paintball. The available sceneries vary from the classic battlefield with inflatable shelters to settings of urban guerrilla with bunkers, trenches, barrels and shelters made of tires.

If you think  California Paintball Park regulars are arms fanatics, you’re way off track. You might find the student graduation party, company employees engaged in “boring” team building and professional training sessions and you’ll find entire families there for the fun.

Step 3: Paintball is a sport like any other

After having shot your last standing opponent with an acrobatic performance worthy of an action replay, you’ll realize that you cannot help playing paintball. Then why not start turning this game into an income generating activity. In America you can follow on the footsteps of the Pros in the National Professional Paintball League. The NPPL  has 5 divisions. The rules are the same for all. What changes is the composition of the team and how long the game lasts. The purpose of the game is to snatch the flag on the rival field and bring it back to one’s own area within an established limit of time.

Now you have a good excuse for going to California.

Difficulty: 2

Documents: To travel to the United States you will need a Visa. To play you will need to sign a document in which the owners of the playing field are relieved of any responsibility (release of liability). Under age players need to be accompanied by their parents or guardians.

Time: a paintball match can virtually go on forever. It ends when all the players in the rival team have been eliminated. Or else when you’re tired of playing. If you’re not amongst those who think that the best form of defense is attack, then find yourself some leafy branches for camouflage and be prepared for a long ambush.

When to go: North American enthusiasts can only play this game for a few months a year, unless they are willing to play paintball in the snow. In California you can play all year round. Plenty of time for practicing, therefore.

How to get there: the Los Angeles International airport is one of the five busiest hubs in the world. You might find it a bit chaotic and it’s not the closest to the city, but it’s the best connected.   

Pictures and videos: the best way of learning this game is to watch others play. The web is full of videos that show the highlights of the pros, the ambush techniques, the best strategies and equipment to capture the rival’s flag.   

Literature, Films and volunteering: “50 and more ways of playing Paintball” by Scott Malensek is the bible for beginners which contains rules, tactics and variations of the game. From “Snatch the flag” to “Knockout competition”.  “The art of war” by Sun Tzu is the greatest treatise on military strategy by the renowned Chinese master of war. The original copy is a bamboo papyrus. The pocket version is not banned by the regulations. Bring a copy with you on the field and you’ll find pearls of wisdom which will come in handy in moments of need.  

Category: Tours