Sarah, Von, and I ready for a full day of paintball fun. It does hurt, but not as bad as you think.
Von with a fully automatic SAW (squad automatic weapon) air-soft gun. It has the weight and feel of the real thing.
Kids and adults a like have fun playing paintball. It's fast, exciting, and fun. It does take quite a bit of energy to run around.
Sarah got to go play paintball at Xtreme Kombat Warfare Center right outside of Durham, NC. We got a great deal on Living Social. The package includes gun, goggles, and 200 paint balls. The Warfare center also offered equipment to buy or rent, and they also had facilities for players to play air-soft. Air-soft are plastic BBs, and it's a pain tolerance game. I think.
I just want to say that this place rocks. We were able to play in three completely different environments. The fist one had little barricades and barrels to hid behind, the second one was an urban combat town with rooms, houses, and towers. The third terrain was in the woods, with some low barricades spread out.
Now if you've never played before I highly recommend it. It does take a lot of running. The paint ball does not hurt, and there are rules to say "surrender" at close range. Close range is where the paint ball can cause a bruise. The paint ball is actually slow enough that you can see it flying towards you and sometimes you can duck it. There are no need for sites, because you have to lob the projectiles to the target.
Typical scenario is the referee will divide the two group into teams. Then both teams will approach and engage. There can also be other games like capture the flag, or escort the prisoner. All I have to say is that this gets two big thumbs up from my kids. It was a blast. 200 paint balls each may last about two games, but additional paint balls are cheap. Bring lunch.
What to expect and bring: Wear long sleeves, long pants, and tennis shoes or boots. The field could be wet and muddy. Bring a lunch, and you can spend all day there.
