Why have we decided to go to field paint only for ALL players?

            First, let us explain that this was not a one step decision.  This decision was actually a culmination of several small decisions.  After consulting with many players and other field owners we realized that there are many paint products that cause problems with the fields, the equipment, and players’ gear.  We initially decided to allow only field paint in our rental markers, and allow players with their own equipment to carry on their own paint. 

Although this worked well to protect our rental markers, we still had complaints from players that their gear was difficult to clean after being shot by players using paint with staining properties; we verified their complaints while cleaning our own gear and fields. We also encountered players bringing old paint stock, one player’s paint was so old that the fill had totally dried out and was the consistency of a mothball. This brought up a whole new concern of excessive player injury. 

We then decided to allow players to carry on paint after shell and fill inspection, but restricted the brand or type.  This helped, but as you can imagine there are many brands of paint, and many color variations within each brand.  We found that not only were some brands more damaging, but also certain colors of good quality paint were staining. At that point our only option to protect our fields and players was to go to field paint only for everyone. 

We did hear a few complaints with this decision, and most players who complained about our new field paint only policy had two concerns based upon their experiences at other paintball parks, price and selection. 

Our paint prices are very competitive with most stores in the area, and are typically better than most other fields for the same quality of paint.  You can find cheaper paint, but it is usually this cheaper paint that has the quality issues we discussed earlier.  As for selection we have established distributorships with several paint manufacturers, and we are working on deals to acquire several different shell and fill colors to accommodate all players.

Our goal is to protect our players from injury, to protect the gear in which we both have invested heavily in from staining, and to maintain the integrity of our fields. It is our desire to provide our players with the cleanest, most natural environment possible.

We hope this policy will protect our fields and all players from injury and staining, but still allow everyone to have a good time.  We welcome your input and suggestions. If you ever have any questions or comments about this issue, or any others, please feel free to contact us at any time.