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Playing
Paintball Like an Outlaw
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Many
paintball players, including
me, are blessed with a number of great fields within an
hour’s drive of home. Then there are the poor saps who
live in towns so small that the mayor is also the cop
and the dog catcher. Those small towns may have charm,
but a good paintball field could be hours away. In that
case you may have to take matters into your own hands
and become an Outlaw! |
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Before
you start whistling like a discount Clint Eastwood, we
need to talk about what outlaw, or renegade, paintball
really is. Those are just fancy names for paintball that’s
played in any area that’s not a real field—backyards,
empty lots, the woods. You small-town guys can cuss me
and my cushy player’s lounges, paved parking, and Porta
Pottis, or you could start your own outlaw field.
A name like outlaw is fairly accurate when it comes to
making a field of your own. If you don’t do it right,
you’ll get into some trouble, or at least give paintball
a bad name. Luckily for you, in my time as a player I’ve
seen what to do and, more important, what not to do, if
you want to start your own field. Don’t consider this
your only resource. If someone gets hurt, don’t blame
us! |
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Staying Out of
the Pokey
Eight guys running around in camo with guns on the side
of Highway 420 is not a good thing. If the wrong person
comes by, you can expect an armed response and maybe even
a night in the local lockup. You need to think very carefully
about what you’re doing. A simple mistake in outlaw ball
can get you into trouble or, worse, get someone hurt.
The first thing you need to do is look into the laws that
cover paintball in your area. Certain cities and counties
have laws flat-out banning any firing of air guns. Some
laws consider a paintball marker a handgun. Very few places
have these rules, but you should check anyway. If the
law is against you, you need to either get it changed
or talk to the actual enforcers of the law, the cops.
Many places have outdated laws, and the police don’t enforce
them. Talk to the local cops; they like guns and probably
would like paintball. The ability to shoot 12 balls per
second sways a lot of macho types. The National Professional
Paintball League (NPPL) persuaded the city of Huntington
Beach, Calif., to change its laws regarding paintball. |
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Find
Yourself a Space
Most people looking to start an outlaw field know someone
who owns property—Grandma’s farm, woods behind the house,
whatever. You need someplace to play. The best place is
private property. If you’re playing in your own backyard,
the law is out of the picture unless your city has laws
banning airguns.
If you don’t have access to private property, you need
to find some space. The guys I used to play with had a
field we called Mile Marker 19. Players would pull to
the side of the highway, walk a couple of hundred yards
from the road, and play. |
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The property was public,
and I never knew who originally set it up, but we never
got hassled. It was also so heavily treed that when we
walked back from the road, no one could see us, and no
stray balls could slip out. After a while the crowds were
getting big, and teams were practicing there. You’d get
50 cars off the road, and still no one cared. We were
in a place where no one saw all the paint on the trees
and no one could just stumble upon us. Out of sight, out
of mind.
When looking for a space, you need to consider what you
have to work with. Safety is key, and finding a safe field
isn’t hard if you use some common sense. Use natural terrain.
If you live in a heavily wooded area, you can find space
anywhere, as long as it’s far from public traffic. The
last thing you need is some nosy kid coming down to your
field and losing an eye. If you have no trees you can
use natural terrain like hills and cliffs to give you
some protection. For example, there’s an outlaw field
in Southern California known as the pit. It’s at the base
of a cliff, and players use the base of the cliff as a
boundary. No paintball can escape, and they have a safer
play area.
The great equalizer is distance. If you walk 300 yards
(three football fields) away from everything and absolutely
can’t be seen, you can be To check for a safe distance,
shoot your gun in each direction. If it comes within 300
yards of anything, you need to move farther away. Use
your head: If you’re playing on a grade-school yard, then
you’re not very bright. You need to be in a place where
the paintballs won’t interfere with anyone else’s life.
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If
you don’t own the property, you should make sure you leave
no footprints for others to see. No garbage left, no fire
pits, no junk brought in to make bunkers. You also need
to remember that kids love paintballs. It takes only about
a half second for some kid to eat 20 paintballs. If you’re
not there and that kid wanders onto your field, he will
eat those paintballs. His mom will see paint on him, freak,
and call poison control, and blam: Shit hits the fan.
You can’t ensure that nothing will ever go wrong at an
outlaw field, but you have a much better chance of success
if you’re smart about picking a location.
Making It Safe
You got your space You got your permission. Now you’ve
got to create a field out of the land. |
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The
first thing to do is balance the safest area with the
area that’s the most fun to play. The more natural bunkers
and terrain differences you have, the less energy you’ll
spend making bunkers. But keep safety in mind; if there’s
an old mine hole nearby, it’s best to move the field.
When laying out the field, remember to plan for deadboxes
and safe areas for players to exit the field. Now look
critically at the field itself. Check fallen trees for
sharp ends or spikes. The last thing you want is to dive
into a bunker and impale yourself. |
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Find
a nice area with a hill or solid background to make a
chrono range. Mark it clearly, and make sure you’re not
shooting into an area that could have people behind it.
After you’ve picked your location, you should mark the
area. I suggest using yellow caution tape. You can wrap
it up around the field or just mark trees and shrubs on
the boundaries. You should also make another line where
nonplayers might approach the field. This way they can’t
just stumble onto your field, get hurt, and make you stitch
them up. |
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Another
good precaution is to make or buy some signs. Three types
of signs are all you need. "Goggles On," "Barrel Plugs
In," and "Caution: Paintball ahead—Goggles only past this
point."
The idea is to make sure that anyone coming toward the
fields (from any direction) sees the caution signs first.
The signs will let people know paintball play is going
on and alert them to danger if they go farther.Post the
"Goggles On" sign where players enter the field area and
the "Barrel Plug" signs where they leave it. |
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If
you’re using public space, take your signs with you at
the end of the day. You don’t want to leave caution tape
and signs up in the wilderness.
Lord of the Flies Syndrome
When a number of ballers get together in an outlaw setting,
it seems we turn into the cast of Lord of the Flies. We
make our own rules and start dishing out penalties with
some bonus balls. That always turns to wrestling, which
always turns into a fight, which makes for bad sportsmanship.
I’ve always called paintball a noncontact violent sport,
much like football without the players actually hitting
each other. Instead, we dish out bitch slaps with a barrage
of paintballs.
That’s why rules, as well as some sort of leadership,
are so important. Leadership is always important. No one
likes to set up the signs and boundaries and take the
extra precautions, but if someone were to lose an eye,
your field would be gone forever. |
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Try
to pick a leader based on two criteria:
(1) he’s a good leader, and
(2) he commands respect and/or has a commanding physical
presence.
When a player loses it and gets frisky on the field, a
heavy-knuckled six-foot-four field leader will be a big
help in calming down the rebel. As for respect—paintball
is a sport where respect counts. An old-school player
or current pimp can control people enough to keep them
straight. If you’re a younger paintballer, ask an older
player to advise you on rules.
Rules Rule
Rules are what keep us from flinging our poo at each other
in society. Rules need to be made. If you need ideas,
go online and copy some rules from a field’s Web site,
then run some copies and hand them out to new players.
Make sure they read and, more important, follow them.
There’s always some asshole who will push the rules to
see what happens. So make sure that your rules include
a punishment for violators and that you enforce it. Those
who break one rule and get away with it will soon break
the rest. This brings me to the most important part of
outlaw play, a REF. No one likes reffing, but even one
ref can make your day a hundred times better. Each field
has its own process. If the same few guys are always laying,
you may be able to skip the ref. If you get new people
out there or start forming teams, though, you’ll need
refs. The newbies need someone to yell at them to keep
their masks on, and the experienced players will try to
cheat their asses off. Whether you rotate refs each game
or pick a player to ref all day, somebody has to fill
that position. Proper equipment is a must: proper goggles,
chrono, and barrel covers. You can’t allow anyone to play
in shop goggles, and you need to make sure everyone is
shooting under 300 psi. A handheld chrono is not expensive
when split among four guys. |
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Barrel
covers are a must for every player, to prevent accidental
ball discharge (I’ve seen barrel plugs shoot 40 feet,
so get good covers).
Making a Field Fun
Now that you’re totally bored with safety, we can talk
a little fun. When people dream about a field, they never
think safety; they think fun! A good field with natural
terrain is hard to come by. You may also have some limitations
on what you’re allowed to do to the fields. |
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So find a happy medium. Bunkers
are something that you cannot overdo in my book; the
more the better. Some of the best in the woods were
created with a shovel. Mounds—a bunker variation—are
another paintball tradition. You can dig some trenches
and make some nice mounds at center field. Look for
fallen trees; wood can be stacked on a standing tree
to make a great bunker. If you’re on public property
it’s best to use only natural products for bunkers;
better plywood left in the wilderness than tires. If
you have permission to litter the landscape, then you
can get free spools from construction companies, tires
from 4x4 places, leftover wood from construction sites.
Anything that you can get for free is great. Remember
a few things in your field construction. Trails are
a good idea. Make a few trails that players can run
on safely, clearing out brush and limbs to make them
as ankle-safe as possible.
Air and Paint
Many small cities don’t have a paintball store. If you
have a few guys who can buy paint a couple of weeks
in advance, you can become a paint buyer. It’s easy
to get a business license and buy your own paint to
resell. Buying in bulk will give you better prices than
buying at the store or online, and you can pick whatever
brand you desire. Open an account with a company that
has other paintball stuff you can buy cheaply.
Air is tricky. A compressor is hard to find in some
cities, and you may be stuck using CO2. CO2 is much
easier to find, and a tank of CO2 lasts much longer
than compressed air. But if there’s a diving shop where
you live, look into renting some tanks of air for yourself
and reselling the air to your players. Or talk to a
hardware store you like about getting large CO2 tanks
to refill for local players; it’s a money-making service
for the store, and you don’t have to worry about logistics.
The point is, try to have an air source at your field.
Nothing sucks more than running out of air and having
to go home.
You can see that outlaw play
involves some work. It may take a weekend or two
of sweat and slivers before you can get a game in. But
once you’re up and running, it’s on to maintenance and
fun time with the homies.
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