It's hard to argue with the experts...

"Hey Mick. I have this paintball gun. What do you think I should do with ..."

And after my long, experience laden, thought out answer what is the response I get?

"Yeah, but my uncle/brother/friend/forum buddy expert/on line salesman says I should..."

Well, there you go!

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For better or worse...

This quote caught my eye:

"Paintball has degraded into high speed checkers when it used to be chess with finesse" - Tom Kaye

Tom Kaye is one of my paintball heros.

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Check the picture. What’s missing? No need to raise your hands. And please don’t shout out your answer. Write it on a slip of paper and pass it up to the front.

Removing a basic safety item from your marker (the only clue you get) just to make a “vanity” modification (ok, I guess that’s another clue) alerts me to a disregard for safety rules, a cutting corners mentality and a “I deserve to be the exception to the rule” attitude.

Following and embracing safety rules, no matter how mundane, insure safe playing conditions.

Cutting a corner puts you on my radar. It makes me mean and grumpy because now I have to divert positive attention from others and keep an eye on you for other corner cutting mentality.

And don’t waste your playing time trying to convince me to let a safety issue slide. Paying your field fee makes you a customer and entitles you to customer service. It does not allow you to make up your own rules.

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It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Some things are tried and proven. There are other things that have been tried and found to be better off forgotten.

Scopes or red dots sights are one of the ideas best forgotten. I don't sell them. But players manage to find them, mount them and within a week or two take them off (or they get knocked off). They soon enough discover there is no time to use them and that no two paintballs are alike. They never go in the same place twice let alone hit the crosshairs. Not to mention focusing through a scope takes your attention away from the guy flanking you.

Long barrels are another. After finding out they do not improve range, and after smacking and banging them against the side of bunkers they usually find their way to the bottom of equipment bags. (I once watched a player with a long barrel pole vault himself into a bunker - true story.)

The Q-loader system...if you don't know what it is I'm not going to burden you. If you do know, well... then you know.

CO2 tank covers. Twist on and twist off the tank while fighting the spinning cover about a dozen times and it usually gets tossed.

Chest protectors? Hot, heavy security blankets that soon get out grown.

Mask fans? They don't usually last longer than the second set of batteries. To loud.

Remotes? Ten pod packs? Three hundred round hoppers? Seventy five dollar speedball jerseys? Goggleflauge?

You get the idea. Maybe.

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King of the beasts...

I notice things.

It's human nature to want the best. As a kid we want the best video game. Later as a teenager it's the best car. A young adult wants the best mate which leads later to wanting the best for our children.

When kids come in to shop for a gun they often drag Dad along. Sometimes Dad will show a mild interest in the game, some stand back and snipe but more often they come to control spending.

"Yes," to that gun. "No," to another.

"Do you REALLY need that longer barrel?"

"Let's take another look at that low end gun."

I try not to get involved. Mostly because I usually side with Dad and end up loosing a few dollars on the sale.

It's what happens a few weeks later, after Dad has watched his son play a few games, after he has done a bit of online studying, that I find interesting.

He returns wanting the top of the line. The best gun. The longest barrel. The fastest hopper.

For himself.

Something similar to this "King of the beasts" nature is the "loaner" gun.

Quite often someone will come in wanting a beat up, plastic, something they bought at a yard sale, marker fixed.

Trying to be nice I might offer an observation. "This gun has certainly seen better days."

"Yeah. This is a gun I let my friends borrow. I shoot a ($1200) DM7."

I wonder how many friends this guy has?

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Ring...Ring...

Ring...Ring...

Good morning. T-Square Paintball.

Yeah. Hey. How many walk-on players will you have today?

Ummmm. Hang on. Let me get my crystal ball.

Good grief people. Three weekends ago we had 128 players. The following week 31. Last weekend we had 101 players.

Grab a friend and come on out. It only takes two to play paintball!


Colts by 16

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