Trigger-happy
Fired-up players, explosive growth push paintball into main stream

By Erika Gonzalez, Rocky Mountain News
April 29, 2005

Crouched behind a makeshift fort - an amalgam of branches, netting and pieces of an old fence - I listen breathless, as the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire erupts around me.

I look up from my hiding spot - like a child pulling back the covers to check for monsters in a dark bedroom - to find men (many of them dressed in military fatigues) scurrying across a dry, wooded field.


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"They're coming in hard," yells one of the "troops", running back to the base after sustaining a hit.

Dressed more like a spectator at a football game than a soldier, I never stray far from my protected post. I don't feel safe - even though I'm cloaked in a giant, black and white referee shirt - until the steady stream of shooting abates 15 minutes later.

It may sound like a scene from Saving Private Ryan, but the men in this battle are only sweating bullets, not firing them. The only scars they'll carry from combat are the splotches of hot pink paint that may cover their clothes.

And hitting the laundromat is a small price to pay for the thrill of firing paintball-filled pistols at your fellow man (or woman).

"It's just an opportunity to be 10 years old again," says Bill Marsch, who plays at least once a month with a group of friends.

Marsch is part of a growing group of people who have helped paintball make the jump from cult activity to mainstream sport.

Started as a small, friendly game among friends in the forests of New Hampshire more than two decades ago, paintball is now played in 40 countries worldwide. In the United States last year, 9.6 million people played the sport at least once, up from 7.1 million four years earlier, according to the research consulting firm, American Sports Data Inc.

The Front Range area now has at least a half dozen places to play, ranging from huge, state-of-the art indoor facilities to more rustic outdoor fields.

The people flocking to these overgrown playgrounds tend to be young and male, but field operators say the demographics are beginning to change, with more seniors and women joining the sport.

"Last year our biggest events were our bachelorette parties," says Anthony Navarro, co-owner of Greeley-based Action Pursuit Paintball. "We had groups of 30 or 40 girls at a time."

Colorado even boasts three all-female, professional teams.

"Sometimes it's intimidating when there's 60 guys on the field and you," says Summer Star, who makes the trek every weekend from Glenwood Springs to Sedalia's Paintball Adventures to play. "But there's only been a few times when I've been picked on - when they think they're going to show a girl who's really good."

Male or female, the path for first-time players remains the same. All it takes is courage (the gumball-sized paint pellets may not scar, but they do leave welts), the right clothes (think layers) and some cold, hard cash. At Paintball Adventures (the 110-acre site off Highway 85, where I chose to potentially get splattered), beginners plunk down $20 for a field fee, $15 for equipment (which includes a gun, air and goggles) and at least $20 for 500 rounds of paint. Those who think they're going to be particularly aggressive can buy a case of pellets for $65.

Before hitting the field, operations manager Don Dubon, a tall guy with unruly curly hair and a matching beard, provides a brief orientation. He starts by throwing paintballs at unsuspecting new recruits. It's an effective attention-getter.

"Thank God I'm not throwing them at 200 miles an hour," he says.

The move is designed to help us understand that no matter how hot, how uncomfortable or how unbearable our goggles become, we should never remove them while we're in the combat zone. The term goggles is a bit of a misnomer; they're actually large plastic masks that cover the entire face, from the forehead to the chin. Breathing through them, you can't help but feel a little like Darth Vader.

"What will I make you do if I see you take them off?" asks Dubon like a drill sergeant.

"Do push-ups," answers the crowd in unison.

It's clear Dubon isn't kidding, and just for good measure, he adds: "If you get shot in the face, you will leave in an ambulance."

After scaring us, Dubon explains the rules. In order to count as a hit, the pellet actually has to break - not just bounce off a body. In most cases, one hit and you're out. But today, we're playing reincarnation. Once you're hit (which you indicate by raising your hands and yelling, "I'm hit"), you can run back to base, wipe off your wound and return to the game.

Paintball games can last as little as a few seconds (if you're playing one-hit elimination) or as long as 40 minutes. And the variety of games is endless. Most fields offer the traditional standards such as Capture the Flag and the Alamo (both are played exactly like they sound) as well as some of their own creations. All the President's Men, for example, is especially popular at bachelor parties. The groom serves as the weapon-less commander-in-chief, who must depend on his buddies to move him from one end of the field to the other without getting shot.

Sometimes players will contribute games of their own.

"We did a game called Saving O'Grady (named in honor of Captain Scott O'Grady, whose F-16 crashed in Bosnia), where we made a mannequin and hid him and then the other team would have to go out and find him," says regular Ed Rhodes.

True aficionados often embark on 24-hour marathon games that are typically modeled after video games (such as the popular Halo), historical events (The Trojan War) or even movies.

"We had one based on The Lord of the Rings. We called it the battle of Middle Earth," says Navarro. "We had 130 people show up for that, and we had some who dressed in medieval armor."

The professionals, however, play only two types of games: speedball, a fast-paced contest played on a partially enclosed field featuring giant inflatable obstacles; and X-ball, a version of speedball that also incorporates elements of hockey, lacrosse and soccer.

And it's a big step up from recreational play to the pros.

"It's like the difference between playing flag football and full-contact football," says Scottie Flint, owner and captain of the Colorado Fury, which plays in both the National Professional Paintball League and the PSP X-Ball League and practices at Paintball Adventures.

Flint's team uses guns (or markers, as they are often called) that can fire 15 balls per second. By comparison, on the field next door, recreational players use guns that release about five to six balls per second.

And instead of military gear, the Fury players look more like motocross competitors, dressed in breathable lycra shirts and heavily padded nylon pants.

Though maybe not as well known as their colleagues in other extreme sports, the players are becoming stars in certain circles thanks to increased television exposure. Last year, Dick Clark Productions broadcast the championship game for the National X-Ball League (known as the NXL) on ESPN2.

The number of live events also is expanding. Denver's own Invesco Field at Mile High hosted 160 teams last summer as part of the 2004 Super 7 World Series of the National Professional Paintball League. The same event will return to Denver in July.

And if you don't get hooked through TV or a local tournament, there's always the video game route. Activision released a paintball video game last fall for Microsoft's Xbox system, which simulates the path a player would take in real life, moving from rookie recreational player to the pros.

Some in the sport expect to see even more upside.

"It's like skateboarding was 20 years ago," says Nate Bowlen, a referee for Paintball Adventures, who hopes to open his own field in Glenwood Springs.

Bowlen isn't the only one hoping to tap growing demand. The owners of American Paintball Coliseum - an indoor facility in Denver - plan to make its outdoor field in Brighton a year-round facility. Likewise, the paintball enthusiasts behind Guru Sports in Nederland have plans for their own field in Rollinsville this spring.

As paintball equipment advances, field operators expect even more consumers to try out the sport.

"The biggest thing is the safety aspect continues to improve all the time," says Navarro. "They (manufacturers) continually try to make things safer and better."

Who knows - with some super, paintball-proof gear on the horizon, next time I play I may even wander a little further from my fort.