Paintball Birthday Party Questions

Hagar

My thirteen year old son wants to take a few friends paint-balling on his birthday. A new place a has opened up locally with plenty of ads hence the sudden interest. I know little about this except it look like great fun. I just have two concerns that you might be able to help me with.
Firstly I will be responsible for the kids, is it really safe? I don't want for or five mothers coming up afterwards moaning that little Jean-Pierre is ruined for life. What are the risks? Is it really a good idea for kids that age?
Secondly what are my costs likely to be. The basic charge is €20 a head including 100 balls. I have no idea how many balls they would use after that. How long are sessions usually? Any info appreciated. Thanks.

NeMiSiS

You would have to ring the paintball place and ask them what the age limit is for people to play first. I can't comment specifically on the safety of your particular venue, but in general it would be very high. The main advice I would give is if it is woodsball, that the kids wear a decent pair of boots with _ankle support_, rather than go sliding round on their arses in runners. Gloves might also be a good idea, fingerless or otherwise.

A decently run place, will be very strict on people screwing around, as in firing closer than they have to, overkill etc. A lot of the safety is down to the professionalism of the Marshalls. I would say that their policy on minors would be they can not go out unaccompanied unless they are over 16.

Enjoy!
TK

Dave!

jeez I'd say if I played paintball at 13, when I got hit I'd be on the ground crying! :eek: It hurts, man! Even for an adult. It's very safe as long as nobody takes off their goggles, so I wouldn't be worrying about a child being crippled or anything, but it's hard work and often painful.

Hagar

Thanks for the replies. I went down to take a look this afternoon. Very disappointing I have to say. The arena was max 20m by 20m, not a single tree or anything for cover except for orange inflatable shapes. Even at that there weren't many of them. The whole place was covered in unburst balls. I picked a couple up out of curiosity and they were very soft. I get the impression that they were too soft to burst on impact. Just a guess though. Anyway it looks like an afternoon's bowling is on the cards. I think 13 is a bit young anyway. Thanks for the advice.

Dave!

Hagar wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I went down to take a look this afternoon. Very disappointing I have to say. The arena was max 20m by 20m, not a single tree or anything for cover except for orange inflatable shapes. Even at that there weren't many of them. The whole place was covered in unburst balls. I picked a couple up out of curiosity and they were very soft. I get the impression that they were too soft to burst on impact. Just a guess though. Anyway it looks like an afternoon's bowling is on the cards. I think 13 is a bit young anyway. Thanks for the advice.

I presume the area is for speedball if it's full of inflatable shapes.

If the balls were soft it's probably cos they've been lying there for a while. They weren't necessarily like that leaving the gun though. They could have not burst because they didn't hit a target, or maybe they just hit a piece of cloth on a target, etc. They need to hit a hard target to burst really (although even then they don't necessarily burst).

I think you're right that it's too young. If they're interested in that sort of thing then maybe something like quazar/laser-tag would be a good idea! Just a suggestion

Alkers

Unburst balls are more than likely from people dropping them while reloading. I wouldn't bring 13 year olds for sure. They will have bruises where they get shot which could leave you with some unhappy parents, they're also likely to fly through the ammo since they're not paying and most places charge €10 for 100balls which would leave you with a huge bill. Maybe Qzar?

Dave!

Simona1986 wrote:

Unburst balls are more than likely from people dropping them while reloading.

That's true actually! Dropped about a million ¬_¬

ditpaintball

My opinion - 13 is too young. As much as i love the sport, i would not like to have other people hating it because they had a bad experience when they were younger.
From a legal point of view, 16 is the min age that would usually be legally allowed to play for insurance reasons.

To clear up:
paintballs are hard and brittle upon leaving the barrel at 90m/s. They then burst upon hitting the hard target (you).
The are made from biodegradeable material that are water based and (much like those shower gel balls) expans and burst when the come into contact with water or moisture in the air.

All the paintballs on the ground are probally a result of people missing and the balls travelling on another 50ft, then falling gently to the ground where they will last for a few weeks until they dissolve. Simple as that.

For your kids 16th, defo take them paintballing, check out www.irish-paintball.net first (after boards.ie of course) for advice on the best place to go)

Dave!

ditpaintball wrote:

My opinion - 13 is too young. As much as i love the sport, i would not like to have other people hating it because they had a bad experience when they were younger.
From a legal point of view, 16 is the min age that would usually be legally allowed to play for insurance reasons.

To clear up:
paintballs are hard and brittle upon leaving the barrel at 90m/s. They then burst upon hitting the hard target (you).
The are made from biodegradeable material that are water based and (much like those shower gel balls) expans and burst when the come into contact with water or moisture in the air.

All the paintballs on the ground are probally a result of people missing and the balls travelling on another 50ft, then falling gently to the ground where they will last for a few weeks until they dissolve. Simple as that.

For your kids 16th, defo take them paintballing, check out www.irish-paintball.net first (after boards.ie of course) for advice on the best place to go)

Hagar lives in France not Ireland

ditpaintball

ah, most of the info applies anyway. We have a few french connections anyway.

Dave!

Irish-paintball is colonising France eh!

ditpaintball

DaveMcG wrote:

Irish-paintball is colonising France eh!

No.

Hagar

Thanks a million for all the responses. It'd great to get straight info from people who know their stuff. I've told Killian that it's a non-runner and he's no too upset as the Bowling is a good plan B followed by McDoh as they call MickeyD over here.

Dave!

ditpaintball wrote:

No.

ehh... right.......

ditpaintball

DaveMcG wrote:

ehh... right.......

ok.

HAGAR wrote:

Thanks a million for all the responses. It'd great to get straight info from people who know their stuff. I've told Killian that it's a non-runner and he's no too upset as the Bowling is a good plan B followed by McDoh as they call MickeyD over here.

No bother, good luck with the bowling.