What: A group day of paintball open invite.
When: Saturday, May 30th. (This way you have Sunday to recover.)
Where: Extreme Paintball, Modesto CA. After game dinner at Chevys of course.
General Field Info
Admission + all day 4500psi fills: $21 (if you buy a case of their paint from their local store in Modesto you get $5 off admission making it $16)
Hours of operation: 9am - 5pm (games do start around 10am)
BYOP allowed: If you have a deal on paint that can be bought in bulk speak now and we can make a group purchase.
Chrono Speed: 280fps
Field Type: Speedball/ More specifically hyperball and airball in X-Ball format I believe.
Extreme has always been worth the drive out to play. They have refs who know how to ref, do not put up with dishonest play, and stay right with the group waiting for us to be ready. Their fields are well balanced and fun to play with as few as 3 vs 3 or 10 vs 10 (ok maybe 8 vs 8 on the airball). The ground is flat and free of rocks and rodent holes but it is hard ground and cleats will not necessarily give you grip.
As the date approaches I will try and work out a carpool of some sort if there are those of you who would like to do that to help cut fuel costs. From Monterey where I am it's about a 3 hour trip.
Things You Would Be Wise to Bring
-Water or other cool drinks in an ice chest.
-Sunblock and a hat or shades.
-NON black clothing. There is shade in the staging area but it's all sun on the fields.
-Fold-out tables/chairs. (can't hurt if you have them).
-An laptop, external USB/Firewire HD or USB thumb drive 4Gigs+. This is handy if you want to get a copy of the pictures taken during the day and not wait for me to get them up on my site.
- possible change of cloths. It is tradition that we head to Chevys for a tasty dinner after a day of play like this. No ifs or buts, we go to eat all the chips, tortillas and salsa.
And for some historical info on the game...
Originally posted by Z-Man
GAME HISTORY
Where did this come from / details for people wondering why
There is nothing like the first time you played paintball. I might back that up a little and say that the first few times you played paintball were the biggest rush you ever had in the sport. Every time after that (while I am sure it was great fun) never measure up to that first high. If you have been playing paintball for a few years you probably know this. Sure there are new things you can try and you can still have great fun but the longer you play the more it takes to capture one of those "perfect" days.
First time I played I was using a Stingray playing in a Poison Oak infested hillside with 3 other guys. It was crappy BE paint and the gun jammed on me like 4x during the day and I ran out of CO2 one game and it was amazing, I loved every minute. Now more than 10 years later I look at what a "great day of paintball" means to me and I have a whole list of things that need to be met. I want good quality paint that I don't have to clean out of my gun because it breaks. I want nice weather because I don't want to drop $100+ to deal with snow and sweltering heat. I want to go some place with reffing that won't put up with cheaters or allows their "local" sponsored team to mow down the pickup groups that come out. I think that this is normal for paintball players. It is an expensive sport and the longer you play the more reasons you need to shell out the large amount of money for even a simple recball day. Add to that list the ever present people who wipe, start fights, and are generally unpleasant to be around and people start thinking "I could be spending this money on water-skiing/BMX/motocross/fishing, where I don't have to deal with people like that". I think it is one of the major reasons that people drift away from the sport which is too bad.
Well I became aware of this feeling in me back around 2003-2004 and figured the best thing to do was to find people like me who wanted the same things in a day of play that I wanted and organize days of play with those people. How can you go wrong? All of you know the "best" field in your area; for some there is only 1 field. Regardless, if you plan out a day and:
-choose the times of the year when the weather is good
-choose a field that offers the best value for your money (in my opinion that means, experienced refs, it means 4500 fills it means BYOP, it means 4+ fields some speedball some rec it means parking and shade)
-and lastly, collect a group of people that are going to be fun to play with. Let me expand, collect 10+ people so that you can play nonstop among yourselves without needing anyone else.
A day like that is pretty hard to beat and pretty hard to ruin. If you have chosen the good times to play, the weather is going to be fabulous, the field is going to be top notch (you chose the best one right?), and the players are going to be everything you want. In my case I honest players. Far more important than skilled, or brilliant, or funny, or wealthy, or dyslexic, I want to play with people who call themselves out when the are shot. I want to play with people who play fair, who are not out there to prove something to me or whoever they are playing with, and who don't scream "GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!" all game. Plus since most paintball players have extra equipment; If something should break, I got a backup, and if I didn't there are 10 other people who do...
And that is what I have done since then. I try and organize one of these games every month or so at a field that fits the bill and the weather. I have a fantastic little group of about 15 people, most of whom can show up each event. We play the whole day at our pace among our group and it's all peaches and cream. We even have a few hundred pictures and 30-45 min of video that I cut down and make into some short movie (everyone likes pictures and video). It is the closest thing to an ideal day of paintball for me and because I can rely on it I am more than happy to dump $2-300 into a day like that (not that you have to but I want lots of paint for these days
).
I had not given much thought to an official name for these events but they were usually just a forum event. They started as "AO Days" and then "PBL Days" but I started thinking about that and realized that if I want to find people, I would need to make these identifiable events.
Let's face it, the people who would be attracted to games like this are few and far between. Sure NATION wide we can find a few hundred on MCB alone but it's paintball and because you have to drive out to play somewhere that means you are limited to a localized region. Great day or not, it's a lot of money to travel 400+ miles for a 1 day game. Consider this game, between Monterey and Sacramento I have found about 15 people who both want to play this way and actually come out when a game is organized. So that is what this whole post is. It's a little post-it note listed among dozens of other great games you can go play. If this idealized sounding game day sounds too good to be true or you are interest, come on out and see if I am BSing. Worst case, you have a day like any other rec day, best case you have a new group to play wtih. If you have a chronic disease that makes you wipe paint hits and compels you to show off your testosterone by getting in my face because that his how you resolve your conflicts..... ya maybe we just aren't destined to be BFF's and all that other crap that children say.
Where did this come from / details for people wondering why
There is nothing like the first time you played paintball. I might back that up a little and say that the first few times you played paintball were the biggest rush you ever had in the sport. Every time after that (while I am sure it was great fun) never measure up to that first high. If you have been playing paintball for a few years you probably know this. Sure there are new things you can try and you can still have great fun but the longer you play the more it takes to capture one of those "perfect" days.
First time I played I was using a Stingray playing in a Poison Oak infested hillside with 3 other guys. It was crappy BE paint and the gun jammed on me like 4x during the day and I ran out of CO2 one game and it was amazing, I loved every minute. Now more than 10 years later I look at what a "great day of paintball" means to me and I have a whole list of things that need to be met. I want good quality paint that I don't have to clean out of my gun because it breaks. I want nice weather because I don't want to drop $100+ to deal with snow and sweltering heat. I want to go some place with reffing that won't put up with cheaters or allows their "local" sponsored team to mow down the pickup groups that come out. I think that this is normal for paintball players. It is an expensive sport and the longer you play the more reasons you need to shell out the large amount of money for even a simple recball day. Add to that list the ever present people who wipe, start fights, and are generally unpleasant to be around and people start thinking "I could be spending this money on water-skiing/BMX/motocross/fishing, where I don't have to deal with people like that". I think it is one of the major reasons that people drift away from the sport which is too bad.
Well I became aware of this feeling in me back around 2003-2004 and figured the best thing to do was to find people like me who wanted the same things in a day of play that I wanted and organize days of play with those people. How can you go wrong? All of you know the "best" field in your area; for some there is only 1 field. Regardless, if you plan out a day and:
-choose the times of the year when the weather is good
-choose a field that offers the best value for your money (in my opinion that means, experienced refs, it means 4500 fills it means BYOP, it means 4+ fields some speedball some rec it means parking and shade)
-and lastly, collect a group of people that are going to be fun to play with. Let me expand, collect 10+ people so that you can play nonstop among yourselves without needing anyone else.
A day like that is pretty hard to beat and pretty hard to ruin. If you have chosen the good times to play, the weather is going to be fabulous, the field is going to be top notch (you chose the best one right?), and the players are going to be everything you want. In my case I honest players. Far more important than skilled, or brilliant, or funny, or wealthy, or dyslexic, I want to play with people who call themselves out when the are shot. I want to play with people who play fair, who are not out there to prove something to me or whoever they are playing with, and who don't scream "GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!GET OUT!" all game. Plus since most paintball players have extra equipment; If something should break, I got a backup, and if I didn't there are 10 other people who do...
And that is what I have done since then. I try and organize one of these games every month or so at a field that fits the bill and the weather. I have a fantastic little group of about 15 people, most of whom can show up each event. We play the whole day at our pace among our group and it's all peaches and cream. We even have a few hundred pictures and 30-45 min of video that I cut down and make into some short movie (everyone likes pictures and video). It is the closest thing to an ideal day of paintball for me and because I can rely on it I am more than happy to dump $2-300 into a day like that (not that you have to but I want lots of paint for these days
). I had not given much thought to an official name for these events but they were usually just a forum event. They started as "AO Days" and then "PBL Days" but I started thinking about that and realized that if I want to find people, I would need to make these identifiable events.
Let's face it, the people who would be attracted to games like this are few and far between. Sure NATION wide we can find a few hundred on MCB alone but it's paintball and because you have to drive out to play somewhere that means you are limited to a localized region. Great day or not, it's a lot of money to travel 400+ miles for a 1 day game. Consider this game, between Monterey and Sacramento I have found about 15 people who both want to play this way and actually come out when a game is organized. So that is what this whole post is. It's a little post-it note listed among dozens of other great games you can go play. If this idealized sounding game day sounds too good to be true or you are interest, come on out and see if I am BSing. Worst case, you have a day like any other rec day, best case you have a new group to play wtih. If you have a chronic disease that makes you wipe paint hits and compels you to show off your testosterone by getting in my face because that his how you resolve your conflicts..... ya maybe we just aren't destined to be BFF's and all that other crap that children say.
though!
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