What keeps you going?

[MattV]

I played my first game in 2000, bought a VL genesis in 2001 and I was hooked. There were ups and downs in interest but it was my main hobby until 2017ish. This was not by choice, but the scene locally had died and my daughter was born so travelling wasn't much of an option. I ended up selling or giving away all of my gear last year expecting not to really be able to play any more.

Fast forward to march, and I was invited to a paintball birthday party for a friends kid. This friend was the guy that used to drive me to games when I was 15, his now 18 year old son was 1 when we first met. With 6 kids and an army of their friends and family, our little outlaw group now has turnouts of 20+ every week, the best it's been since 2005.

I was able to reacquire all the gear I needed for free, intending to keep it simple with 2 or 3 markers. I came back to MCB to pick up a couple of small parts aaaand it's all back. I'm looking at buy/sell groups all the time, planning out new builds, planning what to eventually purchase etc. Everything about the game excites me again. I opened an old broken revy the other day with 10 year old paint, and it was a nostalgic experience. Opening a bag of paint or changing a 12g? Should be scented candles. The game is as much excitement as it's ever been, but I think gun whoring will always be my thing. I love tinkering, I love trouble shooting and ordering up parts to get my markers working. I think the equipment is what excites me as much or more than the game.


So what's your story? What got you into paintball, and what keeps you going?

[Cdn_Cuda]

I had some friends that were interested and played a few times and had fun, and one friend in particular became my go-to paintball buddy. We played a lot over a couple of summers and have slowed down playing few and far between as life has progressed. He actually married my sister. I’ve always kept up my interested as his has faded.

Now-a-days my main focus is buying, fixing and selling gear locally and this year started selling stuff on MCB. I spend a lot of time tinkering and wheeling and dealing. I’ve amassed way too much stuff but make a few bucks and am now funding a custom build. I watch Craigslist like a hawk and am branching out into a few different gun types after sticking mostly to Tippmanns.

My current project is an Angel and I’m going to be making a battery pack for it. I’m learning a lot and enjoy the hands-on tactile nature of the work, at least when things go right.

[glaman5266]

In 2002 my brother mentioned that his friend picked up a paintball blowdart type thing. So we looked into paintball & it became something we wanted to try. We each got a cheapo Brass Eagle Blade '02 for Christmas that year. Went out and played in the snow that very day and had an absolute blast. He soon upgraded to a BE Afterburner, and I didn't upgrade until I got a JT Excellerator 6.0 for my birthday in April of '03. Then it snowballed into a brand new A-5, playing in the local league, posting all the time on PbN & MCB, gun whoring, all that fun stuff.
I'm getting out of the gun whoring, though. In getting older I'm finding that I just want simplicity & reliability, not a bunch of stuff that may or may not need work. I've really streamlined my inventory in recent years.

What keeps me going is the social aspect. I don't play so much for the competitive aspect of it anymore, but more for meeting people & being a part of something. The local scene died with the '08 recession, so I started traveling more. Nowadays I'm on a large woodsball/scenario team based out of the Twin Cities and usually travel out to Splat-Tag (near the Twin Cities) or Siege (near Milwaukee), playing for funsies & trying to meet more MCBers.

[BrickHaus]

I recall wanting ro get into it as a young kid, i asked my dad to get me a tippmann and take me to a game. He said no as it would be just another hobbie I dont follow through on, and my gun will sit.

A year later I spend every nickle of my Christmas money on a 98C players pack. For years I only played outlaw. I was the guy who went to Gander and filled all of the co2 tanks, then bought the box of paint. My few buddies would come out and we would play for a while.

Eventually I got invited to a Giant Big Game by KRA Sharpshooter from the A5og forums. We went, and I had a blast. It was raining, like pouring, and cold we all huddled in Kevin's (KRA) van shivering on lunch break.

I still recall getting many elims as I didnt know the field and ended up behind enemy lines a few times on accident. But the resounding moment when I was HOOKED. I was out side of the enemy spawn base ( unbeknownst to me) and shooting. It out with them, when a paintball tank with a double trouble a5 came barreling down the trail. I knew I wasnt going to run so I kept shooting peeps til the tank got me.

I walked off the field so full of adrenline I didnt know what to do with myself.

I was a loaner who just went to big games after that.

Eventually, I linked up with my old team as the founder was general for big game, and I wanted to be part of the scenario for a change. We planned stuff, and became friends. After the game he recruited me and a few other buddies.

Played pretty regularly for 5 year on the team, then lost my love for it as a team brings work into the fun.

I stayed on the team 2 more years while not at all enjoying the sport, and eventually quit ( 2 years ago).

This past winter, Ive been fixing some of the old shooters Ive just had laying around, and kinda got the bug again.

I just got my season pass 2 weekends ago, made my own jersey, And have already been to the field 2 times.(im still a busy guy). Itll be a good year I think.

[NONOBLITUS]

Take the way back machine to winter of 1989 and my friends were all talking about how cool it was playing paintball. The more they talked the more I was interested then heavy snow hit and New Years and now it was a warmer spring day and I was finally going. Put the shop goggles on and was handed a PGP. With some running around and I finally got a shot to the the neck with a Nelspot and I was hooked. Markers were upgraded traded and sold and we drove to every event we could find. Then the mid nineties rolled around and I moved to Washington and worked at a paintball field and store that sponsored us “ Team Gang green “ and we played in multiple tournaments. After finishing college I moved back to the east coast and did a couple more tournaments but the attitude of them made me stop with that style play and became the kick off to go back to all rec play. I hear and see so many people get burned out but thankfully I never have. I also play stock class events ,big games , rec walk on , pump and whatever else which keeps the excitement there. I have had my son playing since he was 8 and then 10 on fields who is now 16 which really is a blast for me. Sooooo that was a long story but glad to hear your back into it and enjoying yourself. 31 years of shooting for this guy here and ready to always play.

[Tinybear]

I have come and gone a bunch of times in past 20+ years. Never would I say I got tired of it or wanted to quite, it’s just life got in the way or my other hobbies (aka motorcycles and off roading) took priorities.

But for me it’s always that rush of hearing paint wiz by you and getting into fire fights. The fun of trying to out think your opponents strategy to get the upper hand. And the simple fun of tinkering away on the bench cleaning modifying and generally just messing about with all the gear.

Started myself by buying a couple of the cheap brass eagle pumps for my brother for his 19th Bday (I would be almost 15 myself, I had been working since I was 13). Went and out to the fields by our house at the time just to shoot targets. Well that was short lived and soon we were the targets. Ended up breaking the pump arm on mine. So the next weekend my brother and I went to paintball city indoor and bought two new markers. He got a piranha of some kind and I got my pro/carbine (that I still have and love).

We played there that day for hours. And the one particular game I ended up last one on my team. The field was a hyper ball field back then surrounded by buildings. I was doing my best playing behind a can having the fight of my life with about three other players who where closing on me. The paint smashing my bunker and whizzing around inches from me was just a adrenaline booster I was like on autopilot. I did manage to shoot out one more player before getting taken out but that game cemented the love for the sport in me.

I have much more difficulty playing now with a family and kids of my own. And injuries that mean I can no longer effectively run and kneeling is not allowed. But despite the challenges and being less effective on field. The games still every bit as fun as it’s always been.

[TouchofGrey]

I started plaiy in 1984 at the age of 28 and set a goal to play 40 years. This wlll be year 37. What a long strange trip its been.

[NONOBLITUS]

We have shot each other and with each other many times. Surely a strange trip.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I have a stressful job. Paintball is my release. Adrenaline dump hooked me. But the thing that keeps me coming back is the friends I made along the way. I collect but it gets used or it gets sold. Started in the woods traveled the globe playing competitively realized I would never go pro, got burnt out found pump then eventually Stock Class paintball. Came Full circle back to my roots cracking cold ones in the bush with friends.

[punkncat]

I have come and gone quite a few times. Much as users above mention, other interests and hobbies draw me away. Like many, the scene here died off to a degree that is was nearly impossible to get a game. The sport is coming back pretty strong around here, but the issue now is getting a "good" rec game in. There is a division here that almost all open play sucks pretty badly. Anyone with any manner of skill gets swooped up by these "team mills" and they are going to do tournies. As many of you know it's often the way that the tourney guys play for a season or two and are done.
The other aspect that is poignant is that most of the tourney guys really aren't particularly good. I like to scrimmage with them when I come across some (and am invited) and have been rather surprised at how well my "skills" have held up over the years.

A lot of the time it's hard to drag myself out, but each time I do it's a great time and it always rekindles my desire to play. The bigger issue I have run into for the past couple of years is what playing is doing to my lower back and hips, lol. Particularly if I get out there and pull a "good as I once was" with a bunch of young guys who CAN move...Of four of the last times I have played, three of them left me hurting weeks afterward. Common sense says I should quit, but when I look in my gear bag all I want to do is go play.

[Dusty Bottoms]

I was a product of the mid to late 80’s and early 90’s, and as a small child was obsessed with GI Joe, playing ‘war’ outside with friends, and watching all manner of inappropriate action movies with my oblivious father. I first heard of paintball in 5th grade, circa ‘92, when I bought a Paintball Sports magazine. It looked like a chance to play GI Joe for real, and much like the cartoon, nobody dies! I finally convinced my mom to let me play in 8th grade and had a epic forts time experience, that included me and my friends being stalked and ambushed by a duo using a Minimag and cocker! We were so amped, that my mom later told me it was the first time she saw me be that happy about anything. I worked and raked lawns to afford my first marker, a Tippmann ProLite, and a bunch of my friends bought markers as well. We had many great outlaw games during high school that I’ll never forget. At the time, my dream guns were all Automags that I saw in every magazine, but could never afford. Little did I realize that I was playing in the golden age of mechanical paintball.
By the early 2000’s in college, the game was drastically shifting towards electros and speedball format, both of which I hated. I was active on forums but rarely playing due to finances, and put aside the hobby for a couple years. In about ‘07 I jumped back in on the woodsball resurgence via SpecOps. I foolishly sunk a lot of money into Tippmann A5’s before finally realizing that I could be buying the Automags from my youth for cheaper, and they’d be a higher quality product, and shoot better then a dressed up blowback mech to boot. I finally got my first Minimag from the legendary Tunaman on Automag Org in ‘09 and have been a vintage mag fanatic ever since.
I was still mostly playing lone wolf for about ten years until, thanks to mcb’er The Inflicted, I met a great group of pump/mech players with a shared love of vintage markers. A large part of the game is tied to nostalgia for me, and the thrill of hunting for parts and getting to actually play with a marker you built. That thrill is something my Emek can’t replicate. Now, at forty, if I can just convince my brain that I’m no longer twenty anymore, I would probably get injured less playing!

[NONOBLITUS]

5th grade in 92 , ughhhhhh thanks for that extra your old thing. Time flys , I was 20 in 92

[iamthelazerviking]

Circa 2001/2002, made a new friend at school. 6th grade I think. He moved from Cali and had his own gear. I had been curious about paintball and finally went with him and was hooked. Bought myself all new gear for my birthday. That was the golden age of paintball. What keeps me going...the adrenaline rush. Like a junky after their first high. The novelty of cool parts, gear, guns. And just the game itself is very unique. A grown up version of hide and go seek, meets "long distance" tag, meets tactics and strategy. Nothing else like it.

[Grendel]

I like to play in the woods always have, tag is fun but tag at range is more funner. Really that simple I enjoy actually playing paintball. The fact I also enjoy tinkering with mechanical things is gravy. I'm not as big a fan of walk on rec play at a "organized" field. I tend to prefer my everyday play to be outlaw with people who like to play in the woods (I'll do speed ball occasionally but mah...). My favorite way to play paintball is big format 24 hr scenarios, not a lot of those anymore they they still exist. I started playing in 1988 @23 and still play, not as much as I would like to but really never took off from paintball outside of health issues. With moving back south I have been drumming up interest in getting SC Roadkill back and regularly attending scenarios again.

[MattV]

Outlaw is definitely better. It's easier to keep the douchebags away when you're playing with a private group on an invite basis and nobody is seeing dollar signs every time someone uses lots of paint to hose down renter kids.

[Melrosejedi]

What keeps me going is a love for this game.growing up playing army in the woods we weren’t lucky enough to have paintball around yet.started playing when I was 25 in “91”.played twice at a local field with splat masters and me and my brother were hooked and bought guns.USI eliminator for me and a vm68 for my brother.Was paintballs infancy and ours,and as the sport grew,so did we replacing vm’s with spiders,automags,shockers,and even had a team and attended many world record games every year at skirmish.rechallenged myself by trying pump play around “07” and still rock and cock till this day.Not as fast as I once was but doesn’t seem to make a difference on the field.Been 30 years and I’m more excited this year as a lot of the guys are playing more and don’t see me slowing down.I always say I will be in a wheel chair telling someone to get me too the front.lol.god I love this game.

[Jonnydread]

I just really like poison ivy.

[Chuck E Ducky]

😂 You are like a magnet for it to.

[Jonnydread]

Chuck E Ducky yeah man I wouldn't be surprised if I got some from Saturday despite there being absolutely no visible ivy on the field.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I did see some but I’m not allergic to it anymore. I use to get it bad as a kid. But as I got older I no longer get it. So I'm one of the lucky ones.

[OpusX]

My story is very similar to Dusty Bottoms . 80's kid 90's teen, always enjoyed all the action packed media of the day, played with cap guns, tag, nerf, water guns, etc, and when I discovered paintball was a thing in the early 90's I spent a couple of years working to convince the parental units to allow me to play. Once I managed to do that I was hooked, and ended up with a Spyder as soon as I got a job (I'm pretty sure I only got a job to buy that marker).

Early 2ks and played competitively in college right as the speed race kicked off. All the mags and cockers I wanted were not the hot stuff anymore, and I began to hate where things were going. Returned to pump for a while and enjoyed the rec games with the college crew and then it just fell off as we all got caught up in life.

A few years ago now, I got pulled back in with a casual text from friends, and I've been on a wild re-aquisition binge and haven't looked back. Now I get to enjoy all the things from the "mech golden age" of the 90s, and play a low slow casual walk on game when I want. The heavy nostalgia and keeping the flame alive aspects keep me going. I really enjoy being the guy on the field with a formerly common 90s marker and having people ask "oh .... what is THAT?!" or having other "old timers" say "OH MAN...I remember those....THAT'S AWESOME". Great times.