Anyone been to Pocono Mountain Paintball?

[wycke]

Like the subject says...anyone out there played at Pocono Mountain Paintball? Our scout troop, uh, I mean the "friends of" our scout troop (since paintball is verboten as a BSA activity) is planning an outing there in late September and I'm just wondering what to expect. I've been to Skirmish countless times. so if you've been there, too, that would be a good basis of comparison. Looking at their website, they are clearly a smaller venue, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Any feedback or opinions are welcome!

[Law]

Wow I haven’t been there but I just went and read the statement from the BSA on paintball. It took me a few minutes to realize that outlaw style ball would likely be an issue if they didn’t say something like that, but I’m still surprised.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Why can’t BSA play Paintball. Looks like our local BSA group went to the range the other day. What makes Paintball so bad?

I have never even heard of Pocono Mtn paintball. Looks like it’s setup for Group outings only. $30 entry $90 a case + $5 per full [air/co2 fill (3k only)]

[Shaftski]

RIfle shooting is pretty integral to the BSA experience, there's a merit badge for it and everything, i got it when i was a kid.

Paintball fill isn't the best thing in the world for the environment, especially aquatic life. Scouting is all about leaving things better/more natural than the way you found them. I remember a lot of undoing man made changes to the environment.

[wycke]

There are a couple of issues:

• "A scout is kind" - firing projectiles at another living thing that would cause pain is not kind. Even nerf, water blasters and laser tag are "officially" prohibited as they simulate "shooting" another person.
• While shooting (firearms and archery) are integral to scouting, only standard targets are allowed; nothing that resembles an animal or person. In fact, at one event, I was the rangemaster for a "chalk-ball" range. I have no idea where they got the ammo, but scouts fired chalk-filled balls (using standard Tippman M98s) in a shooting gallery-type setup (metal spinner targets, milk cans, etc.)

Strangely, the environmental impact hasn't even come up in any of the literature I've read on the topic.

The reality is that most of our scouts have never played and will likely never be "regular" players, so the "tourist-trap" type of field is probably perfect for them.