When were you happiest with paintball

[Hp_lovecraft]

My favorite time was the late 80s. I was a teenager, but most fields didnt allow under-18s. So it was a big deal to get to play. It was considered an extreme fringe mil-sim for "nuts". Me and my friends from school all played together, and it seemed secretive and dangerous. Everyone started with entry level Splats, PGPs, and 007s, and modded them with hardware store parts. Army surplus stores were very common so we would deck out in whatever ridiculous foreign camo we could find. We all got jobs at the local restaurant dive just to pay for paintball. we would show up for work covered in welts. lol

Then all the friends from school I started with gradually quit for other things. Sports, girls, work, etc. That was a bummer, so I started driving around to different fields, eventually found a cool bunch of guys at Adventure Games of Weare in 1990. Joined the field team, and got a job there to pay for paint. That was a blast. We did all the regional tournaments, but we were never serious. It was all about having fun. The field even had a bar, so every weekend ended with a big party. The early 90s might also be my favorite era. The equipment was better, but you were still expected to mod it. Nothing was "tournament ready" out of the box. Everyone was desperate to find advantages. Rules were not standardized, so it was kinda the wild west.

By the late 90s, I honestly didn't care for the direction of paintball. I didn't like speedball, or the small format teams. The guns all started to become boring, and the literally worst people were playing tournaments. I had so many bad experiences at late 90s tournaments, I swore I would never play another. and by then, the team broke up, and most of my friends stopped playing... Since then, I'll just play one or 2 big games a year, so I can bump into old friends. But, these days, bad knees, bad back, bad eyesight.....

[BLachance75]

Right now for me is a great time. There is an good pump scene in the north east and the people are both top quality players and great to hang out with. For me the group of people really make it.

But I'll always think back to the mid 90s when I was a teen playing outlaw with a bunch of friends. We had a great little spot to play and just have fun. We all were shooting blowbacks and if someone shot a bag of paint it was a lot.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Teaching my to Boys to play has got to be my most rewarding and enjoyable experience in paintball. They are both really excited to play and I’m really looking forward to watching them experience all the events and meet all the great people that have made my paintball experience what it is. They both have been hounding me to go play and that is amazing. So I don’t feel I have hit a Peak.

Here in the North East we have some of the best ballers! I truly believe paintball only as good as the company you keep. Our get togethers are 2nd to none. The battles are intense highly skilled but respectful. High caliber players who play hard and respect the game and each other. So to me paintball hasn’t peaked it just keeps getting better and together with old friends and new friends we are making paintball great again. I see new faces come into the fold all the time. As we like to say Iron sharpens Iron. It’s really fun to play against people you know so well you have to do stuff they wouldn’t expect, because they know your Weaknesses and strengths. It’s a whole Nother level to Paintball that a lot of people don’t get to experience just playing rec. We really are Truly blessed and im excited for what is to come.

Now if only we could get the paint companies to start doing a lil better job. Pump paintball could be that much better.

[Chuck E Ducky]

My youngest pulled off a 2v1 last Saturday against some more experienced older kids. Peak proud Papa Moment!

[Sdawg]

Right now.

[gabe]

I'd have to say 2005-2008ish. We had both an outdoor airball field and an indoor field at the time, good group of players (in high school so no adult responsibilities) plus there was several woods fields and we could play outlaw games on state land.

Now the state land is all shut down to playing paintball, there aren't any outdoor fields, and the one surviving speedball field is barely hanging on. Player turnout is at all time lows it seems like. It's a dark thought but sometimes I wonder how much longer paintball will be around if things keep going the way they are. It's hard to justify paying $100 between paint and entry for most people when they could just jump on a video game and get 90% of the experience these days.

[Riot]

2004-2015…

Because I didn’t play.

[Pumps4ever]

2004-2015…

because i didn’t play.

buahahahahahahhs

[Maxwell]

Definitely right now for me, returning to the hobby after 15 years. Playing in high school was awesome but having money this time around is something else. It was tough to convince my friends to buy markers back then and come out to play, and we didn't have a local field. Now I drive a ways but I met an awesome group that meets up on Sunday's for some games. Good company and money to buy all the fun toys, can't beat it!

[Tinybear]

You had HPA in 1998 and an Automag at 15 but couldn’t afford “fancy gear”, eh? How much fancier did it even get? From what I remember that was AAA+. What existed that was higher end? All those guys with CO2 powered Spyders were drooling over your top shelf stuff. You were not short of a shilling.

Well i got the mag in 1999 at age of 16 (my first gun in 1998 was a Tippmann Pro Carbine). By 1999 the shockers and Angles LEDs and maybe even the SP Impulse’s (if memory serves me correctly) were the fancy ones. But either way the gun was/is NICER than the standard affair of the day by all means. And I made that BIG purchased of my first HPA tank while spectating at skyball 2000 because the mag HATED Co2. By not fancy though I more ment I didn’t run a jersey pod pack or any real paintball specific supporting gear. I had a basic mask a good for the day hopper (pretty sure I had the revy first). And a solid gun and tank. I had been working every weekend since I was 13 for $10/hr so I had more disposable income than most my age. But much of it was set aside planning to buy a house as early as I could and most the rest was spent on my cars and trucks.

[nerdcore]

When my back & knees allowed it. But, seriously:

1. One of my cousins got me started, and was the first thing that bonded us. Lot of great memories with us and another cousin, who we also dragged into it. That other cousin has since passed away, and a few years after that i moved away.
2. The times my daughter played. A couple times when she was a kid, and a couple times as an adult. She was less risk-averse than me on the field, would've made for a great player (even if just recreationally). Health issues prevent her from playing now, though.

TL;DR - happiest memories have been playing with family.

[GattoDiavolo]

When my back & knees allowed it.

Hahaha- So much this! I have three different periods, actually:

1. The Wayne Dollack games at Skirmish. It was my (and my friends) first exposure to scenario games and we loved every minute of it! Each of us had a role (demolitions, engineer, medic...) and we played them up throughout the 24-hour game. The ION games that followed lost some of the chaos and opportunities of the previous games' format. I moved away, and those summer games together came to an end.
2. Moving to NYC and joining a scenario team (Team Voodoo). Regaining some of that comradery, playing the big games (every month! Hot damn!), and upping my personal game really standout. Life moved on with marriage and moving out of state.
3. This one is still nascent, but I took my son out paintballing last weekend for the first time, and he had such a blast! It was so good to share something that I love, and to seem him have fun doing it, and giving me hope that there will be a second game in our future...

[Chuck E Ducky]

Get him to one of the North East Pump games. It’s a great place to introduce kids to the game. My boys are starting to play as well (7) and (9) aka “10”

[GattoDiavolo]

I've played Pump Pandemonium at EMR, but that was almost 20 years ago. I'd love to do something like that again!

[cockerpunk]

honestly, before i became a big name, i much more enjoyed paintball. so probably 2003-2006ish. i had just gotten a VSC phantom, and was playing a lot cause i was in high school, so i was actually the best player i ever was at that time. i could gog people across the field, and even in my later years playing a lot of pump i couldnt do that. of course paint was better back then too. by the time i was in college, i was playing less than half as much and my personal skill suffered and never truly recovered. i was always pretty good, but never as good as i was back then.

FSL paintball man, playing against the timmies and the matrixes pre-ion ... that was the best i ever played.

once i got into the politics, that was a different kind of "fun" but also it was the first time meeting my heros, and realizing they are all fucking idiots. not the last time that has happened in my life. actually been pretty common with every major hobby of mine. cept tom, tom is smarter than you, cause hes smarter than me.

[RPP]

I've been playing for 25 years. I did not play much in college but I've seen/played most everything. The happiest I've been was playing this last super game with my son. Hands down.

[Ecapnation]

Less of an era more of a moment.

I find my zen any give day behind my decades owned 05 black magic pump. I've had it since 2005, we've seen a lot, it's won a national event with me, won big games I have been a general at and has been in my gear bag every event.

I realized this yesterday as I was walking off a hyperball field bleeding from my knuckles on my left hand but was simultaneously grinning ear to ear.