What's your "strangest" paintball experience?

[Pyrate Jim]

Another good one. Short.
When my daughter was nine, she wanted to see what it was about. So, I took her with me to Strategy Plus in CT.
They said she was too young to play under insurance regulations.

So they made her a ref.

[BretG]

Seen a few crazy things over the years.
This is not crazy, but just strange.
We produced a scenario game for a field in Maryland that also had an indoor soccer field. They played in there as well with large curved netting sections at each end. We visited the facility in preparation for the scenario game and got to witness the clean up operation after a day of indoor action.
The curved end netting collected all the paint from the day and a group of young people were shoveling the paintballs, which the curved netting had kept from breaking, into large drums marked Acetone. Others were scooping out the paint with pool nets and dumping the paint onto drying mats.
After a few minutes, they then scooped up the paint and dumped it into plastic bags, which were then placed into the original case boxes and sealed with tape.
I asked the owner about it and he laughed and said he sold it again as 'seconds'.

[fat-50-]

Me and my wife visited Costa Rica for several months traveling and working on farms. This was a sabbatical from the field and stores I worked for at the time and as such paintball was still on my mind, a couple months in and we ran into several Dynasty players on a beach in Panama, on the return to Costa Rica the ich to play was huge so I searched out a convenient weekend trip that happened to be in close proximity to a field. Joined in on a mixed group to play some rec ball, the mask rules were somewhat atrocious and I kept mine glued on as example, this example was lost on the other players. We are up on the side of a hill to start an attack and defend game getting ready to play I have the mask on people are causally plugs out masks off and I hear something whiz pass my shoulder. Thinking the other team was shooting I yelled at them about the masks. No whistle and no sign of paintballs coming our way we stand there waiting again, a moment later another whiz past us.. turns out the gun range below us is also active and stray bullets have been making there way off the berm and into the paintball field area. Game on down the field we go whistle or not

[Cdn_Cuda]

It was a big dollar deal, so worth the wait. Otherwise I would have been gone.

[boomersruckus]

We all know about Bob the Angel guy. I had sent him a regulator for an LED to fix. The reg with the on/off button. He took months and months to fix it. I kept getting irritated at the delay but never confronted Bob about it. He opened up to me a few times about life kicking him in the nuts. Mentioned his sick wife and his struggles. I didnt pry for any of this info but each time I reached out to him for an update I would internally be frustrated but his responses would indicate he was in a trying time of life and so I would calm down and offer encouragement. The day he..... well. On that final day, he put my reg into the mail. It was post marked that very day. I often think about how his last actions could have been putting this regulator into the mail for a member of the community he loved. Instead of just not. Also not strange but kinda touching. A man at his wits end still thinks of others. Absolute legend.

[RhoXi]

You're probably right though I could've sworn they had armbands and my team didn't. Oh well.

[ChillswitchEngage]

I'm surprised you waited an hour, I usually max out at ~20-30min lol.

[Magmoormaster]

Back in 2017 I think? I was working at the local paintball store, about 5 minutes away from the largest University in the state. A couple of the ROTC leaders came in, and explained that they had a big paintball-related training exercise in a few weeks and they wanted some extra firepower over the cadets. Basically the cadets had to move a half mile or so up a mountain trail and the leaders were going to stop them. The cadets were equipped with Alpha Blacks, and basically it was a one-hit-you're-out kind of a thing. I ended up selling the leaders a handful of Etha 2s and some electronic hoppers, probably V-Maxes or something. Also present was the team captain of one of the local woodsball teams (Headrush) we sponsored. He volunteered to show up and help the leaders fight the cadets. I volunteered as well, and they accepted.

So me and two Headrush guys showed up really early, with the intent of getting up the trail before the cadets knew about us. That idea fell flat, as there were a handful of cadets already there. But anyway, the mountain trail ended up being a very public trail, with hikers and mountain bikers going up and down all day. The Headrush guys wanted to go full guerilla, and went up the trail to go hide. I went with the leaders, and we spent the day basically driving around in a golf cart or wandering the trail trying to find the cadets. There were two small skirmishes, one around noon and another right before sunset, both lasting maybe a minute or two. After the second, we basically called it a day. At about that point, the Headrush guys had finally gotten close, and I had to stop them from openign fire after the "game" ended. They had literally spent all day sneaking around the woods trying to find the cadets, and didn't get to shoot a single round. They went home, I stayed for a bit and we went up the trail to the "objective," where a food truck was brought in. They all hung out and whatnot, while I kinda stood off to the side not knowing anyone. I think the cadets camped out there, which I did not do.

It was a really weird day. Like I said, we just kinda wandered around, hoping to find some action and barely found any. And we encountered civilians throughout the day, and we had to warn them that there might be some paintball firefights occuring. Pathetic day of paintball, but it was a nice change of pace for me as a college student stuck doing lame generals for several semesters in a row. And the Headrush guys getting lost all day was pretty funny.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Went to pick up some Tippmann for a forum member and show up the seller’s house to two Raccoons making sweet, sweet love and were none to happy at my arrival.

selling gear to a guy. He arrives an hour late, in an Uber, tries to bargain on price… I said no and that I’d been waiting an hour. Weird dude but was selling a good amount of stuff.

[Pyrate Jim]

Well, there was a time I had a bounty on my head for nearly three years at Survival New York. Jerry Braun's field.
They were famous for their scenario games, some lasting 28 hours right through the night. Midnight speedball games under blinking Xmas tree lights.
I best remember one player from Canada who played the bagpipes at dawn to rouse the teams.

(this may take a while)
During one of these two-day games, I was the General for the Russian side against USA.
Each team had a special group for their general. US had Seal Team and as Russian, I had the Speznost Command. Players experienced beyond average in scenario.
And there was another group on the field. The Black Market. Refs dealing everything from information to props required for specific missions. And Mercenaries.
Not just any mercenaries. Remember this field is owned by Jerry Braun, the home team are the Master Blasters. World Champions. For hire, at a price.

Center field held a major objective, a communications hub or something. With a twist.
A box containing radioactive material sat there, and once it was opened it eliminated anyone within 20 feet. Continuously. Get too close, Ref called you out.
Now, I had seen the field pull this before. The Black Market would sell "radiation suits" being white tyvec painter's suits.
Now, I knew this and worked with access to these suits, so I had brought one.
Unfortunately, the Black Market themselves kinda forgot to bring one to sell.

The Americans had reached the central base first and opened the box. Which immediately eliminated anyone who came close.
Unable to reach the objective, they formed a perimeter.
In the meantime, our team had collected enough in "game funds" to hire the mercenaries. And that's what I did.
I had gathered my Speznost Command, handing them the tyvec suit and telling them to use that protection to close the box and bring it to the US base and open it.
Meanwhile, I had hired the mercenaries to clear their path, while the bulk of the team engaged in attacking the enemy base.

Long story short, the Speznost team delivered. Opening the box of radiation right outside the enemy base preventing them from occupation.
Since Base Occupation was a fair part of the total points scored hourly and the other team frantic because there were no radiation suits available. It eventually ended up with the other team spending everything they had to get that box closed so that they could claim their base.

Pissed them off to no end. To the point they declared a "bounty" on the "Russian General" ~ Swearing to eliminate me in any game.
Fortunately for me, I was not recognized beneath the mask in subsequent games.
Meh. Calling up memories is almost as bad as writing them out, even when they're good memories.
I know mine. I enjoy reading others.

[boomersruckus]

Maybe not as strange as some of the stories here but it's something I'll always remember. Sorry if this is a little wordy. It's a slow day at work and the muse has taken me.

Back in fall 2002 I went to my first (and so far only) big game out somewhere in Indiana. Being an 11 year old kid at the time, my team had me hide in a seemingly useless position near our starting point close to a trail and left me there alone. I was positioned on a decently steep hillside behind some dead tree branches looking at the trail roughly 20 or so yards from it. Of course this being probably my second or third outing, my heart is pounding in my chest just waiting for the enemy to walk by. I waited on edge for what seemed like hours till suddenly an enemy patrol of about 4 or 5 guys appeared and was headed my way. This was it.

I hunkered down, certain they would see me immediately. By now I was completely amped up and knew for sure I was going to get shot. To my surprise though, they didn't spot me. They kept on walking. I waited till they had just walked by me, then stood up, brought my trusty 98 Custom to bear, and pulled the trigger. To my horror, it gun just sputtered and a ball lazily rolled out of the barrel. I was out of CO2.

I stood there for a moment frozen in place by shock. Once I snapped out of it, I recocked the gun to try again but had the same result. Tried once more but this time the gun didn't even sputter. It just made a funny plopping sound. Meanwhile, the patrol was still walking away from me completely oblivious to my presence. I had to stop them. I had one thing left I could try.

Each player was given one of those Tippmann grenades and mine was in my pocket. I grabbed it, pulled the pin, and threw it as hard as I could towards the patrol. My aim was a little off but I hit the hillside to the right of them but it was rolling right towards them. Yes! I thought I had them but as anyone who has used one of those things knows, nothing happend. It just impotently rolled through the autumn leaves and came to a rest near the rear member of the patrol.

A whole new wave of horror came over me. The last guy had definitely seen the dud grenade. Any second now they'd all turn and light me up like the 4th of July. I braced for impact but it never came. The last guy simply glanced at the dud then kept on walking and didn't say anything to his team mates. I just stood there stunned and watched as the patrol dissapeared around the bend.

I have no idea how they didn't spot me and I wonder about it to this day. Surely they should have heard my 98 sputtering behind them and the last guy definitely saw the grenade. Was it my spiffy chocolate chip cammo jacket blending in peffectly with the fall foliage? Was it just a case of tunnel vision? I don't know and perhaps never will. The irony of all this is that if I had a full tank I would've been lit up for sure. My empty tank saved me.

I had a similar experience in that I was trying to ambush some dudes at a big game. This was in 2005 and I was using my race cocker. Only exception was that I had them dead to rights, pulled the trigger a dozen times in that second and was provided with the sound of the hammer hitting the valve and the air making a muffled pop sound. The badguys instantly turned around and asked me where I wanted it. My last words before I was shot square in the goggles were....

ohhhhhhhh fuuuuuuuuuuuddddddddgggggggggge! Only I didn't say 'fudge.' I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the 'F-dash-dash-dash' word.

During the break, one of my buddies put my bolt in upside down as a joke. I am sure he was thinking I would have test fired it before playing. I didnt. I died. Thanks Harry! Not strange.....just rude!

[martix_agent]

I'm guessing they were your own team mates and you never realized it.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Yeah that’s pretty normal.

[RPP]

For the first time in my 20 years playing i saw a grenade actually work at SG this year. It was amazing. Thrown into the castle at DMZ. Took out 3 people if I remember correctly.

[Arthur]

2008 SG, at the old field, forget its name but I was rushing DMZ having a blast. Bonebrake came over the speaker to remind players that nades count as kills. Just as he finished his sentence a fat nade smashed into my mask, filling it stem to stern with with a shower of paint. Ive never seen a nade accomplish this feat. It literally took me out of the game. I had to walk off field and clean it, missed the end.