[Team_ILLNatured]

some guys i work with went to Montreal for a stag, and they got fisted, paying $70 for a rental and 200balls

[dyeeepaintballlllll]

wow where i go 50 for a rental all day play and 1000 balls

[die.another.day]

Originally Posted by Team_ILLNatured

some guys i work with went to Montreal for a stag, and they got fisted, paying $70 for a rental and 200balls

Welcome to canada. Biggest rip off
Cheapest paint ive EVER seen up here was $45

[Team_ILLNatured]

for a case that's not a bad price...

[vincib]

I think the average player, or lets say more so the speedball player has to temper the ROF with the cost. I remember years ago as speeds were ramping up thinking that it (speedball) was becoming a game of who can waste the most money to win. Now thats not the whole story but as the game shifted away from semi-auto only, the cost dramatically went up to compete. My first tourny, years ago, I used one case and think I had some left. Now people are dropping a case a game, I believe due to the ROF and the ramping. All done to increase the excitement and appeal to a host of opportunities.

For those who play recreationally , woodsball or scenarios and such, the cost hasnt gone up dramatically to play. What a specific field may charge for you to use their facilities and rentals is a whole different set of influences that dictate the cost.

Good conversation.. good to think of the why, so it can change for the better, hopefully.

[Team_ILLNatured]

i mean, i understand needing to make a profit, but $135 a case? thats like a 300% markup!

[vincib]

Originally Posted by Team_ILLNatured

i mean, i understand needing to make a profit, but $135 a case? thats like a 300% markup!

I'd never pay that.

[99BPS]

The early on people are right, how do I know? Because that culture almost ruined paintball for me. I was young when I started, got a spyder as my first marker. The problem was the low quality build meant it often fell apart in my hand, and I was too young to want to deal with that.

I grabbed an Evil Pimp which I learned to play with, but once I ended up on a team sponsored by Proto I had to grab a Proto marker. First a PM6 then PM8. And as I worked through them I could NEVER keep em working. I didn't know how, and I could not afford to keep having them fixed. High end markers are great, but you need to clean and teach em to keep em working. If you didnt learn this on a crap gun, you will rely on techs. Once you hit college techs plus paint = not more PB. So after a few yrs out I grabbed a Pump and I'm back. The games better now that I play pump against semis. When they hit me I laugh, and when I hit them I laugh harder.

[Scottie Pumalate]

Cool

[hzuiel]

People are completely right that ramping, and players with bad attitudes wanting to mow noobs is a big reason the sport isn't growing. The other is one simple word, recession. Less expendable income available for people to blow on an expensive *** sport like paintball.

As people have already said, recball is what keeps paintball going at all, and the only way to grow the sport. If you get someone into paintball with a cheap tippman, steel tank, shake and bake, and decent mask, and they can have fun all day with half a case of paint, they'll keep coming. Then once they've been introduced they may try out xball/airball/speedball and decide they like that and start dumping more money into an electro hopper and gun, and a nicer tank, jersey, pants, etc. That money gets pumped into companies that sponsor tournaments and that's how the sport keeps going and grows.

I see craploads of rentals at my local field, but not as many consistent players as i would like. They come out and enjoy themselves but it's so cost prohibitive. I went saturday and just my luck all the speedball players were done for the day so i went out to the woods with the rentals and there was a family out there, and when the day wound down the family was turning in their rental gear and the dad asked about prices and you could just see the look on his face when the guy started telling them prices. Just for a basic tippman gear package for each member of his family would've been around 1000 dollars. He just nodded along and wandered out with a confused look on his face.

As far as prices at my local field our prices are i think 40/55/65, which used to be empire heat, custom blend, and premium. Now our premium is marbalizer as of just this last week and it's same price, $65. Field fee and all day air is $15, so it's about $85 bucks each time i go to play paintball. As far as refs, they kind of let the noobs get whatever treatment they get, but i've seen for the most part, generally good attitude towards new players and rentals. They usually cause themselves more pain than anything, by doing crazy stuff.

I have heard of other fields whose refs will pull players that are painting new players head to toe, and make them throw a shake and bake hopper on if they want to keep playing. A guy was out there 2 weeks ago who hadn't played in a long time and he was trying out a gun he was thinking of buying and his girlfriend was with him, and he got her a rental package so she could play with him and basically I made a point of only hitting her once, and she thanked everybody for taking it easy on her. That's how you keep people coming back.

As far as actual prices and things, paint is the biggest factor. Most new players don't start out on speedball, and for recball players, there is already a workhorse gun that requires no tinkering, and can be abused and that's the tippman 98. There are other solid mechanical options that allow a player to get in for cheap. The biggest thing is price of paint and play. To keep people coming back, a person really needs to be able to play all day for $30 dollars with a tippman. The $85 dollars i spend on a saturday of paintball would be enough to take a date to dinner at a nice place, and a movie, with some left over. I don't have a bad job at all and it's almost 1/5 of my weekly paycheck. For those that work minimum wage, they just can't afford to play unless they live at home.

If we could get to 5 dollar field fee and $25 cases of paint, we'd see real growth in paintball, regardless of economic conditions(aside from an all out depression.) Quality paint too. As the technology comes along paint should be getting more consistent and cheaper every year, but i don't know what it would take to get it down to $25 a case and still be profitable. I know hydrotech claims to be offering those things, but I'm not too hopeful of that tech.

[spydr2k5]

^^^ guy has a point. the biggest slow to the sport is sheer cost. no one has the money to blow every weekend anymore. Teams and consistent players are hard to come by and getting a team off the ground and into tournaments is just as difficult. Reference a thread I just looked at for avg cost of competing in a single psp event around 700-1000 per player. Tons of skilled players miss out on chances in the sport cuz of sheer cost.

I agree if the costs of things could be lowered, you would see a massive boost in rec/tourny players and a higher skill curve.

[Mason74]

I don't know if someone has said this or not - but basically, paintball is a luxury. With the global economic downturn the sport has taken a hit, as anything else has.

Example - golf #'s are down across the board, people are putting less kids into sports that cost money - football, hockey, etc - while there still met be growth, it's at a much slower rate.

Think about it like this - if u own a nice set of golf clubs, u spend 700 bucks on a full set, top end clubs maybe 1k to 1.5k (including putter, wedges, etc). Then u need a bag, call it 60 a round, twice a month, plus 40 for driving range a month, and that is still cheaper than balling for the average person.

Now, take the country clubber - 450 a month in dues, plus min spend of 200 for food, etc, and that is closer to playing regular tournaments.

Those have been hit the worst. Our country club is basically destitute right now because of the economy, and the parents of those kids aren't shelling out 50-60 per w/e for their kid to play paintball, either. Hell, they aren't even buying nfl Sunday ticket.

Economy turns around, sport turns around.

[.:CreightonLaw:.]

Ultimately your right, when the economy turns around, the sport will turn around. However, I believe the above poster was trying to propose that we weaken the link between the state of the economy and the state of paintball. By reducing costs we don't have to be so dependent on outside conditions.

[Team_ILLNatured]

Originally Posted by .:CreightonLaw:.

Ultimately your right, when the economy turns around, the sport will turn around. However, I believe the above poster was trying to propose that we weaken the link between the state of the economy and the state of paintball. By reducing costs we don't have to be so dependent on outside conditions.

Exactly. due to increasing healthcare insurance premiums, i can't even afford to practice this year, let alone play competitively

[chimaro]

I know for me it'd be about $110 for me and my fiance to go (entry, rentals, 1 case, air, Gas to get there) so for us at most we'd only be able to go once a month on our budget.

[die.another.day]

Originally Posted by vincib

I'd never pay that.

Thats what i pay

[What_A_Cocker?]

sucks to be you then

[Straight Silver]

Originally Posted by What_A_Cocker?

sucks to be you then

Great attitude. I doubt you be saying "suck to be me" if you had to pay $135 a case of paintballs.

[Team_ILLNatured]

i can honestly say, if paint were $135/case i would be saying "sucks to be me" because i would not be playing any longer.

[die.another.day]

Originally Posted by Team_ILLNatured

i can honestly say, if paint were $135/case i would be saying "sucks to be me" because i would not be playing any longer.

$160 a case here

[eforce]

Our chosen sport, for all intents and purposes, requires the use of disposable projectiles that are not cheap to produce, shot on fields that are very expensive to own and operate. We were ****ed from the start.

There are three ways to make it cheaper.

1. Shoot less paint.
2. Play less often.
3. Buy in bulk.

While there's always room for minor tweaks to increase manufacturing processes, there won't be a significant change in price for the better unless somebody reinvents the paintball. For the time being, play the hand you've been dealt. Get as many people as you can out to your local field so the owner can make money through volume.