Paintball Journal

Evan and I finally got to hit up the new indoor place, Splatz Indoor Paintball. First thing I noticed was the ride, 20 minutes is better than any other ride to a paintball field that I’ve ever had, due to uhm… length. So, no complaints so far.

We rolled in, unloaded our stuff, and threw down some fightin’ words once inside. The staff seemed a little shocked, so we took it down a notch and introduced ourselves. Prices for everything were about average, with really cheap air fills due to a lack of a compressor. They’re still filling off of scuba tanks which isn’t too bad, all day air is $5 and each fill is like $1.50, but they only fill to 2k - 2.5k PSI. Whatever.

What you care about is the field. First of all, let me say that the owners certainly are ambitious. Eric Coblentz, the guy in charge, told us about the two or three fields that they’re going to set up in the near future. It sounds like eventually they’ll have a multi-level urban combat area, an X-ball field, and possibly another scenario-esque field. Like I said, ambitious for a field that currently consists of one small airball field.

The turf isn’t all that great, more like indoor carpet than anything. It’s very similar to the old Friendly Fire turf; good for sliding, and not much else. The bunkers are merely okay, NPS isn’t known for awesome bunker concepts (thus why they aren’t widely used). Still, I can’t really complain. It was fun and the field set-up was mildly competitive. The field isn’t wide enough to create any decent lanes, but you don’t really notice it much. The competition at the field the day that Evan and I went was very low, and JP and Ben, the other two constant members of No Trace had a similar experience the weekend before.

They’re hosting a 3-Man tournament in September, something that we are almost certainly going to rock. With $500 on the line, a live band, a rock-climbing wall, and more, it seems like the event of the year for No Trace. $40 entry and FPO isn’t much to pay for a chance to compete in an event of the caliber that they’re advertising.

Overall, Splatz is definitely worth checking out. I’d recommend them to anyone from a team who wants a little indoor practice to new guys who just want to check out what paintball is. The staff is very friendly and more than willing to do whatever it takes to help you get the most out of your day there.