When you talk about paintball you'll find that it's history only extends back
to 1984 when the 'yuppie' sport of skirmishing appeared in it's humblest form.
The name 'Skirmishing' came from the company Skirmish which was the first
successful commercial paintball operation in the UK. From here the likes
of The Survival Game, California Commando and The Great Adventure Game went
on to open multiple venues up and down the country.
By the time the early nineties were here Skirmish were quoting to over two
dozen sites with The Survival Game quoting about being the biggest with sites
just over that figure. On top of all of this The Great Adventure Game and
California Commando were boasting a handful of sites. Paintball had firmly
established itself in the UK and every corner of the map seemed to have a
venue. All within five years many sites were set up providing a basic recipe
of paintball games and most making a fair profit.
Prices around this time were approximately £20-25 game
fee with a meal and equipment and you could expect to be given around 20
paintballs free of charge. Extra paintballs were priced between 12p and 18p
per ball which is expensive compared to today's prices. Gas was rarely free
costing from 50p to a pound for a Co2 powerlet that would fire about 20 shots.
With three paintball magazines (Paintball Adventures, Paintball
Monthly and Paintball Games International) established and a country
full of paintball sites the competitive edge from site to site
increased and the first thing to give was the price.
The Simulated Activities Sites started the ball rolling
by dropping paint prices to 6p a ball which annoyed many of the
long established sites and prompted a few others to follow suit.
Many companies involved themselves with the price war while others
invested back into their sites to give a much higher level of service.
The competitive prices didn't help the big names like Skirmish
and The Survival Game when many of their sites started breaking
away and becoming independent operators.
Prices today have leveled out and you can expect to get a good
quality day out for about £20 with extra paintballs costing
from 6p-8p each. Over the past few years the independent sites
have grown to become the dominant force in flagship paintball sites.
The likes of Bedlam, National Paintball Fields, Hot Shots and Task
Force are rated amongst a handful of others to be leading the way
with state of the art equipment and in depth game scenarios.
All of this however doesn't necessarily mean that
the big independents are the best paintball sites, Skirmish, The
Survival Game (now known as National Paintball Games) and many
of the smaller independent paintball sites still offer a very high
level of service and if you are looking to book a site exclusively
to yourself a smaller operation can often pay off.
The future of how paintball will shape up is anyone's guess, but
looking back to the early days it's fair to say that it has carved
itself a place at the top of the corporate entertainment market.
The sites are getting bigger and the equipment is getting better
every year. If you haven't played a day of paintball or if it has
been a few years back since you last took aim upon your own kind,
then browse further into this web site and book a day with the
pick of the crop of paintball sites available in the UK.
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