Paintball warriors’ battle cry: Splatter or be splattered

LAFAYETTE — They line up on the bench looking much like a hockey team in the waning moments of the third period, or perhaps, a diminutive terrorist cell, because this band of 12-year-olds is packing heat.

“We just lost Justin,” sighs one pint-size combatant. “He went home.”

Still, after 90 minutes of combat, they line up to face the enemy fire: Ten willing soldiers of the paintball wars now erupting in Lafayette.

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“Some of these 12-year-olds are the ones you really have to look out for,” confides Jason Moran, 21, a referee and employee of Mainstream Paintball at 1005 S. 120th St.

“Some of them actually only carry three paintballs in their gun (which have 100-paintball loaders). They keep the rest in their pockets and only put them three at a time. That way they save on paintballs, but they are very accurate.”

This Saturday, only a few of the 12-year-olds are actually experienced paintball players. But after a 90-minute private party, the Lafayette Bobcat football team, celebrating dual 12-year birthdays, is looking very much like battle-hardened veterans. Participating in a fray just minutes afterward, this reporter quickly understands why.

It takes about 30 seconds to get painted twice right below the heart in a game with walk-on players such as Taylor Namec, 13, a former Californian who has been playing for three years and now considers paintball his principal sport. Namec, for the record, is packing a $400 AutoCocker gun, which thankfully isn’t set at full pressure.

“We keep all the guns at 235 feet per second,” Moran says. “Anybody who brings in their own gun has to have it checked (the establishment has a radar gun) before playing.”

Still, at 235 fps — league play is 300 fps — these paintballs can still sting. Moran is doing his best to teach his new charge — who at more than 200 pounds presents about three times the target of most of the participants — the finer points of battle.

“You have to establish your cover fire, then move when they are taking cover from your fire,” he tells the overly large target. “You’ve got to move, or they will know where you are.”

Hiding in one of the corner barracks, in which all players begin contests, is no solution.

“They’ll just keeping painting the doors and windows, because they know you’ve got to come out,” Moran warns.

So the inexperienced, old and overly large target moves as quickly and stealthily as 205 pounds will allow. He totally annihilates one 12-year-old and then somehow manages to move behind and paint Moran. Ultimately, he will be one of two players left in the elimination contest, before falling to Namec’s *&^%#! AutoCocker.

“It really gets your heart going, doesn’t it,” Moran asks a breathless but somewhat vindicated first-time target.

Paintball pioneer

The game has actually been getting Mainstream founder Ross Alexander’s heart going for some time. Somewhat of a living legend in paintball lore, Alexander was one of the first promoters of the sport in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. In fact, he held several patents on technology to quickly exchange CO2 cartridges, when the guns still used the smaller cartridges that came with the early modifications of the Forest Service paintball pistols.

“The patents are all useless now,” acknowledges Alexander. “The paintballs now are actually vegetable oil. You could actually eat them, but I hear they’d give you the runs.”

Mainstream was named for the growing acknowledgement of paintball as a sport, which Alexander says now outdistances snowboarding in terms of equipment sold. According to Alexander, injuries are far less frequent than in other sports — safety is stressed very hard at Mainstream — so insurance has become easier and cheaper by the year.

At Mainstream, paintballs account for about 75 percent of the revenue — players aren’t allowed to bring their own except for special nights. Basic entrance fees are pretty reasonable about half what a similar facility costs in Denver with a basic package for all-day play at $15, or $10 for players who have their own gear.

Gear includes a gun, helmet and goggles. Protective coveralls and gloves are extra and aren’t a bad idea — the paintball may wash out of clothes, but can leave a small welt on skin.

Alexander, who has run Denver and Boulder’s Yellow Cab and Boulder’s SuperShuttle, opened the indoor facility — curiously, it used to be a paint factory — in mid-September. Attracting about 175 participants a week during the first month of operations netted a small profit, but Alexander said that beefing up private parties and corporate outings on off-hours (on weekdays Mainstream opens at 3 p.m.) should clearly make the operation a growing concern.

“A lot of companies find that it’s quite a team-building event,´ said Alexander, who has already attracted several small businesses to corporate events. Private parties are available for $200 for up to 10 players and $10 for each additional player. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, those parties cost only $175.