How to Design a Woods Field for Paintball

The paint inside paintballs will not hurt trees in the field.

Paintball is a competitive sport in which two teams, or armies, shoot bullets full of colored paint at one another in a goal to become the last team standing. Paintball technology was first developed for military and law enforcement training simulations, but was adapted to meet the needs and interests of the general public. A woods field for paintball allows players a different kind of terrain and strategy than indoor arenas or open fields with man-made obstacles. Designing a woods field means using the natural resources present to create bunkers and other basic paintball field features.

Things You'll Need

• Marking flags
• Pencil
• Paper
• Old tires
• Shipping pallets
• Netting or privacy fence

Instructions

1. Get together a small group of friends to play a game or to walk through the field before creating the design. This will allow you to see what natural features people are already using as cover. Play the first game without adding anything to the field. When going out to play the second game, give players small flags, such as waterline marking flags, to put out in the field. Ask them to place the markers in places that they feel need improvement or added cover.

2. Draw an overhead view of the field, placing bunkers in the locations marked with flags. Start by marking the natural features of the woods, such as large trees and gullies that are significant to the layout, then draw each bunker. Consider the surrounding landscape for each bunker. Remember that the goal is to make the final field look as natural as possible while still having the elements necessary for a competitive and strategic game.

3. Build bunkers in the field according to your sketch. Use natural elements such as large rocks, piles of rocks, fallen trees and dirt mounds to create bunkers where needed. You should be able to find many of these items on the property, then move them into the paintball field. If you do not have enough dirt to create a mound naturally, by digging a pit, building a mound out of old tires and then covering it with dirt. You can also build a bunker out of used shipping pallets, and cover the face of the bunker with fallen limbs and brush to camouflage it and make it look as though it fits the landscape.

4. Walk the field's perimeter. If one side of the field is within shooting distance of another person's property, you will need to build a privacy fence or hang a net along that side. This will prevent paintballs from damaging someone else's personal property.

References

• Paintball Review World: Paintball Field Builder
• Pain 4 Glory: Build a Paintball Field
• "The Complete Guide to Paintball" Jerry Braun et al.; 2007