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Is paintball too expensive?

T-T

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Jun 21, 2010
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Control your trigger finger, don't take any pods out with you, play pump!
Fix a "broken" gun, marshall the odd day at your local site, sew the Velcro back on.

I've been taking a mate to rental sites to get him into the game. I stick a pump kit and a revi on my cocker and have a blast, while not spending a lot.
 
Jan 5, 2006
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Question should be, does paintball offer good value for money ?

A tournament may 'only' cost £70, but if you only play 6 games (because you have a large team) and each game lasts 45seconds, that is 5mins on the field, for £70.

There must be something wrong with a person's brain to keep that up for long. I do it, so guess there is soemthing wrong with my brain. I wish there ws a better alternative though.
 
Well it varies depending on the person, for example im in fulltime education and don't get time to work that much. So for me the sport is expencive but I do try and sacrifise some of my other hobbies and interests to play. For those people who are in full time employment and have a succure income, no the sport isnt EXPENCIVE but it will cost a little bit of money. personally I want the sport to grow mainly to bring the prices down but also make it well known... and hopefully make my parents understand why I pay soo much for gear, they think im MAD!
 

Kevin Winter

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Dec 10, 2008
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Compared to some hobbies, it's pretty cheap. I easily spend £20-40 for a weekend's fishin, and have (at the last count) over £20,000 worht of kit. A few £hundred of kit will get you tourney ballin or at walkons, and that's not too shabby. When I first started back playing, I got a weekend marshalling job to cover costs, and still do the odd bit of reffing. Balance a bit of reffing, and a bit of playing and it can get very cheap indeed. Last year, reffing KOTH and playing NSPL, I only spent about £40 for the weekend, including petrol and grub...
 

stongle

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Aug 23, 2002
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Compared to some hobbies, it's pretty cheap. I easily spend £20-40 for a weekend's fishin, and have (at the last count) over £20,000 worht of kit.
20k on fishing kit? Does that include Shark cage and the Orca, or a timeshare in a Sunseeker? ;)

Seriously, that's an awesome level of financial commitment. How does the pound versus enjoyment factor stack up, better than paintball? Are the 2 even compatible?
 

Parksy

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2002
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I haven't spent to that degree. But since starting to play golf I realise just how cheap paintball was!

I think it is subjective really. If you have no cash of course its expensive. If you have Stongles cash a weekend balling is the equivalent to 20 minutes in stringfellows ;)
 

stongle

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Aug 23, 2002
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I haven't spent to that degree. But since starting to play golf I realise just how cheap paintball was!

I think it is subjective really. If you have no cash of course its expensive. If you have Stongles cash a weekend balling is the equivalent to 20 minutes in stringfellows ;)

Haha, I wish. Now I have a daughter everything is measured in child opportunity costs. Did you know that from birth you would need to save at least £90 per month just to cover university entrance fee's. That's 4 dances and a few goes in the pint glass. Add on a car (& insurance), deposit for a house and then weddings, you'll need every penny you can get. Like you, I golf. Sure it's expensive, but playing is better value for money than paintball (plus only takes a max 6hrs door to door so less wife berating).
 

xDansomee

Speedball in the woods!
May 30, 2009
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I'd just like to mirror some responses in the thread... Paintball really isn't that expensive if you compare it to other hobbies/sport and how enjoyable it really is.

If you want a half decent set of kit, you're generally looking at about £500 start up cost (Second hand) and maybe double or triple that if you want to buy everything new. No matter how you look at it, £500-£1500 is a lot of money in anyone's books.

But after that, costs cut down. I mean £40 for a walk-on day with a box of paint is hardly a lot. Even if you do that twice a month, that's £80 which is generally less than a days wages.

I won't be the first to say that it is a lot less if you don't have as many financial responsibilities as the next man. Saying that, myself I don't have any as I'm only 16, and I cover all of my own costs for playing/travel/food and gear just by making a bit of spare cash in my own time.

Compared to some other sports/hobbies that I have done, and my friends do I'd have to say overall, including start up costs, paintball is by far the cheapest (apart from recreational golf). When I was about 12 I played Warhammer, and did fishing and archery. Which cost my parents a good few grand for just over a year of doing it, and now I look back on it I realise what a huge waste of money it was.

I also play golf, or I used to, and I am now starting to play again. Golf isn't all that expensive when you play it recreationally, even when you start up your not looking at more than a few hundred for a decent set of clubs, and it's really not that expensive to play 18 holes or go on the driving range with a few mates.

Coming back to the argument whether paintball is expensive or not, no, and that's coming from a 16 year old who doesn't work and pays for all his stuff himself with no financial backing from his parents etc. Sorry to sound like a bit of an arse, but it's the truth really.

If you wanna try an expensive sport, try any type of motor sport... Cor, then you'd be mortgaging the house.

Just my 2 pennies.