[Panda's Revenge]

Back in the olden days when Brass Eagle dominated the fields, woodsball was the only way to play.
Where you were put in a large wooded area with your only cover being the nature and minimal manmade bunkers.
You had to actually strategize, because the fields were so large and there are too many trees to actually just go running in guns a blazing like most games we play now.
You had to actually be tactical.

We've moved away from these type of games because the size of the woodsball field would take up at least a third of the park itself, meaning the park would only have 3-4 fields on site.
That would mean that players would get bored of playing the same field.
Meaning that they needed to divide the woods up into several smaller fields to keep the variety.

So what if we had someone grant us permission to play paintball on the one acre vastness that is his private property?
20 players.
2 teams.
1 acre.

Sounds like fun, no?

[FreeEnterprise]

When I think "woodsball" I think of a field that is large enough that you can't see both camps from the start... So movements of other team players have to be called out otherwise you won't know where they are. One acre is just too small, unless there is seriously thick woods.

My field has brush everywhere, so we only play in the fall, winter and spring, once the leaves pop out, you can play entire games without seeing a single person... I prefer big enough that you need communication to find the other players, and small enough that the games last about 5-8 minutes.

Any bigger than that, and it just takes too long if you are an aggressive player and sitting in the deadbox waiting for the next game.

[Vitamin J]

What makes you think people don't still play like that?

[Panda's Revenge]

Not in SoCal at least.

[Vitamin J]

Lol this thread makes me laugh. It's like someone in Florida complaining that there's no where to snowboard...

Why do you think they call it "woods" ball? Because it's played in the city?

[CptKaveman]

Umm.. 1 acre is tiny dude... You mean like 5 acres at least... That's a decent sized field.

[Punisher068]

Our teams being playing like this since 1991,we've had 4 fields since then and our biggest turnout was 90 people.I live in the Monterey Bay area so there are lots of places that are woodsy,there are quite a few other teams and private groups doing the same.Woodsball will always be the heart of paintball,all you need is a dozen friends and safe place to play

[Akkadian_Tim]

Panda, on 25 February 2013 - 05:18 PM, said:

Not in SoCal at least.

And how much wooded land do you suppose is left in SoCal?

I'm guessing not much.

We have no shortage of woods paintball in Minnesota. Of course, you guys get the benefit of actually getting to play year round.

Geographical trade-offs. If you don't like where you live, find somewhere you like and move.

[Panda's Revenge]

Vitamin J, on 26 February 2013 - 11:25 AM, said:

Lol this thread makes me laugh. It's like someone in Florida complaining that there's no where to snowboard...

Why do you think they call it "woods" ball? Because it's played in the city?

You aren't really helping.
But yeah anyways the only "real" woods is about 2 hours away, but it might be worth it.

[Vitamin J]

I drive that far every weekend I want to play PB. Trust me it takes less time than waiting for the trees to come to you, they take forever.

[Panda's Revenge]

I guess for a different type of paintball I'll drive that far then.

[Cossak11]

I lucked out in this department. I live in the woods, we have 29 acres of woods and swamp. Also, this guy owns 30 acres and he set aside like 10 for purely paintball purposes.

[PBphilosopher]

Panda, on 24 February 2013 - 02:24 PM, said:

Back in the olden days when Brass Eagle dominated the fields, woodsball was the only way to play.
Where you were put in a large wooded area with your only cover being the nature and minimal manmade bunkers.
You had to actually strategize, because the fields were so large and there are too many trees to actually just go running in guns a blazing like most games we play now.
You had to actually be tactical.

We've moved away from these type of games because the size of the woodsball field would take up at least a third of the park itself, meaning the park would only have 3-4 fields on site.
That would mean that players would get bored of playing the same field.
Meaning that they needed to divide the woods up into several smaller fields to keep the variety.

So what if we had someone grant us permission to play paintball on the one acre vastness that is his private property?
20 players.
2 teams.
1 acre.

Sounds like fun, no?

I'm not sure where you are at but hills above Pasadena and San Bernadino probably have some great places to play. National Forests do not expressly ban paintball so it is up to the discretion of the rangers. We have never had a problem in our area. We just stay away from people and respect the land and there has been no issues.

Additionally, if you find a cool piece of private property and the owner doesnt want you to use it, it is usually because he doesnt want to get sued. There is a special law here in California that gives the owner nearly complete immunity for uses like paintball. Here is link:

Cal. Recreational Immunity

[robot0ninja]

I have a field like this 20 minutes away from me. The field has over 100 acres. During big games, we open up all the fields together. One time there was so much playable land, you could walk 40 minutes in a straight line and not see anyone. That was woodsball.

[Punisher068]

PBphilosopher, on 25 March 2013 - 02:26 AM, said:

Panda, on 24 February 2013 - 02:24 PM, said:

Back in the olden days when Brass Eagle dominated the fields, woodsball was the only way to play.
Where you were put in a large wooded area with your only cover being the nature and minimal manmade bunkers.
You had to actually strategize, because the fields were so large and there are too many trees to actually just go running in guns a blazing like most games we play now.
You had to actually be tactical.

We've moved away from these type of games because the size of the woodsball field would take up at least a third of the park itself, meaning the park would only have 3-4 fields on site.
That would mean that players would get bored of playing the same field.
Meaning that they needed to divide the woods up into several smaller fields to keep the variety.

So what if we had someone grant us permission to play paintball on the one acre vastness that is his private property?
20 players.
2 teams.
1 acre.

Sounds like fun, no?

I'm not sure where you are at but hills above Pasadena and San Bernadino probably have some great places to play. National Forests do not expressly ban paintball so it is up to the discretion of the rangers. We have never had a problem in our area. We just stay away from people and respect the land and there has been no issues.

Additionally, if you find a cool piece of private property and the owner doesnt want you to use it, it is usually because he doesnt want to get sued. There is a special law here in California that gives the owner nearly complete immunity for uses like paintball. Here is link:

Cal. Recreational Immunity

Wow this is super helpful thanks for the link
We lost our field of 10+ years because the owner was afraid of getting sued!Wish i had seen this a year ago
Since our team started in 1991 we've never(knocks on wood) had a paintball injury beyond a bloody welt

[asthmaticrhino]

I feel lucky now. People play airball and recball at my most local field, but take a half hour drive up some winding mountain road and you arrive at Los Gatos Pursuit. They don't have power, and the field gets really muddy sometimes, but its a damn fun time. You go there with a pump and some friends and you have a blast hiding behind a pile of wood. The field is probably smaller than an acre, or the playable part of it is at least. Still, you can play 20 on 20 no problem. Its a great time. I highly reccomend trying it, even if you are used to Aggballing or recball. Outlaw-ball is what you are describing, and while I haven't played this in paintball (airsoft) its damn fun.

This post has been edited by asthmaticrhino: 17 April 2013 - 04:45 PM

[swiftblade13]

That sounds like the field I usually play at (Waxhaw, NC) it's about 7 acres of private property and we usually have about 10 to 20 players... awesome field, varied terrain, only weakness is we only play in the winter when the poison ivy is dead

This post has been edited by swiftblade13: 21 April 2013 - 05:18 PM

[Baba Fats]

I feel like it's not just a matter of having more or bigger fields. But it has a lot to do with the kinds of games you play on them.
I had an amazing local field (got closed down because the farmer we were renting it from died, and the land was only in his name, not his wifes. So the IRS repossessed it, and now there's a housing development there). It only had about 15 acres, and only had about 4 wooded fields, and a 1/3 acre open field (no trees, no bunkers, just open. It also had 2 really small speedball fields. All of the wooded fields tended to overlap here and there.
You'd think it would get boring playing the same 4 fields over and over again for 6+ hours. But our refs were always brain storming on new styles and reinventing old games. We played your normal 2 flag games, center flag, and elimination. But we also created games where you had to take your own teams flag and get it to the other teams fort. We played protect the president, hostage, fugitives, all sorts of games.
It never got old.
I love the idea of getting permission to play on private property. That would be great. I wish I lived in an area where people had that much land.
But I just wanted to chime in that you don't have to get bored playing on the same few fields over and over. You just need to boost your imagination and come up with new ways to play the same old games. If no one like how the game played out, you trash that idea and come up with a different one

[Punisher068]

asthmaticrhino, on 17 April 2013 - 04:44 PM, said:

I feel lucky now. People play airball and recball at my most local field, but take a half hour drive up some winding mountain road and you arrive at Los Gatos Pursuit. They don't have power, and the field gets really muddy sometimes, but its a damn fun time. You go there with a pump and some friends and you have a blast hiding behind a pile of wood. The field is probably smaller than an acre, or the playable part of it is at least. Still, you can play 20 on 20 no problem. Its a great time. I highly reccomend trying it, even if you are used to Aggballing or recball. Outlaw-ball is what you are describing, and while I haven't played this in paintball (airsoft) its damn fun.

My favorite public woodsball field!I live 15 min from there.Best refs around,owners have run the field for 25 years,always a good crowd too
If youre ever looking for another woodsball field to play at look up Jokers paintball or Marauders paintball(my team) on Facebook
Bear Creek Rd is something else

[elraido]

Panda, on 24 February 2013 - 02:24 PM, said:

So what if we had someone grant us permission to play paintball on the one acre vastness that is his private property?
20 players.
2 teams.
1 acre.

Sounds like fun, no?

That sounds like speed ball to me. An acre is only about 210 feet by 210 feet. Our one flag zone that we made is about 60 feet by 150 feet...and we use that as a poor mans speedball field when we don't feel like running around.