1. WHAT IS PAINTBALL

Fundamentally paintball is a fast paced game of tag.  The correct term for a paintball gun is "Marker" this is because you are marking your opponent which then eliminates them from the game.  The balls are generally made from a gelatin shell (like a big pill) and the fill is comprised mainly from polypropylene glycol (found in baby wipes) and food color and are completely biodegradable.  The first paintball markers were introduced in the mid 70s as cattle and timber marking guns.  The first official recognized paintball game occurred in the early 1980s and from then on it has grown to the sport we know today.  

2.    WHY IS IT MORE EXPENSIVE THAN OTHER ACTIVITIES?

Yes paintball can be expensive compared to other activities.  But even in the the last five years the cost has dropped  by as much as 50%.  The main reason is paint and air,  these are things that are expended during play, if you had to purchase a new baseball every time a hitter was at bat you would think the same about baseball.  But you if look at playing paintball from the field perspective it is actually pretty reasonable.  Lets say you go play laser tag, you will spend 5 to 10 dollars to play for only 15 minutes.  Most paintball fields charge that much for the day.  The amount you spend on paintballs is directly related to how many times you pull the trigger.   

3.    DOES IT HURT?

The correct way to ask is can it hurt?  And the truth is it can,  However most of the time you hardly even  notice it.  But we must remember that paintballs travel quite fast and a hit in the more sensitive areas of your body can definitely get your attention.  But this is part of the game and injuries are extremely rare as long as the safety guidelines are observed.  Anybody familiar with a rattail (towel) fight can tell you what a hit feels like.

4.    IS PAINTBALL SAFE?

Paintball is an extreme sport like mountain biking, rafting or rock climbing and is not without some risk,  but if you look at injury statistics from all sports you would find that paintball is among the safest.  As long as the safety rules and the code of conduct for our field are followed  paintball is safer than riding a bike.  We opened our field in the spring of 1999 and with over 10,000 player days have not had one injury that could be described as paintball related. Our families play at our field and we would never allow them or anyone else to play in a hazardous environment. 

Safety is the top priority at Wolverine 

5.        WHAT IS FIELD PAINT?  (FPO)

Field Paint is paint that must be purchased for use at the field.  Many paintball fields require that you buy and use their paint exclusively, this is called field paint only or FPO.  Some fields allow you bring your own paint and charge a higher field fee,  Currently our policy is use of our field paint,  Some reasons for controlling the paint that comes on the field are:  SAFETY,  If we control the quality of the paint shot on our field, then we know that paintball is safe and performs to spec.  We have had people bring paint to our field that has been sitting for over a year. (you might as well shoot rocks)  Bore size,  different brands of paint are made to different specifications by the manufacturer and a ball may be a little bigger or smaller than another brand.  This can greatly effect the velocity,  if you chrono your marker with one brand and then switch to another you could see a jump by as much as 50fps. Staining is also a factor, we try to use  paint that will not stain clothing or property.  We also use paint that has no vegetable oil in it.  Also if all players use our paint then we can buy at larger quantities  and pass the savings on to the players and we won't have to charge extra for bringing non field paint.  So overall everyone wins.

6.     WHAT IS C02 AND NITROGEN?

Co2 and Nitrogen are propellant gasses that paintball guns use to shoot a ball.

   Co2 or carbon dioxide is an inexpensive gas that stays in a liquid form in a tank connected to the marker,  as the gun is discharged the liquid boils into a gas, this gas is what the gun uses to shoot the ball.  One problem with Co2 is it reacts to temperature in the form of pressure variation.  At 70 degrees a Co2 tank has about 850psi in it,  A 50 degrees its about 650psi.  In summer it is very stable, but in very cold temps low pressure can cause performance problems, however it is still the key propellant in most rental and recreational paintball markers.  Co2 tanks are filled by weight. 

  Nitrogen (not nitrous that's laughing gas) or high pressure air (HPA) works like a scuba tank on your gun,  some of the newest tanks on the market can be filled to as much as 5000psi.  All HPA tanks have some sort of regulator to bring the pressure down to what your gun can use.  Since HPA is just compressed air and has no liquid like Co2 the tanks do not change weight as they are filled or discharged and do not react to temperature like Co2.  Most high end markers must operate on HPA because it is a clean dry gas and will not damage small valves or seals.  HPA is usually pumped or compressed on the game or store site,  Nitrogen is usually purchased in large cylinders from an industrial gas supplier.  The down side to HPA is that the tanks can cost more than 10 times what a Co2 tank would, and Co2 is usually more available.

7.    EXPLAIN PUMP, SEMI-AUTO,  FULL AUTO AND RAMPING.

A pump gun is a type of marker that must be manually re-cocked every time you shoot a ball.  It is not like a BB gun that has to pumped up to shoot.

A semi-auto gun re-cocks itself every time you pull and release the trigger (cycle one time)

With full-auto,  once you pull the trigger it will continuously discharge paintballs ( repeat cycle) until you release it.

Ramping is a tournament gun mode that starts out as semi auto and after three trigger pulls ramps up to 13 balls per second as long as you maintain a trigger pull rate of 5 to 6 ball per second.  This mode also can have many variables depending on the game promoters rules.  

8.     WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE COST OF PAINTBALLS?

Many factors are involved in  the overall cost of a paintball.  One of the biggest is the shell,  less expensive paintballs may be seconds or what is known as regrind shell and will have dimples, heavy seams or be out of round. They also may have less colorful pigments in the shell and have lower performing fill material such as     ( VO ) vegetable oil and corn starch.  Remember you are asking this little ball to go from zero to nearly two hundred miles per hour without breaking and then fly straight to your target, then break and leave a mark. That's a lot to ask!  The better made more expensive balls will have brighter fill use ( PEG ) Polyethylene Glycol and shell colors as well as rounder more consistent shell with less seam.  Most paintball fields do not charge more for paint,  they just sell a higher quality paintball.  Paintballs sold by most discount stores are designed to be low cost and also will sit on the shelf for so long that they get out of round or dimpled  and break in the gun or not shoot straight.  We have a responsibility to provide a decent product for our customers even at a higher price.  Lets face it,  if you paid good money to play at a field and all the paint did is break in the guns and had no accuracy,  would you want to go back.  We sell only the highest quality, freshest  paintballs because we shoot what we sell.

9.     AT WHAT AGE CAN MY CHILD BEGIN TO PLAY?

The  limitations for a child in paintball are more emotional than physical.  Every child has his or her own rate of physical and mental development and it is up to the parent to decide if their child can handle the stresses of any sport.  My son began playing under my close supervision at the age of seven.  We recommend that at first players younger than 11 or 12 have a adult play along with them.       

10.    WHY PLAY AT A WOLVERINE?   (OR AT ANY FIELD)

In general the reasons for playing at any commercial field are quite numerous, but here are the ones that are the most important.  First is safety,  A properly run field has many things in place to make game play as safe as possible.  It starts with a chronograph, this is a device that reads the muzzle velocity of the ball as it leaves the gun in feet per second.  The industry standard max is 300fps.  Some indoor fields shoot as low as 250fps. Our field speed is normal for most outdoor fields and is 280fps max.  We feel that just as you can shoot too fast you can also shoot too slow.  The reason is that a ball at too low of a velocity does not break and can leave a much bigger welt!  Every player must chrono before playing a game.  Referees are on the field to start/stop games, keep time, make sure everyone keeps there mask on, uses barrel plugs and help with any problem a player might have.  Also every player must receive a safety briefing before heading out to play.  Convenience is another reason for playing at a field.  If you need paint, air or a gun fix this can usually be found on site.  The social aspect is another reason,  most fields are a melting pot of players and you can learn new things and make new friends,  they also are designed for paintball with forts, walls, trenches, bunkers speedball and many things the average player can't get in there own back yard. 

11.    WHAT ABOUT THOSE PRO-GUYS,  I DON'T WANT TO GET ALL SHOT UP!

This is one of the biggest misconceptions I get at our field.  Any player will tell you getting over shot will ruin your day,  but when we get complaints about over shooting it was usually due to a first timer that was nervous and just kept shooting.  Most seasoned players know to stop and let the eliminated players get out and off the field so they get to the next target. They also know when not to pull the trigger.  Wolverine has a reputation for a higher level of play than other fields so if you want to improve your game this is the place to be.

12.    WHAT ABOUT THOSE PRO-GUYS, THEY SHOOT FULL AUTO!

Not the case,  Although SEMI AUTO rates of fire in today's electronic markers are quite fast FULL AUTO is not allowed at Wolverine.  However our tournament team will use a ramping mode during practice on the speedball field only. 

13.    WHAT ABOUT THOSE PRO-GUYS WITH $1000 GUNS,  THEY SHOOT HARDER.

Also not the case,  All players must chrono to 280 feet per second or less before they enter the playing area, this means that the velocity for every player is virtually the same. 

14.    DO YOU PLAY IN THE RAIN?

Typically we continue games in a very light rain but high humidity will cause problems with most paintballs.  We will not run games if lightning is present.   

15.    WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?

Don't wear your best clothes, long pants and sturdy shoes are most important.  You may want to wear a long sleeve or sweat shirt,  the paint will wash out of most clothes but light colored fabrics may stain from some of the brighter paint fills.

16.     CAN WE BRING OUT A GROUP?

Absolutely, We can handle just about any size group.  We have had parties as small as two Newlyweds, to the US ARMY.  Groups can come out on the weekends or during the week,  just call us and make a reservation.  We feature full restroom facilities, ample parking and a huge rental counter so you can get your gear and get on the field.  You can play along with our regular weekend players or rent your own field.  Groups also get big discounts, visit our rates page for more info.

17.    WHAT IS A SCENARIO GAME, WHEN DO YOU HAVE THEM?

A Scenario game is a game that follows some sort of story line or theme on a very large field.  Usually our scenarios run for two days and a night.  We have broken our big games into three basic  types.

SCENARIO - A large one or two day "production" game usually featuring a night game and a dinner.

SUPER GAME - A Scenario style "recreational"  one day game on our big field.

SKIRMISH GAME - A one day  themed game played on our recreational fields only. 

We often run Scenario games in the spring and fall, Super games and Skirmish games are scheduled throughout the year.

18.    WHAT IS SPEED BALL?

Speedball is a fast paced arena style game, usually the fields average about 80 x 170 feet for a five man field and have about 20 bunkers on them.  Most speedball games last under five minutes.  Bunkers can vary from tires and shipping pallets, to tournament inflatables of all shapes and sizes.  Most paintball tournaments today are speedball format with games for 3, 5, 7 or 10 man teams.   

19.    WHAT IS A FIELD MEMBERSHIP?