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PHOTOS COURTESY OF ACTION PACKED PAINTBALL

Action Packed Paintball welcomes people of all ages and experience levels in the activity.

‘Taking pain out of ‘Taking pain out of paintball’ paintball’

Players can experience eight different playing fi elds during their time at Action Packed.

Action Packed Paintball offers low-impact game

BY BRENDAN O’BRIEN

Paintball used to be an activity that would leave participants with splotches on their clothes and welts on their body, but Action Packed Paintball is changing that.

Located near Jordan off U.S. Highway 169, Action Packed wants to get new people interested in paintball by providing them with a low-impact game. The goal of the paintball facility is to get new people of all ages to come and enjoy a round of paintball for the day with friends, family or even coworkers and “take the pain out of paintball.”

“We are almost like a bucketlist operation. It’s all about having your outing at the facility and we’re all geared up for new players to make it fun and fast for it to be enjoyable,” operations manager Brent Kotchman said.

Years ago, players would be hit with .68 caliber paintballs, which could inflict a lot of pain on a player. Kotchman said players would sit out of games from the pain, lose interest and would not come back to play. Action Packed provides all players with .50 caliber paintballs, which completely changes the playing experience.

“With a smaller ball, it lets everyone play, but there’s a fraction of the pain from a larger ball. It translates to any person of any age because now a birthday boy or girl won’t get hit hard and want to sit out during their own party and adults are more willing to play, too,” Kotchman said.

Youth birthday parties are just one of the types of groups Action Packed will host. They also see a number of bachelor or bachelorette parties as well as company outings.

Action Packed provides all the gear needed to play paintball and does not allow people to bring their own equipment. The facility includes eight outdoor playing fields for groups to enjoy. Some are fields in wooded areas like the “Jungle” or “Woodsball” while others like “Tombstone” and “Crates” involve battling in different bases.

“Groups will bounce in between fields throughout the day. They might start in our crates one then move to a wooded area and a lot of times people will want to come back to the crates. It’s definitely one of our most popular ones,” Kotchman said.

The company’s busiest times come on the weekends, but they also offer private reservations during the week. Mixed play is offered on weekends from 12-5 p.m. A minimum of two players in a party is required for a mixed-play reservation, and players will be matched up among others who reserved a spot. Private parties are available seven days a week with a reservation.

“It’s just fun to see other people enjoying their time playing paintball. That’s what we’re there to do is make sure everyone has a safe, fun time,” Kotchman said.