Northeastern Paintball

I originally wrote this as a PM and thought it was kind of funny; and since we don't have anything in this forum yet I thought I'd post it.


I go to BP occasionally. There was a time when I went every Thursday (they had a free entrance for college students deal). I bought a case of paint on a Wed night (cheaper price), played with the teams and went home with a full tank. Then I came back on Thursdays with the remaining paint and my phantom (never gonna run out of paint or air like that) and played for free. I had all the air and field paint that I needed and the entrance was free so after that first day it didn't cost me a dime (except for the T ride out). Then the guy started saying you have to buy paint and air each time. I said "it doesn't say anything about that on your website. It just says 'free entrance with a college ID'. I've already paid for your paint and air, you can't blame me for being conservative. I'll be happy to buy more as soon as this runs out, but I can't afford to play at all if I need to spend $40 every week. You're not losing any money on me, there's only ever 8 or so people here on Thursdays. In fact, if I wasn't here you'd pretty much not have enough people to play."

The guy was like, "I'll let you in this time, but next week you're gonna have to buy a package."

"No I won't, because I won't be here next week. I'll be at home with half a case of left over field paint and 3/4 of a tank wishing I was playing, and pissed off that you guys are too stupid to understand basic economics." (lol, I didn't actually say it like that)

Then he gives me the "Look dude, it costs a lot to run this place" speech. And I said "I respect that, believe me I do. And I would understand if this place was packed and people were waiting in line to play. But it isn't. You don't even have enough players here on Thursdays to make a profit as it is. What's better, a guy who only pays $50 every few weeks that doesn't cost you ANYTHING, or a guy who doesn't come at all? I simply can't afford to pay any more than I currently am.

"Sorry dude, there's nothing I can do."

So yeah, I still like the place. Doug is a great guy (ref with the mutton chop sideburns). But I can't afford to play there as often as I'd like.

My beef with BP is this: They don't take care of their field, they have a shitty carpeted floor, and they'll throw 30 players on the field if they can.

Yeah dude. I actually counted 16 players (on one side) once. Provided that the teams were even that makes 32. In some cases it was 4 guys to a bunker.

The carpet doesn't bother me much, but traction is a serious problem. When it gets really greased up you can slide for miles.

The poles are also a pain in the ass. Granted they are needed for structural support, but buildings that are designed without them make for better fields.

The carpet doesn't offer much padding for sliding/diving...and it's almost always greasy. There isn't much to prevent the greasyness besides cleaning it every now and then. I'll admit monster's field gets slippery...but you can wear cleats and you will be fine. At BP, cleats won't do you any good because there is no depth to the carpet.

smitty3187 wrote:The carpet doesn't offer much padding for sliding/diving...and it's almost always greasy. There isn't much to prevent the greasyness besides cleaning it every now and then. I'll admit monster's field gets slippery...but you can wear cleats and you will be fine. At BP, cleats won't do you any good because there is no depth to the carpet.

I'll agree with this, Monster can be slippery at points. Wear cleats, you'll be fine, at BP, you stand no chance either way. Oh, and btw, neither of these places can even come close to comparing to All-American, best field I've ever played on, IMO (that includes outdoor fields as well),

I play there at least once a week, sometimes I'll get the dick manager that likes to charge more for shit if he can. But the other managers there will sometimes only charge me for paint or give me free entrance cards.

the floor is sometimes messed up at points, but mostly around the deabox near the lineup point. I've messed up my knees even with kneepads/playing pants because of the thin carpet over the hard floors. Although the games are sometimes large, the place is always packed. I sometimes rent + bring my own gear so I have the option of playing any game type I want, I've never been to monster but I hear it's small. The 15v15 open games suck, but I usually just break to 50 and get as many out as I can. The only alternative is share bunkers. 3 at home and 2 on each corner is pretty normal.

They are pretty good about keeping all the bunkers up and the field gets mixed frequently, this Saturday there wasn't a snake, and Sunday the snake was back, and there was a small snake on the other side.

Yeah, rushing the 50 off break pays off IF you can make it that far without getting shot. Of course, it only works against noobs.

It's not too crowded on Wednesday nights. Mostly decent players. And the Hurricanes. (although things may be different now)

There is a lot not to like about BP, but it is the only place to play 7man indoors so most of us in the NEPL suck it up during the winter.

I spoke to soon about my position on BP carpeting. I had the worst luck yesterday, I tripped twice because the carpeting slid behind my foot when running around the seams.

One time yesterday when sliding over a seam, the 2nd part of the carpeting locked onto my knees so I pulled a bunch of carpeting up with me, but was going so fast that the lump became a ramp for me to get some air. Things worked out well for that slide, it just was a little bumpy but I could have gotten hurt. I was maybe 6-12 inches it happened pretty fast, I'm glad I didn't faceplant.

Hey there everyone, I am new to these forums and was just kind of browsing around looking for somewhere to jump in on the conversation. I have played for two teams that have been sponsored by Anthony (owner of Boston Paintball), and have played on teams with Pierce (manager of BP in Framingham) and he is a close family friend, so I get to hear a lot about the inner workings on BP.

I can say that Anthony is a great business man, and sometimes gets a bad rap because of this. He HAS to charge the prices he does in Somerville, because frankly that location + the Framingham store are carrying the other two locations (Rhode Island + some other down south). I know that both of those stores are hurting while Somerville and Framingham continue to drive in the big sales.

Mike Griest wrote:And I would understand if this place was packed and people were waiting in line to play. But it isn't. You don't even have enough players here on Thursdays to make a profit as it is. What's better, a guy who only pays $50 every few weeks that doesn't cost you ANYTHING, or a guy who doesn't come at all?

They have to charge you as much as they can, otherwise its not going to be worth it for them to pay people to man the register, ref the field, and all that shit.

smitty3187 wrote:My beef with BP is this: They don't take care of their field, they have a shitty carpeted floor, and they'll throw 30 players on the field if they can.

1. They have looked into new carpet in the past, and I think they have recently chosen to not redo it. But they are aware of it.

2. They can throw 30 walk-ons onto the field because they can. They are in such a great location that they get great attendance on weekends that allow them to put everyone out there. If they lowered down to 10v10, people would complain about not enough play time.

vince wrote:They are pretty good about keeping all the bunkers up and the field gets mixed frequently, this Saturday there wasn't a snake, and Sunday the snake was back, and there was a small snake on the other side.

The reason the snake was back was because I put it there. I practiced with a team that Sunday morning and we showed up to find no snake on the field, and weren't having anything to do with that, so we were told either we fix it or play without a snake, haha.


Sorry that my first post is a little apprehensive, just thought I'd play devils advocate on some of these. I def hate the carpet too, i pretty much start to slide halfway to my corner and just let it carry me the rest of the way.

Yeah I understand that they need to put as many on the field as possible to keep the games going. It just sucks when you show up to play some legit ball and you end up playing against 10+ experiences players in a game.

It's probably a lot more fun for rentals when they are playing games of these sizes.

smitty3187 wrote:Yeah I understand that they need to put as many on the field as possible to keep the games going. It just sucks when you show up to play some legit ball and you end up playing against 10+ experiences players in a game.

that's why the experienced players need to do their best to find teams to play with. It is hard sometimes, but when you find that team, you can show up on Sunday mornings/nights with that team and play really competitive games.

The big reason the floor has gone to shit is because at some point in the near future they will be moving, its only a matter of time before IKEA finishes negotiating with somerville.....

And i assume the new location will be turfed, i heard TWO 7man fields, with one turfed for us tourny guys and the rec field carpet; and possibly no poles.

I'm playing tomorrow at BP with my RA and some freshmen dorm, should be interesting. mid April for ACM's Geek Week there's a mid-week paintball event that I'm up signed up for, if it should get a bigger response than Geek Week dodgeball.

Last week at BP they added a bunch of the mini Xs to the field, which blocked all the lanes. Two snakes as well.

Towards the end of the day half the field was in need of serious re-inflation and I fell on my ass after the carpet slid out from under me.

vince wrote:I'm playing tomorrow at BP with my RA and some freshmen dorm, should be interesting. mid April for ACM's Geek Week there's a mid-week paintball event that I'm up signed up for, if it should get a bigger response than Geek Week dodgeball.

Last week at BP they added a bunch of the mini Xs to the field, which blocked all the lanes. Two snakes as well.

Towards the end of the day half the field was in need of serious re-inflation and I fell on my ass after the carpet slid out from under me.

lol. I hate the games when you make a fool of yourself falling all over the place.