Paintballing paved way for new brand of shooting now joined by airsoft

Despite the fact his newly leased warehouse is filled with cut-up walls of plywood, bald tires and the shell of an economy car – not to mention a few headless mannequins – Dale Burbridge offers a wide-eyed smile as he meanders about his new arena.

Burbridge, the owner of NiteHawk Paintball in Spokane, runs one of the area’s few indoor paintball/airsoft facilities.

He has been running his business since 2006 and recently relocated from NorthTown Mall to Jackson Ave., just east of Division St.

“When I was a kid, I had those little army guys,” said Burbridge, whose 9,500-square-foot battleground was hosting more than 20 participants for a Veteran’s Day event. “But we never had anything like this.”

While some sports date back centuries, the first recorded paintball game took place less than 35 years ago. The game has grown since, especially among young adults who grew up playing “Gears of War” and “Call of Duty” video games.

To play the game, participants – known as “ballers” – require a marker with propellant to fire the paint, a mask to protect their eyes and face, paintballs and a loader, which houses the paintballs. They also require some moxie.

The adrenaline rush has been compared to skydiving or motorsports racing, and when you get shot in an area with little or no protection, it leaves a welt.

The game has also been used by organizations and corporations to encourage team-building and to teach leadership skills.

But mainly, it’s a whole lot of fun.

“The rush comes from knowing that you’re gonna be shot and knowing that you could, you know, shoot someone,” Burbridge said. “It’s a big game of tag.”

About 10 years ago, paintball equipment was donated to North Idaho College, and now some 20 students typically participate in NIC’s paintball event, which takes place each semester.

“The equipment was just kind of sitting around, not being used,” said Jessica Bennett, the college’s recreational sports coordinator, who dusted it off about three years ago. “I didn’t know much about the sport, but I was really excited to learn about it. The next semester, I offered it and it was a great success.”

Each spring and fall, Bennett loads up vans with anxious students ready to go into combat. The forest service provides the backdrop for the event, near Fernan Lake.

Bennett explains the rules, but the students choose the format for the games.

“The students are just really excited to have a free paintball opportunity,” Bennett said. “It’s nice to get out in the woods and do something a little bit different.”

In recent years, airsoft has become more and more popular as an alternative to paintball. In airsoft, the participants use realistic-looking weapons that fire non-metallic pellets that typically travel anywhere from 280 to 350 feet per second.

The allure of airsoft is not difficult to understand. The average box of paintballs costs around $50 for 2,000 rounds. The average cost for airsoft ammunition is about $20 for 5,000 .20g pellets. That equates to five times as many shots for the same price.

“I really got into this whole thing with paintball,” Burbridge said. “But eventually, people started getting out of paintball, because it’s more expensive, and started getting into airsoft, because it’s cheap.”

Even the military, which traditionally used paintball as a training method, has made the switch to airsoft, which is more realistic for its soldiers.

In airsoft, there is no way to prove that one player hit another with a pellet, so competitions are “probably 99 percent an honor system,” Burbridge said. With paint, the proof is in the pudding, which makes paintball the standard for tournaments and competition.

“The Largest Paintball Game in the World” takes place at the Invasion of Normandy in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, where anywhere from 3,500 to 4,500 players gather. In Portland, more than 1,000 ballers will show up in May for the SuperGame event, to which Burbridge has taken a team for the past five years.

Locally, NiteHawk hosts 200-300 paintballers for its annual Armed Forces War in March, which takes place on four acres just south of the Spokane River on Highway 231. In that “woodsball” (natural outdoor arena) event, participants are split up into Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines for an all-out battle.

Those looking to get started in airsoft can show up to Friday Night Fights scenario events each week from 6 to 10 p.m. at the new NiteHawk facility. The cost is $35 for the equipment and 800 rounds.

Players can also purchase their own equipment – airsoft guns can run anywhere from $50 to $250 or more.