AK! No field review subforum
Battlefront Paintball, Hubbard Ohio
Pro shop - BFP has no internal proshop. For big events they have a proshop 'Trailer'. It comes and opens up shop and has some popular products like masks, markers, and upgrades - but not the selection I'd like to see at a field. Prices are fair though.
Versatility - Last I was there BFP was one huge scenario field. There is no airball field thus far that I am aware of. Good for woodsball and scenario ballers, sorry speedballers.
Price - Pricing is fair and you can get descent paint for about $55/case. Entrance is also reasonable, I believe it was around $20 for both events I attended. As mentioned above the pro shop pricing isn't badly inflated from what I saw.
Reffing - Mixed bag here. The first event I went to was great. There were a lot of refs and they were on the ball. I was pleased with it. The second event I atended was aweful. I could never find a ref who was actually paying attention and they missed a TON of calls, plus they were severely understaffed. I later found that it was not BFP staff reffing the game but a sponsored team. Didn't really make me feel better as this was after I wasted my money for that day.
Player accomodation/anemities - There isn't really a staging area, you stage out of your car in the parking lot, which is a descent size. They have nice bathrooms for a field and a large screened in chrono station. They have a small nice concession setup in the lounge building where you can buy hot dogs, drinks, and the like.
Safety - My biggest concern here. I can overlook the bad reffing for one game, I know it wasn't their staff...but this...Where to start??? They are not a semi only field, so you have all kinds of loons blasting 20+ bps FA. They don't(as far as I saw) enforce an FPS limit on the field. The field itself, while cool as hell with all the building shells, is rediculously unsafe. There are bricks and glass and god knows what else just sitting under the dirt and leaves waiting for someone to hurt themselves on. In one day Dane jacked up her ankle and I ripped the skin off my shin thanks to a hidden brick. Until they make noticable strides to clean up the field, I won't risk my health there.
All in all? It's a real cool place to play with the objects and buildings and it is affordable. It's also unsafe. Until I hear they make an effort to change that I'll spend my money elsewhere.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Three Rivers Paintball, Freedom, PA
Pro shop - TRP has an excellent selection in the proshop of everything from markers to soft goods to marker accessories. It's a nice clean room dedicated to the pro shop and is well organized. Good stuff.
Versatility - TRP has both speedball and woodsball fields, with the ability to combine the woodsball courses and create one giant scenario field, such as when they host the Mission Master events. Regardless of your game preference, TRP can accomodate you.
Price - My biggest and probably only real gripe with TRP. They are on the high end of the field average, cost wise. At $80/case for rec play I'm suprised they do any business on open weekends. $65 event paint isn't that bad for the MM scenarios but then they have the $35 admission. $35 is about average I've found for scenarios but then you have $10 for all day air...typcailly at every field I have ever been to if you pay for a scenario the air is included in the cost. Even with our MM discount, I can rarely afford to play here. Pro shop pricing is odd. Some things are reasonable, like a selection of markers, and then you look at HPA tanks that are rediculously inflated. Not a bad place to shop depending on what you need.
Reffing - As far as field averages go they have a very good ref staff. Occasionally a call will be missed or a bad call made, but 9 times out of 10 you get the right call and the head ref, Jim, does a great job of keeping the refs on point. TRP is definately one of the best reffing fields I've seen as far as consistancy goes.
Player accomodation/anemities - They have 3 large covered pavillions and a bathroom, not portajohns. This place can comfortably accomadate a lot more players than most fields and its nice to have protection from the elements should a nasty rain come through. They have vending machines and canc ater for big events, like they did at Eragon. Also there is plenty of good parking in the gravel parking lot that is a reasonable distance to the pavillions/staging area.
Safety - The fields are well laid out and well played on, you don't have jagged debris and nails littering the field. They are very stern on rules about masks and barrel bags and do a good orientation before the day starts. I've seen them checking ramping and on field chronoing as well. All in all I am very comfortable playing here.
All in all? TRP is a great field to play on if you can afford it. I'd recomend anyone make it to a MM game as they are worth the expense, can't say the same about open play though. You'll have fun on an open day, but play pump or prepare to empty your bank account.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Crazy Daves Paintball, PA
Pro shop - None thus far.
Versatility - CDP has an indoor Airball field, outdoor Xballand airball fields, and a hybrid woodsball/spedball 'tire' field(my favorite). They had a long narrow woodsball field field that was pretty cool too.
Price - Best around. Empire ramp for $35 a case? I wish TRP would take some pointers. Yhey have a $25 field fee that covers all day air as well. So for $60 you can play all day with air and a case of paint.
Reffing - Mediocre. I've been there and seen good reffing and I've been there where they missed a ton of wipes on the speedball field and allowed rediculous overshooting. I almost came to blows with a dude once there who was hit at least 6 times and ran up to bunker Dale, shot him like 7 times point blank in the back and the ref didn't do anything. I haven't been back since.
Player accomodation/anemities - I haven't seen the indoor field yet as it was built the later in the year that that I vowed not to return until they upped their reffing so I don't know how many is seats. I know they did have a nice big covered pavillion outside and a large chrono section. I do not recall them having plumbed bathrooms and they do not take craedit cards.
Safety - The fields are not unsafe and I never felt like there was a problem with shooting hot. Occasional bad reffing aside I've no problems here.
All in all? CDP has nice fields, is very cheap, and the fields are safe . The last time I was there there was a lot of cheating on the speedball fields. I wouldn't mind playing there again sometime to give them another shot and see if the reffs have cut down on dirty playing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Pheasant Ridge Paintball, Gibsonia, PA
Pro shop - There is a mess of aprts, just talk to the owner, 'Aaron' and he'll take care of you. Prices are very reasonable.
Versitility - There is one nice night-lit speedball field and two relatively small woodsball fields offering a nice variety of play. more land is in the works and my only issue here is that there is not enough land as of right now for bigger woodsball fields.
Price - Excellent. Very low field fees and $45 cases of descent paint...can't beat it.
Safety/Reffing - the field is very safe and chronos are accurate. Reffing is good but the fields are so small it's hard not to be. I'd be curious to see if the reffing stayed this good as the field sizes expand.
Player accomodations - There is a clubhouse with restrooms and a bar, no Porta Johns! Doesn't get much better than that. There is also an adeguate sized staging area for the size of the field.
Overall? Great place to play on the cheap but don't expect any huge woodsball games until more land is aquired.