@Robbo I'm one of @rewind 's teammates and did actually go to the recent prison game, and have been to the Zombieland event as well.
With regards to believing everything that Tim says, anybody that has been to one of his games should know that this isn't possible. My experience has been that there is always something that has been touted that remains undelivered. Upon booking my Zombieland ticket I was told by some of the team to only expect 70% of what was promised in the event promo (70% was probably over selling it).
As @rewind mentioned, the team tries to avoid the politics of paintball, and enjoy getting out and having a good time. Personally, the only reason I went back to Shoreline is the fact that they "try" to put on games in unusual venues, paintball in a prison sounds amazing, right? Unfortunately try is the key word there. I personally found the Prison game to be a shambles and won't be giving them any more of my custom.
To summarize a few things from the weekend in Shrewsbury:
We had to be there between 9 and 9.15 or they'd lock us out. The first game didn't start until around 11:30-12:00.. There was a LOT of waiting around
As mentioned, there were no boiler suits. As you've all seen in the E-Mail, this was for a "funny" reason. What that appears to have been is that they were too thin to play paintball in, there was mention of the paper decorating suits. It really doesn't take a genius to know that these would be too thin and should never have even been considered.
The food was badly organised; the queues took forever, and the food and portion size wasn't all that (though I will concede I'm quite greedy)
The "Anthrax" sponsored player party with free beer and hotdogs had nobody from Anthrax and a token for one piss weak stubby and accompanying hotdog. The implication of free drinks was bandied around multiple times, and in hindsight seemed rather disingenuous.
The band booked for said party didn't materialize. Apparently they messaged Tim 10 minutes after they were due to be there, make of that what you will...
The games were on the whole rather ****e. 4 of the eight games involved capturing various objects whilst fighting various factions in a game area of wide pathways, with barely any obstacles. Choke points were the 90 degree corners of the various prison buildings. In essence the teams would quickly spread out to the various choke points and then spend 20-30 minutes getting nowhere. It would have been very easy to come in the day before and erect temporary barricades to make areas worth fighting over, but they didn't.
The one game that actually took place in the cells was incredibly dangerous. The smooth vinyl floor quickly become more slippery than your local ice rink, and I watched several people come down a flight of stairs and then fall heavily when they reached the vinyl surface. No idea how people weren't injured, luck more than judgement.
Tim made the point multiple times that it was specialist paint, designed for playing in sensitive venues. I can only assume this was stated for the benefit of the site owner. It was Cactus, in a yellow coloured box if anyone knows it?? Generally quite misshapen, LOTS of bounces, I wouldn't use it again.
There were 6 staff total. 4 refs... and 2 doing food (one of which was Suzy, probably shouldn't have been surprised to see her there) for what must have been 130 odd people. Nowhere near enough staff.
We had been explicitly told in the player pack that there was a 6bps limit for those with tourney marker, but on arrival Tim mentioned older markers that couldn't be adjusted could be used.. There were definitely players there that took it as carte blanche to not bother changing anything. 10 bps vs something magfed, or pump when there is 0 cover is utter BS.The lack of marshals meant that guns seemed to not be checked (they were Chrono'd at the start of the day, but that was it and it was fairly loosely done).
On leaving the venue, paint had definitely made it over the wall and had peppered the adjacent streets. Again, it was complete luck that nobody was hit. That would have made for some interesting lawsuits.
For a TL
R version.
Shoreline games are badly organised, overpriced and not worth the time invested.
On a side note. The highlight of the entire thing was the prison. The tour from the ex-guards was great. They shared funny anecdotes, interesting history and painted a bleak picture of what life inside would have been like. If you're ever in that part of the country I'd recommend giving it a go.
With regards to believing everything that Tim says, anybody that has been to one of his games should know that this isn't possible. My experience has been that there is always something that has been touted that remains undelivered. Upon booking my Zombieland ticket I was told by some of the team to only expect 70% of what was promised in the event promo (70% was probably over selling it).
As @rewind mentioned, the team tries to avoid the politics of paintball, and enjoy getting out and having a good time. Personally, the only reason I went back to Shoreline is the fact that they "try" to put on games in unusual venues, paintball in a prison sounds amazing, right? Unfortunately try is the key word there. I personally found the Prison game to be a shambles and won't be giving them any more of my custom.
To summarize a few things from the weekend in Shrewsbury:
We had to be there between 9 and 9.15 or they'd lock us out. The first game didn't start until around 11:30-12:00.. There was a LOT of waiting around
As mentioned, there were no boiler suits. As you've all seen in the E-Mail, this was for a "funny" reason. What that appears to have been is that they were too thin to play paintball in, there was mention of the paper decorating suits. It really doesn't take a genius to know that these would be too thin and should never have even been considered.
The food was badly organised; the queues took forever, and the food and portion size wasn't all that (though I will concede I'm quite greedy)
The "Anthrax" sponsored player party with free beer and hotdogs had nobody from Anthrax and a token for one piss weak stubby and accompanying hotdog. The implication of free drinks was bandied around multiple times, and in hindsight seemed rather disingenuous.
The band booked for said party didn't materialize. Apparently they messaged Tim 10 minutes after they were due to be there, make of that what you will...
The games were on the whole rather ****e. 4 of the eight games involved capturing various objects whilst fighting various factions in a game area of wide pathways, with barely any obstacles. Choke points were the 90 degree corners of the various prison buildings. In essence the teams would quickly spread out to the various choke points and then spend 20-30 minutes getting nowhere. It would have been very easy to come in the day before and erect temporary barricades to make areas worth fighting over, but they didn't.
The one game that actually took place in the cells was incredibly dangerous. The smooth vinyl floor quickly become more slippery than your local ice rink, and I watched several people come down a flight of stairs and then fall heavily when they reached the vinyl surface. No idea how people weren't injured, luck more than judgement.
Tim made the point multiple times that it was specialist paint, designed for playing in sensitive venues. I can only assume this was stated for the benefit of the site owner. It was Cactus, in a yellow coloured box if anyone knows it?? Generally quite misshapen, LOTS of bounces, I wouldn't use it again.
There were 6 staff total. 4 refs... and 2 doing food (one of which was Suzy, probably shouldn't have been surprised to see her there) for what must have been 130 odd people. Nowhere near enough staff.
We had been explicitly told in the player pack that there was a 6bps limit for those with tourney marker, but on arrival Tim mentioned older markers that couldn't be adjusted could be used.. There were definitely players there that took it as carte blanche to not bother changing anything. 10 bps vs something magfed, or pump when there is 0 cover is utter BS.The lack of marshals meant that guns seemed to not be checked (they were Chrono'd at the start of the day, but that was it and it was fairly loosely done).
On leaving the venue, paint had definitely made it over the wall and had peppered the adjacent streets. Again, it was complete luck that nobody was hit. That would have made for some interesting lawsuits.
For a TL
R version. Shoreline games are badly organised, overpriced and not worth the time invested.
On a side note. The highlight of the entire thing was the prison. The tour from the ex-guards was great. They shared funny anecdotes, interesting history and painted a bleak picture of what life inside would have been like. If you're ever in that part of the country I'd recommend giving it a go.
