Night time paintball?

[Tom]

So bright flashlights seems like a MUST here

Yes and no

Yes for safety and going into and out of the game
I'd really recommend a basic light that isn't overly bright so that you can click it on/off for a look
You don't then totally destroy your & your teammates ability to see and you don't turn yourself into a great big glowing target

I have never been in pitch black darkness at night - I have only experienced true darkness in drakelow

 

[Tom]

Did you play with your regular paint or was there some special glow-in-the-dark paint?

Typically the unusual night or underground games have been with clear paint
Coloured paint can be used still in the woods but such games that I have played have mostly been for the special venue

In the dark it doesn't matter what colour the paint is and its a false premise to feel that clear paint means you won't see what is a fresh hit

Glow paint has been used at a few but in my experience it's been a clear event with the option of glow paintballs - they come with the added requirement of an activator - usually a barrel mounted uvstrobe that flashes each ball as it exits. The alternate option is a uv led in your hopper (or as I have done, to pop a uv torch into the hopper before game on)

With a limited paint up close game I'm not going to weigh myself with lots of paint and don't think I've ever emptied a hopper in a night session before going back to the safe zone

 

[Tom]

Did you play with your regular paint or was there some special glow-in-the-dark paint?

See page 2 for a video with glow paint in use and also for a photo of my head which shows how close up a drakelow game could get in pitch black

 

[rkohal]

That's a mighty horn you got there.

 

[rkohal]

How did you separate your team from the opposition? Some glowsticks (think they were glowsticks in the video)?

 

[Vorner23]

Evasion North V South has to be tried once. You have a series of check points that can be reached in any way.
There are ambushes ready, defended bunkers to get by . It is pant filling adrenaline from start to finish.

So it is basically stealth to get to the end. The Hunter teams have flashlights and even a vehicle to get round. We went out kitted up with 200 or something paint allowed .Pointless it just slows you down. An awesome game that is for sure.

 

[Tom]

How did you separate your team from the opposition? Some glowsticks (think they were glowsticks in the video)?

Yes - with glow sticks

But in a limited area you can mostly gauge who is friendly by where they are in regard to objectives and bases
In the crossing corridors then you can call out around corners (if not worried about giving your presence) or hiding and letting people pass
Familiarity can help when you have an idea on who is on your side by their size and shape eg the idiot with the wings on his back was me, the leader of the Angels

However there are tactics to minimise how obvious you are.
Different glow stick colours have different brightness levels, so to a degree in theory you could get a bit closer and then shoot at the glows if you're on the right faction
A way to reduce that is to spiral some electrical tape around the glow stick (like a barbers pole etc) so that it gives off the glow for ID and the health and safety element of you getting found if you're crashed on the floor in darkness, but reduced in intensity so that you are not such an obvous glow in the darkness
Next depending on your stance put it on the arm that is likely to be behind you, and stick close to walls - then when you're sneaking up in the darkness then your body blocks the glow in front, the wall stops glow from your side (and you're not silhouetted in the middle of the corridor)

with those tactics I was able to edge my way slowly hugging the wall right into enemy hq slowly shuffling forward working out how close I could get and burying my glowstick arm in the wall
You get to a point that you realise there is little you can do but go for glory
And that was when suddenly i was discovered

The photo of my forehead was taken moments later as a selfie to see what all the fuss was about with people staring at me
It grew much bigger!

 

[nick hare]

As previously mentioned dark games are great but do rely heavily on honesty. Whilst playing Drakelow as part of a third team it became very evident that players were using the darkness to wipe hits from them and then started complaining when they were overshot.

It's worth giving it a go if you've never done it, it is completely different to anything else. The not knowing of who you're about to shoot just adds to it all as you have to conceal yourself whilst trying to get close enough to ensure they are the opposition.

Drakelow is good, but the night game at Urban Sennybridge is much better and the honesty levels seem to be higher.

 

[rkohal]

I play an occasional reball which also relies mostly on honesty. But I actually prefer the messy and colorful paintball battles just because you can check your opponent later if you don´t trust him/her.

 

[rkohal]

Sadly paintball is not that popular here in Estonia (Eastern Europe), so I cannot try out a proper nightpaintball. The games I had in the dark were more like our selforganised meetups on an abandoned cattle house / farm. Maybe next vacation I could have trip to UK or somewhere like that. Try out nightpaintball and some games on proper speedball fields. Currently working on popularising the sport in Estonia, but don´t have great ideas for it yet, besides organizing a tournament and inviting more friends to play.