Columnist Susan Snyder: Paintball hits target audience

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004 | 8:19 a.m.

Above the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic gunfire, Ken Chamberlain said the weapon in the hands of the teen standing behind him was capable of firing 20 rounds per second.

"That's if you can pull the trigger that fast," Chamberlain said.

Relax. It wasn't loaded. And even if it had been, a few paint splotches were the most anyone would have suffered.

Chamberlain's company, War Games Products, sells paintball guns and equipment. He was among the vendors at Sam Boyd Stadium over the weekend for the National Professional Paintball League's Super 7 World Series.

Now I know what you're thinking.

But there was no one named Bambi or anything related to trotting through the woods shooting at scantily clad women (hey, she wore shoes in the video). These men and women were all fully clothed and fully armed. And they shot at each other for a lot of money. First place brought $20,000.

Alas, even though some 12 million people play it, paintball remains one of those pastimes where the only way to actually make a living is to sell stuff associated with it. There seemed to be as many vendor booths as team tents.

Chamberlain's guns for the serious players start around $275 and go up to $1,175 for one with an electronic trigger that fires at the twitch of a digit.

Then you have to buy a hopper to hold the paintballs, a carrier for extra ammo and a tank that shoots balls at opponents with 3,000 to 4,500 pounds of compressed air.

"And a mask -- absolutely," Chamberlain added.

At least. Many players also wear protection for elbows, knees, chests and, um, other sensitive regions under their urban ninja attire.

"It's something the whole family can play," Chamberlain said.

Mom shooting at Dad -- used to call that sort of thing a felony. Now it's a sport.

Players from all over the country on teams such as Brimstone Smoke, Naughty Dogs and Vermin (a name any mom would be proud to wear) shot at each other for two days on five fields, darting among the inflatable obstacles that presented different challenges on each field.

Rounds at this level are seven to 10 minutes -- long for paintball. But some teams barely lasted long enough to take the field. More than once winners devoured opponents in a charging offense and a hail of neon green or yellow.

Mesh fencing and nets didn't guarantee total safety from stray volleys. A gazillion spent technicolor bullets speckled the grass and a hapless spectator or two.

They're biodegradable and don't stain, organizers said.

"But they'll give you a pretty good sting," Chamberlain said.

The sting made Tommy Hughes hesitant to play when his laser-tag friends goaded him into it seven years ago.

"I thought it was going to hurt bad. But you get your adrenaline going, and it doesn't," said Hughes, captain of the Outkast LV paintball team.

Hughes, 30, works full-time as a valet at one of the major Las Vegas Strip resort hotels and practices with the Outkasts once a week -- for eight hours. They work mostly on communication skills and strategic moves.

"When we go out on the field, we know what we're going to do -- first move, second move, third move," he said, adding that it's fun "when you win."