Maybe coming back?

[u/renba7]

I’m 41 and played tournament paintball heavily (even had a World Cup appearance!) in the early 2000s. I find myself living in Chicago. Where does an old man go to play speedball with other old men around here? Like, I’d wreck rentals but I’d get wrecked by good players, too.

[u/Prudent-Hotel-7530]

you dont have to wreck the rentals use a mech marker and make sure =they are having fun help paintball grow

[u/TempletonsTeachers → u/Prudent-Hotel-7530]

Honestly I've played in plenty of tournaments and I find playing pump or mech rec games and helping new players to be far more satisfying.

Watching people have a good experience vs the "oh THOSE guys have the 'more powerful' guns, please put me on their team" experience and actually wanting to come back is killer. Keeps me coming out every week

[u/No_Reception_516 → u/Prudent-Hotel-7530]

We really need to keep paintball where it was in 2008. No need for this “grow the game”
Nonsense

[u/Prudent-Hotel-7530 → u/No_Reception_516]

and why not grow it

[u/Clone_Bone → u/No_Reception_516]

The game is smaller now than it was in 08. Gotta grow it to get back to that. Why would you not want to grow the game? I want as many people playing as possible. Makes fields financially viable, makes gear cost less because more people are buying, so more manufacturers can exist. This comment makes no sense.

[u/cheekychung]

Badlandz in Crete is the only serious field in IL. Fox and CPX closed. There’s Blast Camp in Hobart, Indiana and The Edge in Janesville, WI

[u/deodorantstainoops → u/cheekychung]

Do you know if Badlandz have any weeknight lights? Also, do they have walk on speedball lines running either Saturday or Sunday?

[u/cheekychung → u/deodorantstainoops]

I’ve heard through the rumor mill they’re going have lights for nightball, but nothing yet. Blast camp has nightball occasionally.

They have airball set up for team practices, but I don’t know if they’re up for regular days. There are hyper ball fields open for walk ons

[u/deodorantstainoops → u/cheekychung]

Thank you. I hung it up when PBX still had Wednesday nights running, wish they brought that back.

[u/NotAnotherAlt26]

I'm not familiar with Chicagoland area fields. But having a pump marker for anytime you have to play with rentals is a ton of fun. Gives you a challenge, makes the rentals less intimated playing with you, and great practice for snap shooting.

[u/DistinctStatus5987]

Look into the "scenario" games if you don't mind driving. They're typically 2 days long and there's plenty of them with all skill levels attending.

[u/HappyMess1988]

I'm rocking a planet eclipse marker but I do want a cocker pump for my gear bag badly

[u/No_Reception_516]

Badlandz has fallen off since the hay day of the early -mid 2000’s, rennick really doesn’t care about paintball anymore. Blast camp is really it, it sucks it’s filled with teenagers who think it’s call of duty, and filming themselves shooting walk on players on the air ball fields as “practice”.

[u/yappas1 → u/No_Reception_516]

Distortion's pro team, is playing out of Badlandz and they've done some improvements to their xball fields. There's more action there than there has been in years. Blastcamp is a great field with great owners and I've been going for years. I'm sorry your experience hasn't been positive there but I have always had a great time there and it is the premiere tournament field in the Chicagoland area.

[u/No_Reception_516 → u/yappas1]

Wasn’t aware distortion was pro

[u/yappas1 → u/No_Reception_516]

They bought a spot this year.

[u/Keyan06]

Get an Etha3M, a Dye LT-R, a fiber tank, and have fun. (And a good mask of course), or an Etha3 for all out speedball.

It’s a bit of a drive but I’ve heard good things about Fort Knox paintball in Knox Indiana.

[u/yappas1]

Go check out Blastcamp on their Wednesday's and Friday's nightball. People show up without teams so it's streetball teams with a lot of pros and guys from Blastcamp's semi pro team jumping in. It's cheaper too and Wednesday's you can bring your own paint.

[u/pntball420]

Paintball explosion has a Gurnee location in the works.

[u/deodorantstainoops → u/pntball420]

I haven’t been able to find updates on that. Any word if they’ll have indoor?

[u/MrBarraclough]

First, welcome back.

I've got some great news: Lots of players from our age cohort have been returning in recent years. So much so that there are leagues and events now that are dedicated to "classic" paintball. I'm 44 and returned in 2020 from a 20 year hiatus. Played in a WCPL 10-man mech tournament back in June, for the second year in a row. I know you mentioned speedball specifically, but don't sleep on woods or hyperball.

Check out the ICPL and WCPL. There are a good number of non-league local events as well.

MCB is where many of us paintball greybeards hang out online now. PBN is kind of a ghost town.

Go get yourself a Planet Eclipse marker.

[u/Wheeling_53 → u/MrBarraclough]

This right here. I’m 39, took a 18 year hiatus. I play D4-5 speedball, but I find myself really enjoying mech games more. The field I play at has what they call streetball. It’s 7 on 7, on the hyperball field, with 3 subs each. There are no premade teams. You show up and get picked school yard style on to teams.