the joys of private party paintball!
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What was that? Who said that? What's a Private Party game? You mean you've never played with a Private Party? Well you are in for a treat! A Private Party game is where you get a group of your friends, usually 20 or more, together and play paintball. I know, sounds like just about any other day you've played right? Well there is more. When you play at a commercial field you'll get your own referee and your party will not be mixed in with the walk-on players meaning your party gets the field your playing on all to yourselves! If that's not enough, you can also play unique games other than just elemination or capture the flag. Interested? Then read on!
Just what is a Private Party game? In a nutshell it is when a group of people get together and go to a paintball field together to play as their own group. The difference between this game and a walk on game is that it will be just your group that is playing and no other "walk on" players will be added to your group.
Now, you just can't get 10 of your buddies together and have a Private Party. First, call your local field and see how many people you have to have for a Private Party. Usually it is between 20 and 30 depending on the field.
Most fields require you to book a Private Party in advance. This requires a deposit as well. Usually when we do a private party out here we require the players to hand their field fees over to the event organizer by a certain date so that he/she can make this deposit and the minimum number for the Party. Players can still be added after this date but if there are not the minimum number of players required by the field to hold a Private Party on this cut off date then the Private Party will usually be scrubbed. So get your name in early!
So moving on...wait...yes you there with your hand up? Does a Private Party need to be connected with an event like a birthday or bachelor party? No, you don't have to have a "reason" to have a Private Party event but a day of paintball would make an excelent birthday party or bachelor party event!
Good question! There are a number of reasons why a Private Party at a local paintball field is a great idea:
- Playing with your friends - Who doesn't like playing with your friends? A Private Party means you will play with your fiends and only your friends!
- Safety - Some argue that all you need to do to have a private party is get your friends together and play in the woods. True, but you're missing the finer aspects about playing at a field. First you will have a ref that is attached to your party and only your party. Sometimes, if the group is large enough, you may have two! Secondly, the fields you play on will observe certain levels of safety when it comes to their fields and equipement. Private Parties still pass through the chrono station and the goggle areas will be clearly marked.
- Flexability - This is actually going to be covered A LOT more down below but the flexability you have as a Private Party is THE NUMBER ONE REASON why Private Parties ROCK! As a Private Party you get far more flexability when it comes to your games. Now, naturally this is dependant on how busy the facility is and how they choose to run their program but the fact is not every game has to be a 10 minute elemination game! What do I mean? Keep reading!
Much more than just "Capture the Flag!"
Here is where Private Parties are just the best. No longer are you confined to short little games of elemination or the same boaring capture the flag (which, might I mention, is actually not so boaring anymore since so few fields around here still run capture the flag games).
The rule here is plan beforehand. First check with the fields to see if they will let your Private Party play games beyond just the basics. This means not only the type of game but length of the game as most of the "special" games will take longer than the 10 minutes of an elemination game.
If they do, then start getting your ideas together and get your props ready. What's that you say? Did I say props? I most certainly indeed did! Because once you find out you can do more than just the basics, your imagination is all that keeps you back!
To get your creative jucies flowing, I'm going to go over some games you can play as a Private Party group. Some you may have heard of, some you may have not. You'll note that many of these games are like mini scenario missions...and that's just me. Don't think you have to limit your thinking to just these as there are litterally thousands of different games you can play. Now, I'm not going to go over the stratigies to these games other than how it may be changed for different variances. All I'm going to give you is the basic rules and props required. :)
This is a game I was recently introduced too. It requires no props. Have three players volunteer to be the Aliens. They get to go out into the field and hide wherever they want. The rest of the players are the "humans" and must not be alowed to view the field as the Aliens hide.
When the game starts, the humans go out into the field to start hunting the Aliens. But here's the catch. Once a human is shot by the Aliens he/she becomes and Alien and then turns on the rest of the humans!!!! It is a good idea to make the Humans wear bands so they can be removed when they are turned into an Alien.
Needless to say there is much confusion here and most Surrender rules are thrown to the wind. Best part is that no matter what it's fun and "who wins" is not important. Another good thing is this game tends to be fairly short so it can be played in a standard 10 minute format. However, it should be played on a field with a lot of cover or in a city style field.
President is a game that's been around for quite a while and has a couple different configurations. For props, you just need a band that is a different color from the other bands. It is even better if you have a special colored lanyard or hat that designates the President. The goal of the game is to get the President from one side of the field to the other without him/her getting shot.
Oh, the other catch...they can only have a pump or pistol marker...nothing else. :)
The last way we played it the teams were split with 12 players plus the President on one side and the other 24 players on the other side. The catch was the President's people were allowed, upon being shot out, to run back to the start point and reginerate as often as they wanted. The other option is to just have even teams with the President on one side or the other as an "extra" and have no regineration. The games here can take longer and even with the regineration there is no promise that the President's side will win.
This game requires about 8 large water ballons and two five gallon painter's buckets. Four balloons are placed in each bucket and put at two different spots on the field.
The way we played it last is 10 players volunteered to be bucket defenders and could position themselves anywhere on the field. The rest of the players were the attackers and this time it doesn't matter if they see where the defenders position themselves or not. The point of the game was the attackers had to recover six of the eight balloons to win the game. The defenders could reginerate once at a central point on the field. Game time will usually run 20-30 minutes on this one and unless you bring more than eight baloons you're only going to play it once.
This is a very unique game and kind of a twist on President. This game requires no props. You have one player who is the rabbit. He is allowed to go out and hide anywhere on the field and no one is allowed to see where he goes. After he hides, the "hunters" are sent out. The hunters are 4 players who are supposed to go out and find the rabbit. The remaining players are divided into two equal groups after that. After about 3 minutes of the hunters out looking for the rabbit, the first of these two groups is released. They are what I call "The ravinous cave rabbits from Monty Python and the Holly Grail."...you know, the one with the sharp, pointy teeth and all. They are out after the hunters. After 1-2 minutes more, the rest of the players go out as the second group of hunters (or, keeping with the theme, "King Authur and the Knights of the Round Table") who, in turn, are trying to to find the first rabbit as well.
The game is over when either the first rabbit to go out is found and eleminated or when all the hunters have been eleminated. This game can take 10-30 minutes depending on field size and the skill of your Rabbit.
This is a game of trust. You will need blindfolds to cover the eyes of half the players in your party. Also, this game should be played on FLAT fields that are well taken care of without any major holes or tripping hazards. Speedball fields are great for this game.
Divide your party into two equal teams with even numbers on both sides. If you have an uneven number, that one person will need to sit out and act as an extra reff or safety marshal...better yet is if they have a video camera this would be a great opportunity for them to roll film.
Now, with half the players on each team blindfolded the half that are not need to leave their markers and paint behind...they won't need them. What's going to happen is this. Each person who isn't blindfolded will be teamed up with someone who is. When the game starts, the person who can see is going to direct their blindfolded partner. There should be NO running as it would be a safety hazard. The non-blindfolded player is only allowed to put their hand on the blindfolded player's shoulder. They can use this hand to help direct them where to move.
They then can tell the blindfolded player were to shoot. They ARE NOT allowed to physically direct the blindfolded player's marker...only tell them UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, DUCK, CRAWL, ect.
If the non-blindfolded player is shot, the team is NOT eleminated. The pair is ONLY eleminated if the blindfolded person is hit. Needless to say this game can take a while to play, and is best done on smaller fields where this is a non-hot dead box so players can remove their blindfolds once eleminated. Also, the non-blindfolded players are not allowed to INTENTIONALLY shield their blindfolded partner.
Remember that the non-blindfolded player is there to ensure the safety of the blindfolded player too...so watch were your direct your partners.
This is a very fun game. Teams are divided into two equal groups. Props needed will be a timer of some sort with an loud CONTINUOUS audible alarm (once set it should beep continuously until it is "disarmed") and a five gallon bucket.
There is a terrorist side and a Anti-Terrorist side (last time we played this is was the "Jack Bower and friends" side...apparently we had a lot of fans from the show "24" in our midst). The game starts with the bucket somewhere in the middle of the field. The bucket should not be easily visible from either side and have decent cover around it. Last time we did this any decent "sniper" spots with a line of sight to the bucket were pretty exposed and that's the way you want it.
The terrorists start the game with the bomb in their posesstion. The "bomb" is nothing more than an electronic device that has a very loud beeper on it. Even better if it is a countdown timer with an continuous audible beep to zero.
When the game starts, the terrorists MUST get to the bucket, arm the bomb, and plant it on the bucket. Once this is done, the Anti-Terrorist side must then get to the bucket, disarm the bomb, and get the bomb back to their side.
Obviously it is important that all players involved see how to set and unset the device to make things fair. There should be a 20-30 minute time limit on the game. If the terrorists don't plant the bomb by then the game is over with the Anti-Terrorist side winning. You can also adjust the number of players on either side or allow regeneration to give both sides a chance if necessary (though we didn't find it necessary).
Playing paintball with your friends is always more fun than playing with a bunch of strangers and Private Party games allow you to do just that even on commercial fields. Also, the games that you can play with Private Party groups allow you to expand your paintball experiance beyond the basics. Sure capture the flag and elemination are fun but every now and then it's good to try something different and reinvent the game for yourself. Keeping things fresh helps to keep things fun and prevent you from getting tired and burned out on paintball. Who knows, maybe you'll find yourself coming up with your own new games and playing them more often.
Good luck and remember, it is all about having fun!
- Robotech
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