Paintball Field Operator's Guide

The most complete guide to operating a paintball field.

We receive 80-100 letters a day at WARPIG, asking about everything from the best barrel for an auto-sluggomatic to how to clean goggles. About once a week, we get someone asking for information about starting their own paintball field. The only book we had heard of on the subject was the Paintball Field Operator's Guide by Guy Cooper. We recommended that as a source, but with it's $199 price tag, it's hard to recommend it sight unseen. A quick call to Pro Star Sports, and a copy of The Guide was on its way for review.

Wow. I think that best sums it up in one word. The Guide is big. It is comb bound, of single sided photocopied pages (over 320 of them). The style of binding and the pages being single sided ads to the size. One of my first thoughts was "$199, and it's photocopied?" We found out, from an interview with Guy Cooper, that The Guide is updated every two to three months. Since new versions are always being printed in small volumes, this is the most economic binding and printing available. In fact, the copy we received included WARPIG's address in the resource section, less than 2 months after we moved. This is not a stale book. It is very up to date, and we are now very pleased to recommend it to people who are considering starting a field.

For many people, $199 seems steep price for a book, but The Guide is packed with information, and after having read it, I can't imagine starting a paintball field without it. I am very confident in saying that the knowledge in this book will more than pay for itself in increased profits, or protection from loss. In the $6,000 to $12,000 needed to start up a paintball field, the cost of this book is pretty small.

Here are a few of the topics covered:

• Laws effecting paintball
• Zoning
• Negotiating a lease for a field
• Sanitation requirements
• Insurance
• Getting start-up capital
• Licenses and permits
• Accounting
• Wisdom of marketing toward regular players or newbies
• Retail sales
• Increasing revenue
• Tax planning
• Rental of equipment to and from other fields
• Presentation at shows
• Equipment purchase, storage and maintenance
• Bulk Co2 fills
• Complete daily operating procedure
• Dealing with bad paint
• Game scenarios
• Running tournament
• Safety (79 pages are devoted to various aspects of this topic)
• Customer service
• Promotional material
• Much, much more.

The knowledge Guy has packed into this book comes from his years of experience as a successful field operator in Colorado, and through the experiences of the many fields he has helped start around the country through his company, Pro Star Sports. If you are considering starting a field of your own, it is an excellent base to build on. Also, since the material in the guide changes regularly, updates are available on a regular basis at around $20 each.