Tsawassen is a very old field that has gone through many changes. The original field was run by para-military style guys years ago. It was bought (as I understand it), then after a few years it was more it was moved (due to a loss of lease) to a new field. The last time I was at the new field it was not yet finished. (I will update the review when I have been back once again). Tsawassen is run by the same people that run the two Frontline Paintball stores.
The staging area is very good, although it does not have much shelter from the rain. They do not use barrel plugs. Instead, markers are left in a "goggles only" zone (as is tradition at this field). The chrono range is very good. CO2 fills are a shambles, with long waits. Air fills are worse, topping out at 1800 psi the last time I was there. They had 4 fields at the time, 3 of which were never to be used by the public. Only private parties. The single remaining field was massive, swampy and inadequate. The ground was very thick with fallen trees and ankle hazards. Play was very poor, and games became nothing but longball matches at 100 yard range. Movement was very difficult. As I understand it, however, the field has been much improved, and there are bunkers now.
The staff is standoff-ish (probably because most are used to running the store or dealing with hundreds of walk-ins). The crowd is mostly walk-ins with a few very dedicated pballers. The toilets are port-a-johns, and the access to the field by road is good, although the parking is literally atrocious (hopefully improved in the last year).
All in all, I'd say that the field is poor, the facilities average, the staging area good, the staff unpleasant and the crowd varied. This is Vancouver's most popular field, it only remains to be seen if the new land can live up to the old popularity. I rank it six out of ten because your average field is really bad (at least in BC)!!!
Last edited on Tuesday, February 24th, 2004 at 6:33 pm PST
