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pbReview.com / Paintball Fields / USA / California / Sunol Paintball Field
Sunol Paintball Field
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Reviews: |
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Website: |
Click here to visit the field's website. |
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Email: |
Click here to email the field. |
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Phone: |
(510) 489 9499 |
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Address: |
7900 Vallecitos Road
Sunol, California 94586
USA
Map - Directions - Weather |
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Distance: |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
March 19th, 2008 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
1 year |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
None Known |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Look on site |
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| Review: |
Okay before I start, I just need to know... Why do so many people hate this place?!
Some Pro's: Ref's are okay, they seem to know what they are doing. Barrel plug rule and Mask Rule are enforced, (even though accidentally walked into staging without my barell plug, no one cared) They start Games at 9AM, which is okay for me, the field is nice, they do need to clean up though, food is okay for $5, Target range, and most people there are nice and can help you.
Con's: No shop, staff seems to kind of stand around, takes forever for them to finally notice me, seem to make an advanced team and a beginner team, so we get crushed, Paint is expensive (Buy at big 5! way cheaper!!!)
The say they have a paved parking lot... Its just a bunch of gravel with potholes.
Lastly, This has been the only field I have played at, so I like the setup. (thinking about playing about Paintball Jungle in SF)
Overall, 8-10, sad to see airball field gone
Also, if you are planning to make a reservation for a rental, you really don't need too, people more or less show up and just play.| Last edited on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 8:16 pm PST |
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Asad |
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Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
February 2nd, 2008 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
More than 5 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Operation Paintball - Now closed, Sunol is better. |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Take 680 N, exit 84 headed towards Sunol, make the right at the Ranch with the Spanish Name, head all the way to the back. Check their website though. |
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| Review: |
Saftey: Very, very well enforced. 280fps field limit, regular chrono checks.
Hours: Owners show up around 9:00am, registration begins shortly after. This field usually hosts a lot of private events, so registration can take a bit longer than most people are accustomed to. Use the time to walk the field or get your gear preped. Play goes until 3, maybe a little after.
Fields: I've played here for a while, and the fields have remained mostly the same, however they've replaced their first field with a Sup Air field, which most players that frequent there don't care for. Otherwise, its a lot of fun. There are 3 fields: Sup Air which wasn't up most recently, Bunker ball: Fun course with close quarters play, lots of interesting bunkers and Rec Field, almost football field sized with lots of spindles, houses and shooting lanes. Note: If you're playing during the rainy season, expect lots of mud and puddles/small ponds. Summer its just hot.
Prices: Fair priced, good paint.
Rules: Unless you're in the advanced group, there is a no-bunkering rule, you run up onto the bunker and knock/pound on the bunker yelling surrender, the other player must step out of the game. And of course respect local wildlife that may be nearby.
Services: Have some tools, but don't loan out. However owners own a proshop at another location. Or at least they did, can't confirm if they are field only now.
Staff: Usually they're well staffed, however most recently it seemed they could've used 2 more refs for the day, however the Rob and his wife are very friendly and helpful.
Refs: Refs are cool guys, all players, will do paintchecks, but not excessively. Depends on your level of rapport with them.
Players: Expect a larger turn out during the summer with more diverse players, but this field does get a lot of people, varying skill. Very, very few elite types, most every one there is friendly and there to enjoy the game. I'd say 50-60% are minors, the rest are above that age (range 18-50). Rain and cold seems to scare some away, but there is a good core group of players that comes out, regardless of mother nature.
Facilities: Port-o-Potty, parkinging lot and drive way are in need of paving, but land owners won't allow that, so don't bring a car that you don't want getting muddy or seeing holes. Staging areas have greatly improved, full picnic tables and cubbies for gear, havn't heard of gear being stolen, but ya never know.
Food: Costco Hot Dog lunch, must pay for at registration as owners head out to buy the same day. Water, Soda, chips and candy available too. Barbeques allowed too.
9.5/10
EDIT 2/9/08: No rain, had about 35-40 walk ons, great day. Goto this field, its a lot of fun. | Last edited on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm PST |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
September 16th, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
2 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
There isnt anything to close to this field. |
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Directions
to the Field: |
If you want directions to this place, go to yahoo maps. |
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| Review: |
This is the first time i have gone to this field and judging by the fun i had there it wont be the last time i go here.
safety: the refs are good into making sure everyone has there mask on, but they dont really inforce the chrono rule. to be honest i still dont know the limit on the chrono. my marker was running hot all day long.
fields: they dont have a big selection to choose from. they have a large and small rec fields and i guess one speedball field that only had a few bunkers inflated. anyways, the large rec field is very nice and there is plenty of room to move around.
prices: they are a bit on the expensive side. $20 to play is about the norm, $12 for all day air is more then any place i've gone too, $5 for a lunch ticket (which they serve little ceasers pizza and your choice of drink), $60 for a case of paint is just way to much (most fields charge around $45 for paint), and $60 for rental gear is just wrong (when everywhere else is $45 for the same package)
refs: they were good and friendly,,,,
proshop: nothing there.....
i give this field a 7 out of 10, meaning i will be going there again. |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
January 12th, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
1 year |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
paintball jungle
santa clara
antioch
bear creek |
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Directions
to the Field: |
mapquest |
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| Review: |
Well lets just say this is int the greatest field.The refs are good/bad they ref differently every time i have been there, one time i was there and All they did was just sit around and call the games, and another time i went they actually did paint checks and called some people out.Their goggle and barrel plug rule is pretty good but what really annoyed me was the wait time between games they were EXTREMELY slow, on (average) it took 15-20 minutes just to get another game going.The staff is friendly but sometimes not of much help.
Conclusion:
all in all this field is good if your just looking for some fun.
I give it a 4 because i like the fields | Last edited on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 3:10 pm PST |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
April 28th, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
4 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Operation Paintball -Smaller fields, but helpful and attentive staff
Paintball Jungle - Great recreational play for woodsball players and much larger fields and comparable staff to sunol
Venture - Best woodsball field in the area very large and never gets old |
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| Review: |
Overall I am not happy at all with this field. Here are some pros and cons
Pros - The food is good and marker speed is constantly monitored for safer play. Goggle rule is strictly enforced.
Cons - Let me start first with the field conditions. On the rec-ball field, the lack of effort to keep clean or even maintain the field is astonishing. They claim that it is cleaned daily but I have found my initials that I shot myself into the bunkers two summers ago.
The air-ball field they have set up is very poor and looks like it was set up in a matter of minutes. Not only is it set up in minutes but they also set it up 1/4 through the day, to what appears to me to waste time. Also the lack of ability of the staff to keep the bunkers ON the ground is laughable. During air-ball my bunker fell over twice causing me to have to bump back making play less fun. If you have every stayed a little bit after, you would see how brutal the staff is when they store their bunkers, I wouldn't be surprised if there were any holes.
Next I will go over the staff. They are horrendous in every aspect of their "job". I sometimes will wonder why they are even there, because checking players for being shot and calling players out was clearly not on their job description. They are incredibly indolent and will do anything (or lack of) to get through the day. Surprisingly, most of the refs will stay in their shack thing and watch television while there is one or two refs watching a game (not reffing). Most of the time the refs will be trying to be funny over their walkie talkies to lazy refs in the shack, instead of watching the games. They will however stop your game if you are not supposed to be playing, but like children, if you ignore them, they will quickly get bored and walk away.
Finally, I will go over my overall playing experience. First off, if you want to play air-ball, your SOL because there is never a single soul out there. If you want to play in a cheater - free environment with balanced teams and a diversity of game types, you are once again SOL. The last time I came here I got into a fight with a man three my age (I'm 16) and the only reason the Sunol staff stepped in was because I threatened the man with a lawsuit for assaulting a minor, and apparently, Sunol did not want this to affect their ever so meticulous reputation. I decided to let it go.
The intervals in between games is incredible. I played in every single game which game to a total of 10 rounds the entire day. I know that you might come here because of the convenient location, but I would choose the extra distance to anytime to have fun with my friends.
When I came there two years ago, it was okay, but now when I come here, I have realized that Sunol is a dying buisness and should never under any circumstances be funded by your hard earned money to experience what they consider "fun".
I, as a member of the paintball community, will never come to this place again under any circumstance, and for those of you that read this I hope that you understand the tremendous letdown that this place has made itself. Hopefully more local fields will be built in the near future, and put this ****hole out of business for good.
Sincerely,
Steve |
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| The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page. |
Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
March 2nd, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
More than 5 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Operation - Hayward (Better, good indoor/outdoor)
Venture Games - Clayton (Best for Scenario)
Sherwood Forest-Vallejo (Awesome Woodsball)
The Jungle - American Canyon (Even better Woodsball)
Bear Creek - Milpitas (good indoor)
Fairgrounds - Santa Clara (Gets hot, but plenty of fields) |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Off Valecitos Rd on Highway 84 |
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| Review: |
Until a year or two ago I looked to the field as an alternative. They are safety devils, and I don't blame them, thats good. THeir policy though, is very unforgiving. The field layouts aren't too bad. But if there are more than 20 people, the fields are WAY too small. And they don't allow more than one game to be going on at a time. The hours are typical. 9 AM to 3 PM. That annoys me. Open at 10 or 11 and close at dusk. That makes sense to me. Prices are ridiculous for rentals. They charge $60 for 2000 rounds, which are some crappy Brass Eagle paintballs. Rules are agian typical. Proshop, non-exsistant. They offer VERY little to help the player. Definately no upgrades availible, but cheaply manufactured parts that they sell at prices to that will end your day early. Refs are biased as heck! They may be funny sometimes, but they carry a gun on field and start shooting people and say that they are out. And as others have said, they have been promoting their paved parking lot. What BS, its a crappy gravel road with potholes everywhere. It has improved cosmetically over the years. Management has gotten worse. They have added more shade and started cleaning up the bunkers. The No sliding rule is bad but makes sense. Its rocky, and if it rains your diving into water and a mixture of cow...uh....waste? Food is provided, not that bad, usually barbecue. I would still suggest your own food, or bring your own BBQ and make some good buregers, thats what I alwasys did. Recently added outhouses and dressing rooms. A nice change. More spools and tables. You can tell they are trying to make it more appealing, but I don't plan on going until its under new management. Thank yo "Thizz" Paintball for doing so much damage to a field with so much potential. Yes, they have a store and it is called Thizz Paintball, explains a lot about them. I believe that my rating is very generous, and I would advise somebody to go only if they wish to go to every paintball park around. Other than that, certainly not worth my time. Make the extra drive to Milpitas, Hayward, Vallejo, Santa Clara, or Clayton. |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
December 4th, 2006 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
1 year |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
SCP, My teams field, and Bearcreek |
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| Review: |
I did not have a good time at all, first of all you are not allowed to slide, and the whole place is just a mess. The refs are rude and dont no how to ref. the field is not maintained and isnt filled every day, i barely played, and i was a total waste of my money. For your own good dont go, just drive the extra 20 minutes to go to scp or bearcreek |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
August 1st, 2006 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
4 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Venture - Best Woodsball field in the area imo
Santa Clara - Good, but had issues with their air filter, I won't go back
Sherwood - Good, but they always put rec on woodsball, and I don't like their woodsball fields
Operation - Small, empty on a friday(bring friends), slippery indoors.
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| Review: |
This was the first speedball field I ever played on. And It's got a pretty good layout. The staging area is bounded on two sides by fields, and it's pretty easy to get going in the morning. They have a small(3-man) airball field, a medium field with plywood bunkers, and a very expansive spool field. You will play most of the day on the spool field. Unfortunately, they almost never put rec games on the airball field because it's so small and there are so many players.
PROS-
Decent prices for self-equipped($60 case-admission free, and $12 all day air)
Pretty good field layout
Nice guys at the shop - once, a long time ago, took my broken spyder as collateral and let me borrow a rental for the last 2 games of the day.
Convenient drive - for me
CONS-
Bad Reffing! I can't say this enough. While I like the fields and layout, and the guys at the shop are nice enough, the reffing here is horrible. They supposedly ban any sort of ramping/wiping/cheating etc, but when you call for a paint check on someone, they rarely actually check, or one time, they did, but didn't tell me whether he was in or out. I screamed at the refs because little kids with ramping ions, with no regard for rules or safety, were shooting 17 bps (not exaggerated, like most people exaggerate bps). For this reason, I will never go back.
"Brand New Paved Parking Lot" as advertised on their website is years old, full of potholes, and not actually paved.
When it's wet, yes, it smells like cow... poop.
And there are muddy puddles, and swampy bunkers. It's not fun to play in when it's been raining.
In Conclusion:
I used to think very highly of this field. It used to be well run, enough so that I could overlook the swamp-like aspect and the bad roads. The last two times I've gone though, the reffing has been unbelievably bad. I have been going to this field for the last three years, and it saddens me to see them fall so low.
So I give them a three(3), for what they used to be, but aren't anymore. |
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MP808 |
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Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
August 20th, 2006 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
Less than a month |
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| Review: |
This is the only paid field that I've ever played. But really looking forward to visiting the other fields shortly.
Pros:
-Good service at the equipment counter
-Friendly staff
-Strong emphasis and control on safety
-3 completely different fields allow for change in combat scenario
-Offers lunch for $5.. pretty cheap for convenience.
Cons:
- COW PIES on the field! Kind of nasty when I first got there, but really didn't think much of it when the game started... just remember to avoid them.
- It 's obvious that the fields are a bit unkept
-Rental guns run out of air often if you're playing for more than one game.. small CO2 canisters.
-Paintballs case on the expensive side $60 for 2000.
Buttom line: My friends and I had alot of fun and wouldn't mind playing sunol again... |
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TBB16 |
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Friday, August 11th, 2006 |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
August 12th, 2006 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
3 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
modesto mantica when it was open...operation paintball...and some other places too |
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Directions
to the Field: |
its a little bit past some palm trees...thats how i remember...Check the website. |
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| Review: |
alright i like this field just because it is my home field...i play their almost every weekend and its not that expensive...they have all day air if you have hpa for $12 and admission is $20 from 9 am to 3 pm...BUY YOUR PAINT SOMEWHERE ELSE though...they charge $30 for 500 low end paintballs and $60 (about average price) for the same low end paint...the field is in horrible condition but you'll get over it...the refs are cool but not all they helpful...they dont really do paint checks...which really pisses me off...and TRUST ME BECAUSE IM A REGULAR...anyways they have an air ball field that only the advanced group can play on...they have a wreck field...and a bunker ball field...you cant slide...head first at least...and i wouldnt reccomend sliding hard at all because the have cow pies and jagged rocks laying around...but if you come you'll have a good time...for the most part everyones nice and you'll learn a liitle about the game once your done |
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