Merrill     Dunes
On the regular paintball page there is some comment regarding Soft Hit / Low Impact paintball.  This page highlights a way this technology can be utilized in a highly enjoyable manner!

It has been our experience that Soft Hit doesn't work well with younger groups.  The light weight balls are harder to see than the larger regular paintballs and to get the same satisfaction, there is a tendency to fire more balls when using the soft hit guns.  We charge the same for the soft hit balls as for the regular balls as the soft hit ammo production is less efficient due to lower volume and the price is not significantly lower despite the small ball size.
Family Blast / Adrenaline Light
The light balls tend to bounce off their human target, especially when contacting clothing.  The result is that players tend to ignore hits, cheating is more pronounced than with regular paintball, and games suffer.  Enough negative comment with regard to younger players!  Do regular paintball or laser tag!

Where the soft hit system really works is with family groups who are simply out to have a fun time with each other and don't really care about fine tuned competition.  As with airsoft, where players are expected to acknowledge hits, soft hit can be played using a "hit - honour system".  In a mature family group this works.  You get the thrill of tagging someone at a distance but you don't worry about bringing them to tears with your accuracy. There isn't the macho satisfaction of seeing a cannon ball go zooming towards your enemy and then seeing him flinch on impact.  But the smaller balls are far more visible than an airsoft pellet.  The honour system allows games to work.  The "adrenaline light" environment fits the temperament of many family outings.


The photos show the smaller soft hit ball and gun barrel size variation between the 68 calibre regular paintball and the 50 calibre soft hit / low impact ball. The calibre number doesn't seem that different but the soft hit balls are really light and tiny. They can sting on bare skin - but just enough to let you know you are Living!  Do a One Hour event, perhaps with a self serve bulk ammo deal, and you can have an Economy Adventure.  It may well generate as large a volume of exciting group memories as an African Safari and there won't be any nightmares about travel time and paying the bill!