Things have certainly been busy here at Compass Paintball recently! In the past few weeks, we’ve seen a large increase in the number of parties being booked and the total number of players on the field during our Ministry Days. As we experience this rapid growth, we’re also experiencing some new issues.

To address these issues, we’re making some changes to our rules, refining our party booking process, and introducing a new capacity limit for the field. We’ll address each change in detail below and explain the reasoning behind our decisions.

New Rules

Every so often we take some time to evaluate our rules and decide whether we need to make any changes, additions, or removals to keep gameplay fair, safe, and fun for everyone. Today we’re announcing a few changes to the rules regarding player requirements. These changes are being made to ensure the safety of everyone on the field.

The first change that we are making is that we are reinstating an age requirement for all players. Several years ago we required that players be at least 10 years old. We did away with that rule, but, after careful consideration, we have decided to set an age limit once again. Starting with our next Ministry Day on November 25th, we will require that all players be at least 8 years old.

In addition, we are adding a new requirement that players be able to fully operate the paintball equipment on their own. We are, of course, willing to make exceptions as we are able for players with disabilities that may prevent them from operating the equipment on their own. Our aim is not to exclude anyone from playing, but to ensure that younger players entering the field are able to properly take part in the game.

We are also adding one final eligibility requirement, though it’s one we don’t expect to have an issue with very often. As you may know from experience (or from reading our liability waiver), paintball is a contact sport and can be dangerous at times. For safety reasons, we cannot allow any pregnant customers on the field at any time. This has always been one of our unwritten rules, but we’re adding it to the official rules today to make sure that people are aware.

Beyond these changes, we are bringing back our old Penalty Card system. All players will be issued a Penalty Card when they check in to play. For every infraction of the rules, the player will receive a punch on their card. Each punch will bring escalating consequences, with the third punch potentially leading to ejection from the field for the rest of the day. Players who do not have a Penalty Card may be asked to leave the field immediately.

We hope that these rules will help us provide a safe and fun experience for all of our great customers.

Party Bookings

In addition to these new rules, we are making some changes to how we book parties.

We now require a booking for all groups of 7 or more players. Any walk-on group of 7 or more players may be declined at the shop staff’s discretion due to the number of players already on the field and the number of parties booked on our schedule.

The maximum party size for a group-of-20 rate has been lowered from 35 players to 25 (more on that in the next section). Because additional players over a total of 20 cost an extra $8 each, this will not affect the regular price of a 20-man party, it will just limit the number of extra $8 players who can join.

We are also rolling back a few unofficial changes that we have been operating by for a few months.

Recently, we have allowed parties to book on shorter notice and (in rare cases) allowed them to skip the usual $50 deposit and pay the full amount (including that $50) on the date of their party. This has led to several issues, such as last-minute changes for which we simply were not prepared. Due to these issues, we are going to be more stricty enforcing our official booking requirements.

As outlined on our pricing page, all parties must be booked at least 2 weeks in advance. Effective immediately, we can no longer book same-week parties for groups of any size. In addition, we require that the non-refundable $50 deposit be paid no more than one week after the party is booked.

Once you’ve called us and setup a time for your party, we will add you to our schedule as a pending party. Your timeslot will not be sold out from under you for one week. Once the deposit is paid, the timeslot and rental gear will be reserved for you.

However, if no deposit has been paid within one week, your party will be automatically canceled and the timeslot will be offered to the next group in line.

Furthermore, we will no longer double-book party slots. Only one party will be booked for any given timeslot to allow more space for walk-on players. Timeslots will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Field Capacity

Some of these party booking changes are due to the fact that our field is not designed to handle 50 players at one time, and we don’t always have the staff necessary to manage such a large number of players. Unfortunately, the only solution currently available to this problem is to limit how many players can be on the field at a time.

Until we are able to expand our field significantly and bring on enough trained volunteers to handle the extra space, we will be capping field capacity at 40 players. Once we have hit capacity, additional players will be declined.

Reserved parties will count toward this cap. That is why we have lowered the maximum number of players per party to 25 and limited the number of simultaneous parties that can be booked in a timeslot.

This was not an easy decision for us to make. We don’t like the idea of turning away our customers, but this is the only way we are going to be able to maintain a safe and fun environment for the foreseeable future.

Finally, to ensure that everyone has ample time to get set up and play, we are also no longer accepting new players on the field after 2PM.

Wrap Up

Let’s quickly recap all of the changes being made this week:

• All players must be at least 8 years old and able to operate the gear on their own
• No pregnant customers will be allowed on the field at any time
• Penalty Cards are back and required for play
• Party bookings are required for groups of 7 or more
• Parties will now be capped at 25 players instead of 35
• Parties must be booked at least 2 weeks in advance
• A non-refundable deposit of $50 must be paid no more than 1 week after booking to reserve your gear and timeslot
• No more than 40 players, including parties and walk-ons will be allowed on the field at a time

Things are always changing here at the Compass, so our rules and procedures will always be something of a work-in-progress.

We hope that all of these policies will lead to a safer, more enjoyable time for everyone. We’ll be keeping an eye out to see how these changes affect things, and will make more updates in the future if needed.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call us at ‭(843) 735-9466‬ or send us a message on Facebook. Thanks for your continued support!