Have Fun Storming The CASTLe!!!: A Few Minutes with Paul Cuccinello Of PinnaCle Paintball Park and Castle Jam
Frickin' Awesome
There are few things that capture a scenario players attention quite like a massive castle lording over a field. Pinnacle Paintball Park in Malaga, NJ has a castle that definitely grabs your attention from the moment your eyes settle on it. When I first saw the Facebook post on that beast and the new field, I knew that it was a field that I would find my way to at some point soon in my paintball life. And with Castle Jam coming up this year, there was a great opportunity to do just that. So, like any good traveling paintball bard would, I reached out to the man who created this glorious paint fallout shelter, and talked to him about himself, the field, and the event. Paul was gracious enough to run my verbal gauntlet.
Paul and the good people at Pinnacle Paintball Park
When did you first get into paintball? Who did you first play with? What do you remember about the first games that you played?
Paintball started for me at the age of ten when my Father took me to my first field which was at the Jack Frost Big Boulder Ski Mountain in the Poconos. I instantly loved it, my Father not so much. I quickly became obsessed, paintball was all I thought about from then on, playing every chance I got.
What were your first jobs in the sport? How long were you in those roles? Which did you like the most? What positions in paintball did you have before you decided to open a field?
I got a job as a ref at my local field at 15, Gino's Paintball, owned by the Postorivo family. I worked there for a little over a year until I was introduced to tournament paintball.
When I was 17, my younger brother Jon and I started a website that paid you cash for used paintball markers, Cash4Gats.com. We would buy them cheap, tear them apart, and clean and rebuild them to sell at a nice profit. I had already been doing this for a while via PBnation. If you remember the old PBN Pawnshop threads, I was one of the originals doing that.
Jon's abilities, paired with my gun tech skills and knowledge, made us a pretty good team. We turned our parents basement into a paintball warehouse averaging over 50 high-end guns in a rotating stock. We sold them on our site, via PBNation, Ebay, and at our local stores and fields. We started making some pretty good money, we even had another company that I won't name but offered a similar service, threaten to sue us. Little did they know we were a couple of underage kids in their parent's basement.
My brother lost interest and I bought him out and kept the business going into my first year of college. Then the economy tanked in 2008. Selling used Paintball Guns started to get much harder. I needed to shift my business into a different direction.
Paintball started for me at the age of ten when my Father took me to my first field which was at the Jack Frost Big Boulder Ski Mountain in the Poconos. I instantly loved it, my Father not so much. I quickly became obsessed, paintball was all I thought about from then on, playing every chance I got.
What were your first jobs in the sport? How long were you in those roles? Which did you like the most? What positions in paintball did you have before you decided to open a field?
I got a job as a ref at my local field at 15, Gino's Paintball, owned by the Postorivo family. I worked there for a little over a year until I was introduced to tournament paintball.
When I was 17, my younger brother Jon and I started a website that paid you cash for used paintball markers, Cash4Gats.com. We would buy them cheap, tear them apart, and clean and rebuild them to sell at a nice profit. I had already been doing this for a while via PBnation. If you remember the old PBN Pawnshop threads, I was one of the originals doing that.
Jon's abilities, paired with my gun tech skills and knowledge, made us a pretty good team. We turned our parents basement into a paintball warehouse averaging over 50 high-end guns in a rotating stock. We sold them on our site, via PBNation, Ebay, and at our local stores and fields. We started making some pretty good money, we even had another company that I won't name but offered a similar service, threaten to sue us. Little did they know we were a couple of underage kids in their parent's basement.
My brother lost interest and I bought him out and kept the business going into my first year of college. Then the economy tanked in 2008. Selling used Paintball Guns started to get much harder. I needed to shift my business into a different direction.
Onsite wood processing
How did you decide to open a field? Why did you decide to make that jump? What jobs and experiences outside of paintball did you have that helped you in deciding to open your first field?
My online business was doing very well until the economy tanked in 08. Paintball is a luxury, not a necessity. The market for used high-end markers online seemed to dry up pretty quick. I needed to shift my business into a different direction.
Owning a field was always a dream of mine, but never something I thought I'd actually do. I had been seriously involved in tournament paintball at this point, driving up to 2 hours each way to practice every week. There were no serious fields/ good competition in my area. Everything was either up in North Jersey/NY or in Delaware/Maryland.
That's when I decided to open my first field. My parents have a large Christmas Tree Farm in South Jersey. I decided to invest the money I made selling used guns into building a single regulation xball field on my parents land.
I graded and prepped the area, purchased insurance, laid down used artificial turf, and put up nets. I bought a 2nd hand compressor setup, bunkers, and field supplies and in the Summer of '08 with the help from some buddies and teammates The Original "Playground" was born.
My intentions were to keep things small. It was a private practice facility, 10- 20 guys max. Tournament team players only, and I had to invite you to play here. It quickly grew to 50 players, 100 players, by the 3rd season we had run out of places to park cars.
At this point, my parents were fed up with my shenanigans and told me it was time to find a new location for the field. I was 21 at this point attending Stockton University and coming home Saturday nights to run my field on Sundays.
I didn't have the money to buy land, so my best bet was to partner with an existing field. My field had a loyal following, so much so that I could have partnered with any of the local fields in my area just for the simple fact that I had all the players/teams.
There was only 1 other serious tournament paintball facility in my general area and that was in Maryland. The owner at the time was older and purchased the field as an investment, but didn't really know the sport. He offered to have me bring my organization down to his location and partner up. That was my plan until getting numerous calls on my phone by respected industry members, some of which I didn't even know urging me to reconsider. It seems this individual didn't conduct the best business practices. They didn't want my passion for the sport to get caught up and ruined in that.
I picked up the phone and called my local field where I once ref'ed and asked Gino Postorivo Sr. if he would be interested in partnering with me. He happily agreed and with a simple handshake we decided to renovate his facility and move the Playground to his location.
It took about 3 months for me to complete renovations and in late winter of 2012 The Playground was reborn in Mantua and is still in business today.
My online business was doing very well until the economy tanked in 08. Paintball is a luxury, not a necessity. The market for used high-end markers online seemed to dry up pretty quick. I needed to shift my business into a different direction.
Owning a field was always a dream of mine, but never something I thought I'd actually do. I had been seriously involved in tournament paintball at this point, driving up to 2 hours each way to practice every week. There were no serious fields/ good competition in my area. Everything was either up in North Jersey/NY or in Delaware/Maryland.
That's when I decided to open my first field. My parents have a large Christmas Tree Farm in South Jersey. I decided to invest the money I made selling used guns into building a single regulation xball field on my parents land.
I graded and prepped the area, purchased insurance, laid down used artificial turf, and put up nets. I bought a 2nd hand compressor setup, bunkers, and field supplies and in the Summer of '08 with the help from some buddies and teammates The Original "Playground" was born.
My intentions were to keep things small. It was a private practice facility, 10- 20 guys max. Tournament team players only, and I had to invite you to play here. It quickly grew to 50 players, 100 players, by the 3rd season we had run out of places to park cars.
At this point, my parents were fed up with my shenanigans and told me it was time to find a new location for the field. I was 21 at this point attending Stockton University and coming home Saturday nights to run my field on Sundays.
I didn't have the money to buy land, so my best bet was to partner with an existing field. My field had a loyal following, so much so that I could have partnered with any of the local fields in my area just for the simple fact that I had all the players/teams.
There was only 1 other serious tournament paintball facility in my general area and that was in Maryland. The owner at the time was older and purchased the field as an investment, but didn't really know the sport. He offered to have me bring my organization down to his location and partner up. That was my plan until getting numerous calls on my phone by respected industry members, some of which I didn't even know urging me to reconsider. It seems this individual didn't conduct the best business practices. They didn't want my passion for the sport to get caught up and ruined in that.
I picked up the phone and called my local field where I once ref'ed and asked Gino Postorivo Sr. if he would be interested in partnering with me. He happily agreed and with a simple handshake we decided to renovate his facility and move the Playground to his location.
It took about 3 months for me to complete renovations and in late winter of 2012 The Playground was reborn in Mantua and is still in business today.
Very proud of their work
The change in location really opened my eyes to seeing paintball as a possible career move for me. The field was now open to the public and had rental players. I quickly grew a fondness for getting new players excited about playing/ introducing them to the sport. It was like "selling fun".
I finished school in 2013 and took a job at my family's business. This paid the bills, but my mind was always on paintball. This was more of an office job, and I quickly found this wasn't the best fit for me. It took me a couple years, but I decided I wanted to be outside, building, working with my hands. I always had a love for construction. As a kid, you build forts and play in them. I did a lot of that, only I never stopped to play in it. I just kept building it bigger and finding ways to improve upon the build.
While trying to locate turf for a second speedball setup, I was introduced to the artificial turf industry. I contacted a company out in California to purchase turf, the owner quickly took a liking to me. He propositioned me into getting into business, he explained how it wasn’t yet popular here on the East Coast but it would be soon and getting in now would be extremely lucrative.
I wasn’t interested at first, and it wasn’t until he made me an offer that I couldn't refuse before I really heard him out. He became a mentor of mine, teaching me everything there is to know about the industry. I went from just selling the product to installing it too. It wasn’t long before I was ready to go off on my own. Over the years I went from installing gyms and small sports complexes all the way up to Parks and Schools.
I would spend the week with my crew in whatever city our current job was in, living out of hotels only to come home on the weekends to run my paintball field. This was the life in my early 20’s, working hard all day and partying it up in different cities at night, but the older I got the less I liked traveling and being away from family/friends/ girlfriends.
I started kicking around the idea of building another field. If I was gonna do this I wanted to go big. No cutting corners, everything done right from the beginning. A real parking lot, drainage systems, airlines ran to all staging areas, a fully stocked Proshop, a state of the art facility. I wanted to build something worthwhile.
Were there any major lessons that you learned with the first field?
Location, location, location.
The most important part of building a successful paintball field is choosing the location. Building a field in the middle of nowhere would be cheap with very little regulations, but you would need to pay big money in advertising just to let people know you exist. If you are closer to major cities/population, there is a higher cost in land and the more regulations you will face in your build. Close proximity to major highways is very important too.
How much research did you do on competition in the area, and potential market for you to work within? What were your biggest fears or concerns prior to opening? How did you overcome those?
When it came time for Pinnacle I had already been a successful field owner for close to 10 years. I knew the market and saw the demand for a larger field. The only concern I had was going too big, accruing too much overhead. I overcame that by building everything myself or with 2 to 3 guys max. Although this took much longer I was able to keep my overall costs/spend way down.
It took me about a year to find the Malaga property. It was never listed for sale, my realtor stumbled upon it one day while eating lunch with a developer. It was slated to be an Acme shopping center with a housing complex behind it, but that deal ended up falling through. It is located in the middle of a smaller town (lower taxes), but in close proximity to major cities and huge populations. It sits on a very busy road with over 1200 ft of road frontage. Pair that with being less than a mile from the highway exit with little to no neighboring houses and you have a damn good field location. After a few weeks of negotiating, I was able to get the property well under market value. That was the first major breakthrough to bring my dream to life.
Before making the purchase I had to get the necessary approvals from the local municipalities. The property is located right in the middle of town. Getting the necessary approvals to build a large paintball park here wasn’t gonna be an easy task. I was told there is only one Engineer that could get the Township on board with something as crazy as this. Funny enough, his son was a regular at my current field and played for one of my teams. Both him and his father were more than happy to help and got me an unofficial meeting with all the Town’s board members. Here, I presented them with my business plan and explained all I wanted to do and accomplish. All 8 members seemed to like my ideas with only a few of them raising minor concerns. With the board members blessing I went ahead and purchased the property and in November of 2017 Pinnacle Paintball Park was established.
I finished school in 2013 and took a job at my family's business. This paid the bills, but my mind was always on paintball. This was more of an office job, and I quickly found this wasn't the best fit for me. It took me a couple years, but I decided I wanted to be outside, building, working with my hands. I always had a love for construction. As a kid, you build forts and play in them. I did a lot of that, only I never stopped to play in it. I just kept building it bigger and finding ways to improve upon the build.
While trying to locate turf for a second speedball setup, I was introduced to the artificial turf industry. I contacted a company out in California to purchase turf, the owner quickly took a liking to me. He propositioned me into getting into business, he explained how it wasn’t yet popular here on the East Coast but it would be soon and getting in now would be extremely lucrative.
I wasn’t interested at first, and it wasn’t until he made me an offer that I couldn't refuse before I really heard him out. He became a mentor of mine, teaching me everything there is to know about the industry. I went from just selling the product to installing it too. It wasn’t long before I was ready to go off on my own. Over the years I went from installing gyms and small sports complexes all the way up to Parks and Schools.
I would spend the week with my crew in whatever city our current job was in, living out of hotels only to come home on the weekends to run my paintball field. This was the life in my early 20’s, working hard all day and partying it up in different cities at night, but the older I got the less I liked traveling and being away from family/friends/ girlfriends.
I started kicking around the idea of building another field. If I was gonna do this I wanted to go big. No cutting corners, everything done right from the beginning. A real parking lot, drainage systems, airlines ran to all staging areas, a fully stocked Proshop, a state of the art facility. I wanted to build something worthwhile.
Were there any major lessons that you learned with the first field?
Location, location, location.
The most important part of building a successful paintball field is choosing the location. Building a field in the middle of nowhere would be cheap with very little regulations, but you would need to pay big money in advertising just to let people know you exist. If you are closer to major cities/population, there is a higher cost in land and the more regulations you will face in your build. Close proximity to major highways is very important too.
How much research did you do on competition in the area, and potential market for you to work within? What were your biggest fears or concerns prior to opening? How did you overcome those?
When it came time for Pinnacle I had already been a successful field owner for close to 10 years. I knew the market and saw the demand for a larger field. The only concern I had was going too big, accruing too much overhead. I overcame that by building everything myself or with 2 to 3 guys max. Although this took much longer I was able to keep my overall costs/spend way down.
It took me about a year to find the Malaga property. It was never listed for sale, my realtor stumbled upon it one day while eating lunch with a developer. It was slated to be an Acme shopping center with a housing complex behind it, but that deal ended up falling through. It is located in the middle of a smaller town (lower taxes), but in close proximity to major cities and huge populations. It sits on a very busy road with over 1200 ft of road frontage. Pair that with being less than a mile from the highway exit with little to no neighboring houses and you have a damn good field location. After a few weeks of negotiating, I was able to get the property well under market value. That was the first major breakthrough to bring my dream to life.
Before making the purchase I had to get the necessary approvals from the local municipalities. The property is located right in the middle of town. Getting the necessary approvals to build a large paintball park here wasn’t gonna be an easy task. I was told there is only one Engineer that could get the Township on board with something as crazy as this. Funny enough, his son was a regular at my current field and played for one of my teams. Both him and his father were more than happy to help and got me an unofficial meeting with all the Town’s board members. Here, I presented them with my business plan and explained all I wanted to do and accomplish. All 8 members seemed to like my ideas with only a few of them raising minor concerns. With the board members blessing I went ahead and purchased the property and in November of 2017 Pinnacle Paintball Park was established.
The field construction took a lot of effort
So you had the property. How did you come up with the name? What came next?
A lot of people ask me why I named it Pinnacle. It’s an easy answer, the definition of pinnacle is: the most successful point; the culmination. This would be my 3rd and final Park. I was to take everything I learned in both the Paintball Industry and the Construction World and build a Paintball Park that would truly live up to its name.
It took almost a year just to get all the necessary approvals, speaking at board meetings, gaining variances and obtaining all the necessary permits and paperwork to get started. This was a learning experience for me as I was used to just coming in and building from plans. The necessary groundwork was always already completed for me.
I used this time to really plan every aspect of the park as it would all need to be approved. Everything from Parking, Staging, the fields, what materials I would use to build them, all the way to signage and how equipment would be cleaned and stored. It got overwhelming at times, but my excitement for this project kept me motivated.
This was obviously a just massive undertaking. Who helped you? How did you get this all done?
A facility this big, I knew I couldn’t run it alone. I needed to bring in someone with extensive knowledge to help me run both the facility and the Proshop. Luckily I already had the perfect candidate in mind. I had known Bobby Beebe since he opened his Paintball Store in 2006. He had been one of my first sponsors and we developed a great working relationship, as he sold many of the used guns from my online business in his Shop.
Bobby was a true family man and an incredibly likable guy, something I always admired about him. We share a deep passion for the sport and his extensive knowledge made him a no-brainer pick for my general manager. At the time, Bobby had been working for a competing paintball park. I remember the phone conversation we had after I purchased the property. He was almost as excited as I was, we met at the property the next day. After walking the property together, we both agreed it was perfect. We decided it was best for him to continue at his current job and I would bring him on board when construction was complete.
In early September of '18, we started clearing land. The property was entirely wooded, I had to clear 12 of the 50 acres for the build. The town wasn’t thrilled about the idea of me taking down that much forest. I proposed buying a Woodmizer Hydraulic Sawmill to mill all the sizable lumber to use at the Park. I’m proud to say all of the wood on the playing fields, the castle stairs/ bridges, the picnic tables, benches, and most of the wood in the Proshop was all milled from the Oak or Pine harvested from the property (Editor's note: That's actually awesome). Anything too small for the sawmill was either chipped or cut and sold as firewood.
The clearing alone took months. We completed it with a large excavator with a grapple. A chipper that looking back was much too small for the job and a handful of wanna-be lumberjacks armed with chainsaws. We quickly created mountains of wood chips just from the tree branches alone. And that was just the beginning of the construction.
What mistakes did you learn from when you were just starting out as an owner? What about being a field owner surprised you? What kept you up at night?
I started so young that I probably made every mistake possible, but learned from each and every one. The most notable mistake, and I preach this to any of my field owner friends, is not skimping when building any aspect of your field/park. Cutting corners will always end up costing you twice as much in the long run. Build it right the first time and move on to the next. This is especially true when building any and all netting systems.
Not much has surprised me, but just thinking back, I can’t believe how fast time has gone. I guess the old saying “Time flies when you're having fun” has never been more true.
I’m always striving to improve the Park or the systems and processes we use. Anything that makes us more efficient, or gives our customers a better experience. Sometimes the smallest things can make a huge difference, I will admit I find myself going to sleep thinking about this kind of stuff regularly.
A lot of people ask me why I named it Pinnacle. It’s an easy answer, the definition of pinnacle is: the most successful point; the culmination. This would be my 3rd and final Park. I was to take everything I learned in both the Paintball Industry and the Construction World and build a Paintball Park that would truly live up to its name.
It took almost a year just to get all the necessary approvals, speaking at board meetings, gaining variances and obtaining all the necessary permits and paperwork to get started. This was a learning experience for me as I was used to just coming in and building from plans. The necessary groundwork was always already completed for me.
I used this time to really plan every aspect of the park as it would all need to be approved. Everything from Parking, Staging, the fields, what materials I would use to build them, all the way to signage and how equipment would be cleaned and stored. It got overwhelming at times, but my excitement for this project kept me motivated.
This was obviously a just massive undertaking. Who helped you? How did you get this all done?
A facility this big, I knew I couldn’t run it alone. I needed to bring in someone with extensive knowledge to help me run both the facility and the Proshop. Luckily I already had the perfect candidate in mind. I had known Bobby Beebe since he opened his Paintball Store in 2006. He had been one of my first sponsors and we developed a great working relationship, as he sold many of the used guns from my online business in his Shop.
Bobby was a true family man and an incredibly likable guy, something I always admired about him. We share a deep passion for the sport and his extensive knowledge made him a no-brainer pick for my general manager. At the time, Bobby had been working for a competing paintball park. I remember the phone conversation we had after I purchased the property. He was almost as excited as I was, we met at the property the next day. After walking the property together, we both agreed it was perfect. We decided it was best for him to continue at his current job and I would bring him on board when construction was complete.
In early September of '18, we started clearing land. The property was entirely wooded, I had to clear 12 of the 50 acres for the build. The town wasn’t thrilled about the idea of me taking down that much forest. I proposed buying a Woodmizer Hydraulic Sawmill to mill all the sizable lumber to use at the Park. I’m proud to say all of the wood on the playing fields, the castle stairs/ bridges, the picnic tables, benches, and most of the wood in the Proshop was all milled from the Oak or Pine harvested from the property (Editor's note: That's actually awesome). Anything too small for the sawmill was either chipped or cut and sold as firewood.
The clearing alone took months. We completed it with a large excavator with a grapple. A chipper that looking back was much too small for the job and a handful of wanna-be lumberjacks armed with chainsaws. We quickly created mountains of wood chips just from the tree branches alone. And that was just the beginning of the construction.
What mistakes did you learn from when you were just starting out as an owner? What about being a field owner surprised you? What kept you up at night?
I started so young that I probably made every mistake possible, but learned from each and every one. The most notable mistake, and I preach this to any of my field owner friends, is not skimping when building any aspect of your field/park. Cutting corners will always end up costing you twice as much in the long run. Build it right the first time and move on to the next. This is especially true when building any and all netting systems.
Not much has surprised me, but just thinking back, I can’t believe how fast time has gone. I guess the old saying “Time flies when you're having fun” has never been more true.
I’m always striving to improve the Park or the systems and processes we use. Anything that makes us more efficient, or gives our customers a better experience. Sometimes the smallest things can make a huge difference, I will admit I find myself going to sleep thinking about this kind of stuff regularly.
In front of the Castle Field
Obviously, you opened Pinnacle Paintball Park in the last year (The place looks incredible, by the way!). What lessons could you apply from previously owning a field when designing this one? What was your vision for this field? How hands-on are you able to be in the day-to-day operations of the park?
Thanks Chris! I built Pinnacle with the intention of making paintball a full time career move for me instead of just a weekend thing. Pinnacle not being my first field was a huge advantage for me. I was able to apply everything I learned in my previous 10 years as a field owner and avoid any of the mistakes I made over those years.
If I was gonna do this I needed to go big. No cutting corners, everything done right from the beginning. A real parking lot, drainage systems, airlines ran to all staging areas, a fully stocked Proshop, a state of the art facility. I wanted to build something worthwhile.
Since the opening of Pinnacle I’ve been fortunate enough to make Paintball my full time job.
How did you make the field go from a vision in your head to a reality? What were the steps that you knew that you needed to go through, and what were the biggest hurdles? What setbacks did you have to overcome? How did you deal with them? What are you proudest of in doing so that people might not think of or know about?
Hardwork and perseverance were the key ingredients in bringing my dream to life. I knew going in that building a Paintball Park from scratch of this magnitude in the 21st century wouldn’t come without it’s fair share or challenges. The town was probably my biggest hurdle. Although they are a huge supporter of the Park now, it was quite the opposite during construction. I had to prove that not only I knew what I was doing, but that there was a demand. One of my proudest moments happened the week before opening. One of the town’s inspectors who gave me the hardest time of all came to visit. He apologized and told me “I had built the nicest thing in town”, as he shook my hand
Thanks Chris! I built Pinnacle with the intention of making paintball a full time career move for me instead of just a weekend thing. Pinnacle not being my first field was a huge advantage for me. I was able to apply everything I learned in my previous 10 years as a field owner and avoid any of the mistakes I made over those years.
If I was gonna do this I needed to go big. No cutting corners, everything done right from the beginning. A real parking lot, drainage systems, airlines ran to all staging areas, a fully stocked Proshop, a state of the art facility. I wanted to build something worthwhile.
Since the opening of Pinnacle I’ve been fortunate enough to make Paintball my full time job.
How did you make the field go from a vision in your head to a reality? What were the steps that you knew that you needed to go through, and what were the biggest hurdles? What setbacks did you have to overcome? How did you deal with them? What are you proudest of in doing so that people might not think of or know about?
Hardwork and perseverance were the key ingredients in bringing my dream to life. I knew going in that building a Paintball Park from scratch of this magnitude in the 21st century wouldn’t come without it’s fair share or challenges. The town was probably my biggest hurdle. Although they are a huge supporter of the Park now, it was quite the opposite during construction. I had to prove that not only I knew what I was doing, but that there was a demand. One of my proudest moments happened the week before opening. One of the town’s inspectors who gave me the hardest time of all came to visit. He apologized and told me “I had built the nicest thing in town”, as he shook my hand
This should cover a birthday party or two
You also opened this field in the middle of a pandemic. How did you decide on the best course of action? What have you done differently because of it?
What I struggled most with was the mental aspect of it. I was investing a large sum of money in a business that is designed to cater to the masses, but the masses were hunkered down in their homes and not allowed to participate in anything social let alone play paintball. I felt cursed, almost like I was being punished in some way. Was civilization as I knew it coming to an end? Did I build all this for nothing? Either way I was too far in to quit now.
Covid took place early enough in the build process that I was able to make key adjustments and changes. From outdoor registration windows to the custom aluminum equipment racks we fabricated allowing us to steam clean our rental equipment.
How did you decide on the field designs for the park? There are 15 fields and 50 acres, which is just massive. How did you decide on the layouts? Did you have any help there, or did you just rely on your own experience? Did you design any parts of the field with specific groups in mind, like rentals, magfed players, or big scenarios? Do you have a favorite field to play in the park? If someone was only going to be able to play one or two fields in the park, and you wanted to get them to know who you are as a field designer and for them to know and ‘get’ what your field is all about, where are you sending them?
Field designs and layouts were greatly inspired by the materials I used to build them. I spent my nights scouring the internet looking for large quantities of building materials that I could get at a bargain. Many of the fields I laid out prior, using Legos on the kitchen table, my girlfriend was never a big fan of this method.
Having this many fields allows you to really have something for every type of player. The Castle being the most popular and my personal favorite. I’m also very fond of a field we call “The Jersey Devils Bowl”. This is a field built in and around a large existing crater on the property. It’s far from a traditional field but that’s what makes it so fun!
What I struggled most with was the mental aspect of it. I was investing a large sum of money in a business that is designed to cater to the masses, but the masses were hunkered down in their homes and not allowed to participate in anything social let alone play paintball. I felt cursed, almost like I was being punished in some way. Was civilization as I knew it coming to an end? Did I build all this for nothing? Either way I was too far in to quit now.
Covid took place early enough in the build process that I was able to make key adjustments and changes. From outdoor registration windows to the custom aluminum equipment racks we fabricated allowing us to steam clean our rental equipment.
How did you decide on the field designs for the park? There are 15 fields and 50 acres, which is just massive. How did you decide on the layouts? Did you have any help there, or did you just rely on your own experience? Did you design any parts of the field with specific groups in mind, like rentals, magfed players, or big scenarios? Do you have a favorite field to play in the park? If someone was only going to be able to play one or two fields in the park, and you wanted to get them to know who you are as a field designer and for them to know and ‘get’ what your field is all about, where are you sending them?
Field designs and layouts were greatly inspired by the materials I used to build them. I spent my nights scouring the internet looking for large quantities of building materials that I could get at a bargain. Many of the fields I laid out prior, using Legos on the kitchen table, my girlfriend was never a big fan of this method.
Having this many fields allows you to really have something for every type of player. The Castle being the most popular and my personal favorite. I’m also very fond of a field we call “The Jersey Devils Bowl”. This is a field built in and around a large existing crater on the property. It’s far from a traditional field but that’s what makes it so fun!
Castle, looking cleaner than it will in a few hours
The Castle is a massive, dominant feature in Pinnacle. Why did you decide to make it? How did you decide on it’s size and shape? What’s your favorite part about it? What was the hardest thing in making it? Or maintaining it?
A wow factor is a very important part of this business. It’s what sets you apart from your competition. Some of the most fun I’ve had playing paintball involved me either attacking or defending a castle. I wanted to share that same experience with my clientele and build it out of materials that are safer and more sustainable than just wood alone. It’s size and shape was relatively easy to land on being that it’s made of shipping containers.
My favorite part about it is probably how strong the structure itself is. It’s welded and plated together in a way that some of the engineers I worked with nicknamed it the Malaga Bomb Shelter and suggested the town should head here if ever attacked.
Building the Castle came with its fair share of obstacles, but getting the town to approve the build was by far the biggest challenge. Followed by keeping it clean. Weekly power washing has become the norm as this thing gets painted up fast!
How exactly did building the castle get done?
I spent a lot of time drawing and planning for the Castle. I decided to use shipping containers for the build as they are built to last and at the time were cheap and readily available. I purchased about 50 containers from a broker in the Port of Newark and trucked them down to the field. The castle was to be built with 19 of those containers and the rest were to be used on other fields.
Erecting the Castle is when I started to get some push back from the town. I was issued a stop work order on the project. The Castle is large and is very much visible from the main road. It appeared many of the locals were complaining and were pretty much scared of the structure. At this point it wasn’t nearly as pretty as you see it now, multicolor containers, not yet sand blasted or painted. The locals didn’t see my vision, I was just the “Crazy Paintball Guy”.
Enough attention was brought to this matter that the town ended up telling me I couldn’t have a Castle. “What I built was too big and too grand and they didn’t approve of something so massive built in the center of town”. The thing was already built, hundreds of hours of grinding, plasma cutting, and welding had already been completed. There was no way I was going to stop now.
I didn't back down and the issue graduated on to a State level problem. I was issued a representative from the State of New Jersey who came out and inspected the structure and told me it was gonna be next to impossible to get the necessary approvals and I would have to go in front of the planning board all over again. My response to him was to make a list of criteria necessary to make this work.
I was pot committed at this point, I would have done just about anything to get these approvals. The list was long and none of it was cheap or easy. I had to reverse engineer the entire structure. Have compaction and soil testing done for the base of the structure. I had to hire a private engineering company who specializes in building with shipping containers to show wind/snowload calculations on the structure and sign off that the structure was safe for commercial use. Lastly, I needed to succumb to all the regulations, rules, and inspections of a Class B commercial building which was a feat in itself.
None of this was quick and set the project back about 6 months and a lot of unplanned money, but with hard work and persistence we got the necessary approvals from both the State and Planning Board and we were back to action.
Speaking of the Castle, you have an event coming called the Castle Jam. It’s a 3 team event, with each team attacking and defending the Castle. How did you come up with the event? Had you ever played any of the events like Castle Conquest at EMR? How did you decide to come up with this specific format? What are the general rules for the event? What do you think the players are going to like most about the event?
Castle Jam was something I dreamt up using the existing amenities of the field. The Castle is the epicenter of the Park located in the middle of 3 existing fields, all with their own unique structure. Attacking from the front is a completely different experience than attacking from the back. Defending is an experience all it’s own, what player wouldn’t like to defend the castle from all 4 sides? Having not just the normal 2, but 3 teams would allow everyone to experience all aspects of attacking and defending. Throw in the added bonus of having 3 separate staging areas with air (1 for each team) positioned around the castle and constant insertion and you have the recipe for a good time.
I have played Castle Conquest at EMR and had a ball. My goal is to deliver the same level of fun and excitement with my game. I plan to deliver some adrenaline pumping action you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
A wow factor is a very important part of this business. It’s what sets you apart from your competition. Some of the most fun I’ve had playing paintball involved me either attacking or defending a castle. I wanted to share that same experience with my clientele and build it out of materials that are safer and more sustainable than just wood alone. It’s size and shape was relatively easy to land on being that it’s made of shipping containers.
My favorite part about it is probably how strong the structure itself is. It’s welded and plated together in a way that some of the engineers I worked with nicknamed it the Malaga Bomb Shelter and suggested the town should head here if ever attacked.
Building the Castle came with its fair share of obstacles, but getting the town to approve the build was by far the biggest challenge. Followed by keeping it clean. Weekly power washing has become the norm as this thing gets painted up fast!
How exactly did building the castle get done?
I spent a lot of time drawing and planning for the Castle. I decided to use shipping containers for the build as they are built to last and at the time were cheap and readily available. I purchased about 50 containers from a broker in the Port of Newark and trucked them down to the field. The castle was to be built with 19 of those containers and the rest were to be used on other fields.
Erecting the Castle is when I started to get some push back from the town. I was issued a stop work order on the project. The Castle is large and is very much visible from the main road. It appeared many of the locals were complaining and were pretty much scared of the structure. At this point it wasn’t nearly as pretty as you see it now, multicolor containers, not yet sand blasted or painted. The locals didn’t see my vision, I was just the “Crazy Paintball Guy”.
Enough attention was brought to this matter that the town ended up telling me I couldn’t have a Castle. “What I built was too big and too grand and they didn’t approve of something so massive built in the center of town”. The thing was already built, hundreds of hours of grinding, plasma cutting, and welding had already been completed. There was no way I was going to stop now.
I didn't back down and the issue graduated on to a State level problem. I was issued a representative from the State of New Jersey who came out and inspected the structure and told me it was gonna be next to impossible to get the necessary approvals and I would have to go in front of the planning board all over again. My response to him was to make a list of criteria necessary to make this work.
I was pot committed at this point, I would have done just about anything to get these approvals. The list was long and none of it was cheap or easy. I had to reverse engineer the entire structure. Have compaction and soil testing done for the base of the structure. I had to hire a private engineering company who specializes in building with shipping containers to show wind/snowload calculations on the structure and sign off that the structure was safe for commercial use. Lastly, I needed to succumb to all the regulations, rules, and inspections of a Class B commercial building which was a feat in itself.
None of this was quick and set the project back about 6 months and a lot of unplanned money, but with hard work and persistence we got the necessary approvals from both the State and Planning Board and we were back to action.
Speaking of the Castle, you have an event coming called the Castle Jam. It’s a 3 team event, with each team attacking and defending the Castle. How did you come up with the event? Had you ever played any of the events like Castle Conquest at EMR? How did you decide to come up with this specific format? What are the general rules for the event? What do you think the players are going to like most about the event?
Castle Jam was something I dreamt up using the existing amenities of the field. The Castle is the epicenter of the Park located in the middle of 3 existing fields, all with their own unique structure. Attacking from the front is a completely different experience than attacking from the back. Defending is an experience all it’s own, what player wouldn’t like to defend the castle from all 4 sides? Having not just the normal 2, but 3 teams would allow everyone to experience all aspects of attacking and defending. Throw in the added bonus of having 3 separate staging areas with air (1 for each team) positioned around the castle and constant insertion and you have the recipe for a good time.
I have played Castle Conquest at EMR and had a ball. My goal is to deliver the same level of fun and excitement with my game. I plan to deliver some adrenaline pumping action you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
You got yourself 3 great guys for generals in Simon Stevens, Charles “Big E” Holland, and Hercules “Hit Man” Papadogiannis. They’re some of the best known paintball people in the northeast, and honestly some of the nicest people in the sport. How did you decide on them for the generals? How did you convince them to jump onboard? And what do you think that they each bring to the table?
Well Chris, I couldn’t agree more. Simon, E, and Herc are some of the nicest/ best role models for the sport of paintball. All 3 are natural born leaders and each bring their unique player base/style to the table.
Initially I phoned each one individually to bounce the concept off them. All of which were onboard right away and in no time we were sitting at an Irish Pub pitching each other ideas like a bunch of excited teenagers. A few beers later armed with a pencil and a notepad and Castle Jam went from Concept to Big Game.
What is your goal for the event? What do you hope to happen at the event will get players at the game to leave with giant smiles, and wanting to come back for another round?
The #1 goal is to ensure everyone has fun. Both attacking and defending this Castle will not be an easy task, the teams will need to get behind their Generals and rally together with a strong strategy to win this game. Friendly competition paired with good sportsmanship and great people will put a smile on my face, I hope others too. We have players coming from all over the country, some even from other countries. I want to give them an experience worth the travel and make them eager to come back next year for more.
If someone wanted to know more about the park, or to book a party, where should they go?
I’d encourage them to check out our website www.pinnaclepaintballpark.com or follow us on your favorite social media platform @PinnaclePaintballPark.
Well Chris, I couldn’t agree more. Simon, E, and Herc are some of the nicest/ best role models for the sport of paintball. All 3 are natural born leaders and each bring their unique player base/style to the table.
Initially I phoned each one individually to bounce the concept off them. All of which were onboard right away and in no time we were sitting at an Irish Pub pitching each other ideas like a bunch of excited teenagers. A few beers later armed with a pencil and a notepad and Castle Jam went from Concept to Big Game.
What is your goal for the event? What do you hope to happen at the event will get players at the game to leave with giant smiles, and wanting to come back for another round?
The #1 goal is to ensure everyone has fun. Both attacking and defending this Castle will not be an easy task, the teams will need to get behind their Generals and rally together with a strong strategy to win this game. Friendly competition paired with good sportsmanship and great people will put a smile on my face, I hope others too. We have players coming from all over the country, some even from other countries. I want to give them an experience worth the travel and make them eager to come back next year for more.
If someone wanted to know more about the park, or to book a party, where should they go?
I’d encourage them to check out our website www.pinnaclepaintballpark.com or follow us on your favorite social media platform @PinnaclePaintballPark.
Just add players
