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  • Zombie Paintball?

    Honestly, without the people who sell the systems chiming in, is Zombie Paintball a fad, or here to stay? I find a hard time justifying the tens of thousands spent on a system for a small haunt to barely break even let alone make a "killing" pardon the pun.

    I find the whole thing to appear to be a fad, and just like vampires and lycans were big in the early to late 2000's, zombies will be around until the next big thing hits, and spending 20 thousand dollars on a kit or a trailer seems to be a rip to me, no?

    Also, does anyone have issues with their actors staying to actually work for the paintball setup? For every 100 actors I've seen, maybe 10 are worth their weight, and even less I'm sure would be willing to take (even a low pressure) paintball hundreds of times every wagon load?

    Input appreciated.

    Keegan

  • #2
    If you do zombies do it this year then sell the fad is going to drop off soon. Once the mainstream gets into something it soon becomes not cool anymore and after World War Z runs through on top of the Walking Dead fandom it's at the tipping point. But of course you could shoot anything not just zombies so keep that in mind.


    Jake

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    • #3
      DW, I agree about it's adaptability, but then we lead into actors. As well as this economy? If, say, we sold a 75 paintball trip for 10 bucks, think anyone would bite? This economy sucks, and I've even skipped seeing movies and in the last few years only go to two haunts for learning instead of 10 hour road trips to visit other haunts...

      Idk, just seems like a big deal for haunts doing 40k people, but a smaller haunt wouldn't benefit as much as it would by investing into more lighting, sound, animatronics and startle animations, etc?

      Thanks for your post!

      Comment


      • #4
        I would say to do like you said invest in making your show the best it can be by improving the lighting, sounds, decor and better actors. Besides, I would think it would be challenging to keep actors willing to get shot at all night.

        Jake

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        • #5
          I did monster paintball in 2003-2004 at a small to medium sized show. We were in virgin territory then so we made a ton of mistakes and had logistical issues. Armor was a big issue for us.
          I thing Greg and his crew have solved many of the issues that I encountered years ago. If you have the money to market it, there is nothing bigger right now than guns- that is the wave to be ridden as opposed to Zombies. That is my two cents.
          Allen H
          www.Stiltbeaststudios.com
          http://www.youtube.com/user/Stiltbea...s?feature=mhee

          Comment


          • #6
            Allen,

            Sue said you may have had issues with keeping actors as well...?

            I understand that guns are a big thing right now, it's just that for Greg's system at $30,000 for two trailers I'd need 2000 people paying 15 a head to break even. In today's economy, will people (in my area) pay that for only 75 balls and 8-10 minutes of shooting? Idk. I suppose this is a crapshoot.... And at what expense for advertising? Greg does 23 Lamar billboards in a 75 mile radius, so obviously he has the funding to promote, but my budget I'm working with is very tight for adverts. It almost seems counter productive to spend that much money on a system that I can't even promote effectively, no?

            Comment


            • #7
              And as always, thanks for responses to this point.

              Comment


              • #8
                Hey Buddy

                I know a farm up here that did it and they were sold out for the season after 2 weeks. They were running it Day and night..Day time had targets, nighttime had the real zombies. Said they had Grandmothers, Moms, Dads, Teenagers and Young kids lining up just to shoot some paintballs.
                Jesus loves you, but everyone else thinks you're an asshole.

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                • #9
                  Yes, but how much did they advertise? This is my point, you could have the best haunted house in the planet, and if you don't advertise it all goes by the wayside.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Tater I'm more looking for the people who can give me numbers, stats, how much they advertised, etc rather than "one up here sold out"

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      What was the name of the farm? Contact info? I'd love to speak with them to ask directly

                      Thanks!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Keegan,
                        I would urge you not to buy as it sounds you already have a bias. Yes, its expensive. Having done it I think it would cost more to do the R&D yourself to get it done to that level of correctness. Also because you are talking about Guns and moving vehicles I see it as an insurance and liability asset to buy from a seperate company. The renfaire I work for cant build a playground because they cant insure it, but if they purchase one they can because their is a liability sponge.
                        I had a high actor turnover because we made a few poor choices reguarding the guns and the armor- the learning curve was high- part of what you are paying for is the learning curve you are skipping by buying from a vendor.
                        I respect your choice and fully understand it- if you cant afford to market any attraction then you shouldnt invest to much in it.
                        Allen H
                        www.Stiltbeaststudios.com
                        http://www.youtube.com/user/Stiltbea...s?feature=mhee

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Well said Allen. I'm not biased, simply looking for the negative to both sides in order to protect the people (and attraction) that I am helping to make the decision.

                          I appreciate the feedback, and hope to hear from others who may have had a great experience with the setup.


                          I understand from an insurance aspect it makes logical sense, but I also understand that investing that much money into an attraction that may not get the proper and adequate publicity may make it a wasted investment for the folks I am helping out.

                          Much appreciation.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            You may try hooking up with another haunt that may want to do it but does not want to put out the money for it. If you shared their advertising and they got a cut this would reduce your exposure for losses your first year. They would have a second atraction and you would be on the hook for less marketing. Just an idea I have been kicking around. Whe have a corn maze around the corner and have been talking with them about the same thing. They have 5000 people go to the corn maze a year and if I can get some of their customer to do paint ball too that is a good start, on the flip side I would be driving more traffic to them too. The only thing I will say is make sure you have your marketing covered.

                            Phatman
                            Phatman

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                            • #15
                              Let me answer a few things and throw out a few comments...

                              1) Is this a stand alone attraction ... NO!!!!! Its not scary, so that alone makes it not a stand alone, its more or less like a gimmick type of attractions which we used as a marketing tool/gimmick. There are several paintball fields in our area that did the same thing and this was the only thing they marketed and I think they might have done about 4 or 5000 people. So as a stand alone I don't think it works.

                              2) Is it safe? Good question!!! I think I learned more about what to do and not to do by doing it and simply using a lot of common sense to make adjustments. Let me say I learned a lot! You can not really run this type of attraction when its warm because the actors will die of heat exhaustion. You have to give them so much protection and trust me it still isn't enough that when its warm they get over heated. We took every single safety precaution and every night we operated it I was worried something would happen but nothing did. The only issue we had was with actors not wanting to wear their protection and some getting bruises or some passing out due to heat. When the temp was cold or cool it wasn't really a problem.

                              3) Is it effective? This is or was the most expensive attraction I've EVER operated it swallowed money. From all the staff it takes to load trailers, paintballs, fix guns, fill up tanks, to checking on actors or actors in general and oh gas for tractors, tractor drivers, and paintballs and more paintballs, and more protection and more this it never ended. It was expensive. Not to mention the cost of getting into the business to begin with was astronomical.

                              Did it get people talking yes it did but we didn't do any more attendance with it and some people came out just for it and others thought it was dumb. It was about 50/50.

                              4) Does it belong? Another good question... its one of those things where does 3D haunted houses belong? Are they really scary are 3D haunted houses as scary as a dark haunt and the answer is no. But when you are a scream park all kinds of attractions fit and work. Hayrides seems to be the stable of any good scream park no matter the theme and they seem to bring crowds because its a ride. So yes they belong in the mix only... meaning they belong in the mix of things to consider just as you would consider all sorts of different attractions. Would I choose a zombie paint ball over a regular hayride and the answer is FLAT OUT NO! Does that mean I would not consider the paintball hayride no I wouldn't say that either.

                              I think in the end yes its a FAD nothing more... there is nothing long term to the idea because after your customers understand its not that scary, its not even half as cool as playing paintball itself it will rub off. The expense of doing itself will force you to abandon ship eventually but the upside is real simple.

                              It can give you a temporary boost for your marketing efforts and it could prove to be a boost to help your business in the short term but not by any means the long term.

                              In short I would say its not for everyone but for some it could be just what the doctor ordered.

                              I have bounced back and forth on do I do it again or not... I'm considering selling everything I'm considering doing it again I don't know. What I do know is this I won't do it again after this coming year if I even do it this year because of the following factors...

                              1) It makes me nervous with paintballs flying all over the place
                              2) It was brutal on the actors and if we do it again this year it will be with NO ACTORS AT ALL
                              3) The cost is enormous to operate.
                              4) Lastly yes its a gimmick and there is very little to no long term staying power to it... its much like 3D haunts in the early days everyone jumped on then jumped off. It wasn't until honestly I showed the industry that 3D can be a long term attraction if you put a lot of effort into it. I think the same for the hayride paintball concept... if you go all out with it and I mean balls to the wall maybe you can make something really special that holds up but just as with 3D most won't and it will lose its luster.

                              I will only say this is a side attraction and probably best as an upcharged attraction so that the people who want to do it pay for it. Lastly its not really something you can run 50,000 people through without an ARMY of people... it will cripple your attraction unless you up sell so maybe only half of your crowd does the attraction.

                              I hope this helps.

                              Larry
                              Larry Kirchner
                              President
                              www.HalloweenProductions.com
                              www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                              www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                              www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

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