Lazerball

To my knowledge, Lazerball has been bought out by Brass Eagle.  To find out more about lazerball go to Brass Eagles homepage.  

I recently discovered a paintball related site that is located at www.Lazerball.com  I contacted Johnny Robeson, founder and inventor of Lazerball and he sent me an evaluation package.  

What is Lazerball?
Lazerball is a game and a ball.  Lazerball is a combination between paintball, speedball, lazertag, and airsoft/softair.  Lazerball uses paintball guns and co2 gas to propell the lazerballs. 

The fields can be indoor or outdoor.  Lazerball is normally played indoors.  Paintball goggles are worn for safety.  The fields are similar to lazertag or speedball (tube style bunkers). 

The balls are seemless, semi-hard foam.  These lazerballs are reusable up to 600 times, but there are lazerballs out there that have been fired over 1000 times without loss in consistency and accuracy. 

You might be thinking: what happens if someone steps on a lazerball?
Lazerballs are made to squish down when stepped on, but once the person stops stepping on the ball it takes its original shape back.  You can't even tell that the ball got stepped on afterwards.  When compared to a brand new ball.

Does Lazerball Welt?
Lazerball was intended to be a very safe sport.  When shooting under proper conditions lazerballs very rarely welt on contact.  This is one of the reasons why lazerball draws many girls and younger players.  Make sure that you chronograph your gun using lazerballs.  We forgot to test the speed on our guns and almost took our buddies legs off.  Anytime you introduce a new ball into your gun always test the speed.  The velocity will change based on weight and overall shape. 

Does Lazerball break?
No, Lazerball is just a foam ball that hits you.  No fill is discharged on a person so it is a very clean game.  Girls like it and parents do to (especially moms) because it is a clean game. 

How accurate is Lazerball?
When we field tested Lazerball we kept the field diagram in mind.  The average field for Lazerball is 40 feet by 60 feet.  We field tested Lazerball at 35 feet which is about what people are shooting at in the game +/-.   Johnny robeson claims that Lazerball is accurate in a 6 inch circle at 35 feet.   We found the ball to be very accurate at this range.  To test the balls we used an Angel, Stococker, and a Tippman 98.  We found that these lazerballs were very accurate through all of the guns.

What are the advantages to playing Lazerball?
The advantages are it is relatively cheap to play when you go to a Lazerball field.   The average day will cost 15 dollars.  This is for unlimited air and unlimited balls.   This is great because if you played paintball with that same 15 dollars you would only buy between 200 and 400 paintballs. 

Another advantage is it gives players more practice on "speedball like" fields.  This is more of an advantage for tournament players because usually tournaments are mainly speedball style, but recreation players also encounter speedball setups at local fields. 

Another advantage to Lazerball is you can shoot these in your house and not worry about windows getting busted.  You could setup a game in your basement and it would be easy to pick up afterwards. 

What are the disadvantages to buying Lazerball?
The first disadvantage I found with Lazerballs is the cost to buying them individually.  A bag of 40 balls is 19.95, but if you fire them 600 times the price per shot drops to 83/100ths of a cent per shot.  A bag of 100 is 39.95, but if you fire that 600 times the price is 67/100ths of a cent per shot.   Bags of 500 are 189.00 if you fire that 600 times the price drops to 63/100ths of a cent per shot.

Quantity pricing is available for purchases of 501 balls to 4,999 balls at 36 cents each.  Over 5,000 balls sells for 34 cents each.  The price seems steep initially, but eventually the price drops well below paintball costs.  

Another drawback is the fact that because they don't break it is purely an honor system.  So this may not work for young, cheater types or guys that always have to win.  In this respect, this game is just like soft-air.   The game will get "old" quickly if you know that you are hitting the opposing team and they aren't calling out.  Be fair; if you get hit call yourself out! 

The third drawback is on the lines of safety.  Due to the fact that the lazerballs are so soft, younger players will neglect the need for safety devices in some cases.  You still need a mask even though the balls are softer than paintballs.  Lazerballs are still moving at great speeds of 163 to 170 miles per hour! 

Conclusion:   Lazerball is great for killing a few hours on a Friday night, for paintballers that want to get some extra practice in, to get more girls and younger players involved in paintball/other gun games, or to improve tournament play.   At this point in time I don't see people rushing out to buy these in the 5000 packs for backyard games.   The initial costs are just too high.  Lazerball is not intended to kill paintball just like lazertag was never intended to takeover paintball.   It is just another gun game for everyone to enjoy.

If your interested in purchasing lazerballs email: [email protected] or call them up at (757) 499-2809.

Special thanks go out to Johnny Robeson at Lazerball for making this review possible.  I will add more questions and answers as people write to me at [email protected]

By:

Nick Palumbo