Every Sunday night Spinning Wheels Roller Rink transforms into something the owners never intended it to be – a paintball war zone.

The rink, at 1241 N. Mission St., becomes the Elitist Reball Center where paintballers come together to play in the 140-by-70-foot rink.

Benjamin Clark, a Mount Pleasant senior, started the center so paintballers could have a place to play during the winter.

“Michigan paintball players usually have to take winters off,” said Clark, an entrepreneurship major. “Many paintball players will travel up to an hour to play paintball – from Flint, Saginaw and Lansing – all over.”

But Clark doesn’t actually use paintballs, he uses Reballs. Reballs are smaller rubber balls that are the same size as paintballs, but are easier for clean up.

“Clean up still takes about two hours,” Clark said. “Then I also have to wash the balls after the night, if they aren’t washed they can throw off someone’s shot.”

Clark ordered 20,000 Reballs and said they hurt no more than regular paintballs.

Since there is no paint to determine marked players, Clark said referees enforce the rules. The referees usually are players from sponsored paintball teams and are not paid.

The center opened Nov. 25 and Clark said he hasn’t had many complaints.

“Some people wanted to use a higher speed on the guns, but other than that, everyone seems real happy with the center,” Clark said.

Clark uses a chronograph to measure how fast the balls travel. Currently the highest velocity Clark allows is 240 feet per second.

Bloomfield Hills sophomore Nathan Taylor has been playing paintball for about four years.

“At first it was kind of confusing. We were playing 10 on 10, but now it’s really organized and a lot of fun,” Taylor said. “On average you get to play about 20 games a night.”

A normal game usually is five-on-five and lasts anywhere from one to five minutes, Taylor said.

The center is open to all players, but Portland freshman Glenn Cook said he mostly sees experienced players there.

“It’s a different style of play than most beginners are accustomed to,” he said. “Most beginners play in the woods. This is a lot of bunker play, which is totally different.”

The center is open from 6 to 10 p.m. on Sundays. The cost for a night is $25, and CMU students get a $5 discount with their Chip IDs. Participants get unlimited ammo for the night.

news@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: defaultuser