Paintball.

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Just wondering if anyone here plays paintball?

I know it doesn't sound like the kind of thing that aspie's would enjoy, but I've been a couple of times and I was quite surprised. For the record I hate most sports: especially things like soccer and basketball.

Paintball's different though: First of all while playing you're wearing a mask and overalls, and so is everyone else. Not only does this mean you cannot be recognised, but it also puts everybody on a level by restricting thier senses and movement.

It also involves a lot more thinking than other sports. You have to monitor your and other people's position on the field and actually think about what you're doing. Most people are new to it, so nobody minds if you're not any good, and it's always easy to know what you've got to do. Somehow it just seems to make a lot more sense to me than other sports.

On top of that it's a non contact sport (though it does hurt when you get hit) and as an anonymous member of the team you're never left out, or have too much expected of you.

My older, non-aspie child enjoys paintball. My younger, Pdd-NOS child hasn't tried it.

Oddly enough, or maybe not, the younger child really likes lazer tag. Its for some of the same reasons you said, it low lighting where he plays, its a large team, he has to think though the game....

Also, he's in an Aspie/Autie classroom and one day I was there. They were giving introduction speachs. One of the other kids mentioned that Paintball was his favorite game.

BeeBee

I'm terrible at paintball... plus it really hurts!

I've played quite a bit of paintball. It's awesome fun and definitely the only sport I've ever enjoyed playing, probably for the reasons given by Krish.

I tried paintballing once. It was ok, but it did hurt when I got hit. Plus my paint balls kept getting stuck in the gun.
Laser Quest is better in this respect, although I think I prefer being outdoors when taking part in an activity like this. Maybe they could invent an outdoor version of Laser Quest. Maybe they already have?!

I much prefer football (soccer) and table tennis though. But I haven't played either in ages.