By Connor Adams Sheets
“High techs,” a man yelled in a darkened Long Island City warehouse on a recent Thursday night, attracting a crowd of advanced marksmen to a makeshift battleground.
After a quick countdown from five came a few rare seconds of silence before the furious staccato sound of semiautomatics shooting 12.5 times a second filled the air.
The shoot-out is a daily occurrence at 47-11 Van Dam St., where NYC PaintBall and LaserTag opened five years ago as the first paintball facility in New York City.
Manager Oscar Laboy said his wife first turned him on to the sport several years ago and that he has enjoyed watching it gain popularity since then.
“Paintball is really big right now. You’ve got college teams, professional teams,” he said. “It’s amazing how much paintball’s grown.”
The business has been a resounding success, said owner Peter Fermoselle, attracting corporate groups, birthday parties, paintball-loving “high techs” and beginner “noobies” to the spacious building for the safe shooting games.
The space offers 7,000- and 10,000-square-foot paintball fields, two laser tag areas, food and rentals for new paintball players.
“About six or seven years ago, my brother asked me to take him to paintball in Long Island. It was in an indoor facility and we walked in and it was a zoo, so I said why was there not one in New York City?” Fermoselle said. “At the time people thought it was technically illegal. I found a loophole in the law and I was able to open it five years ago legally.”
Since then, Fermoselle said several other paintball locations have tried to make it, but all have closed due to high rents, which he avoided by getting in the business early.
The next step for the burgeoning business will be the expansion of its laser tag offerings with the creation of another 5,000 square feet of laser tag in an adjacent warehouse, a project that is set to roll out in May with Xbox lounges and a bar, which paintballers will not be able to use before they play.
The new laser tag range will be set up as a World War II-style bunker, according to Fermoselle, and will feature zombie actors on special nights to spook up the game. It will be used to accommodate individuals and groups, as well as the birthday parties and corporate events that make up an increasing amount of the company’s business.
NYC PaintBall and LaserTag is open Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, visit nypaintball.com or call 718-361-8337.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
