Joel Bryan, manager of Seven Oaks Recreation in Boone, has created a war zone.

He walks into the large, netted-in field, scattered with wooden obstacles and bunkers.

“Once you go past this spot, it’s mask on,” he says.

The field is quiet now, but soon it will be a paintball battlefield.

Bryan says Seven Oaks, 1086 222nd Drive, added paintball, its newest attraction, to its list of outdoor activities, which include skiing, hiking and dirt biking, to take advantage of outspoken public interest in a safe, legal venue for paintball enthusiasts to play their game.

“There was no place to play around here legally,” Bryan says. “What we heard from parents was they wanted a place local where refs would be on the field.”

Bryan says paintball is gaining widespread interest among Seven Oaks regular patrons.

“People who only came out during the winter now come out year round,” he says.

Bryan believes the growth of paintball in recent years mirrors the rise in popularity of other high-energy sports.

“As with every popular sport today, it’s about adrenaline,” he says. “If you’re an adrenaline junky, it’s great.”

Paintball players agree the excitement of the game can be addicting.

The paintball addiction is at least strong enough to make the occasional hit from a paintball moving at 280 feet per second just another part of a good time.

“Every time I go out, I cringe expecting that first shot,” says Ronnie Fiedlera volunteer referee andBoone resident.

“After that, I know what to expect.”

Frequent player Cody Kinna, 12, a Boone resident, agrees that the thrill of the game is well worth the sting of a fresh paintball wound.

“How many times do you get to shoot someone and not get in trouble?” he says.

Despite the fierce competition, Fiedler says when the game is over, a few well-placed new bruises are just fond memories among friends.

“We have shot each other all up and bloodied each other, and we are still okay,” he says.

Fiedler, a member of team ELM, says experience has taught the team members some of the finer points and strategies of the game.

Experience on the paintball field sometimes means learning from mistakes.

“If you get too aggressive and move too far up without the rest of your team you can get crucified,” Fiedler says.

“I learned that the hard way.”

Brian Wood of team ELM and a resident of Boone says while experience is an important ally, paintball can still be a beginner-friendly game.

“The guys that are experienced want you to come out — they don’t gang up on a new guy, they will kind of take them under their wing and show them how.”

The paintball field is broken up into two courses, a speedball field and scenario field. Speedball games typically take 15 minutes or less and are played with up to five players on two teams.

Scenario games can include more than 15 players per team and may last an hour or longer.

“As people come out, we are picking their brains, finding out what they want to play,” Bryan says.

Though the paintball course has only been open since mid-June, Bryan says he has already noticed one way paintball differs from other experiences available at Seven Oaks — patrons passion for reliving their battles.

“People will go out for a five or 10 minute game and come out and talk about it to the picnic tables and talk about it for 20 minutes,” he says.