Great experience. Clayton was great and very patient with our party mostly comprised of first timers. Can get crowded so make sure to get in early. read more

Great guide for birthday party of 10 13/14 year olds. The only challenge was the lack of places for non participants to be warm/ enclosed.

The head ref, think his name is Ben is a totally dick. Been to PBE many times the refs in general don't enforce the rules on regulars make extremely unfair teams which makes the game unfun. Doesn't help he acts like a grow man child it's pathetic. Couldn't care less about enforcing's rules on the regulars. The other airsoft refs I have talked to are decent. Ok don't talking about the refs now to the depressing state of the maps. You can't go on any of the second floors of the buildings now as they are falling apart. Now onto rentals (I have my own gear never rented from here) some of my friends have rented they are terrible I mean the masks are falling apart in some cases. The guns aren't cleaned and it costs far too much. If the guns and masks were cleaned and the rental price or entry fee was lower by 5 dollars, I think that would be great. Overall, I would give the place a 1.5/5 stars the place used to be so much better even just a few years ago. read more

The head referee Ben is awesome from some of the other reviews said about Ben being a dick and disrespectful that's not at all true, he is just firm and stoping people from breaking the rules and he is generally a nice guy once you get to know him but with my overall experience at Paintball Explosion has been great every single time I've gone. The maps there are very sophisticated there are ways that are tougher and easier for differently skilled players. read more

The head ref Ben is a real piece of work, I've played multiple times at paintball explosion and the refs are always rude and arrogant towards the players. While I was playing the match, Ben shot me dead center in the back, wasn't actually playing the game but was instead reffing. There are fences and teammate and a wall behind where I was, so I thought it was a ricochet or that someone accidentally shot me. 20 seconds later, Ben ended the round, and then chastised me in front of everyone, saying I could not play in the next round since I was a bad sport. It cost FOURTY DOLLARS to play here, even as a regular. I've always tried to see their point of view but they really are super rude and unprofessional. DO NOT PLAY HERE!!! read more

I've been to PBX many many times but I'm finally a real adult and I feel like I can finally write a real review. This place is very nice. Great maps, well maintained equipment, and personable refs (pila and mark did so well!!!). I'm sad to see the park move but I know that, with the same team that they have, they could make any location work. I'm looking forward to CVZ!! read more

Paintball Explosion - Our group with Pila the ref in the middle! - Paintball Near Me - East Dundee, Illinois

Had an awesome time Jackson was there always to help with equipment and making sure rules were followed and we can get as many games in as we can read more

Update... $95 for a case of paint, and $25 for entry, rude staff, poorly organized. Would you waste your money on that? And how often can you afford to go with that kind of pricing? I have better things and paintball fields to spend my money on. Two such fields that are much cheaper and friendlier are Badlandz in Crete, IL and Fox paintball in Millington, IL. You can't go wrong with either of those fields. read more

Worse experience and to top it off, was my sons 11th bday party. True essence of you get what you pay for. We arrived with 26 folks. Check in was to be expected with a group of this size. Approx 20 mins. That ok. Here is where the fun ended. Once we navigated to the weathered picnic tables under the scoring sun, we then needed our weapons and helmet. No exaggeration here- 45 mins later we received and donned for the first game. Note we are more than an hour in at this point. We meandered about waiting on a period of instruction, none to be found. Since I'm a former Marine Corps Captain I decided to give a period of instruction myself given these guns can cause serious harm if not respected. POI done (5 mins). 45 mins later we finally here our encrypted and extremely muffled group name over the speakers. We hustled up to the first map only to wait another 35 mins to start. Remember we have a ton of 11 year olds that have also lost their patience and sense of calmness. We then find out it is 50-60 others that will enter the map with us. Granted I know we paid for GenPop (general population to the unknown) but damn. 60 + my 26 is a ton of folks. We heard the safety rules but the back 70% did not. So they had to give them again. Another 10 mins gone. Then we file into the first map. Taken all the way to the back. Wait 10 mins only to be approached by someone who though his deep raspy yelling made him Supreme Commander. He yelled at his minion coach that we were to start at the other end. I calmly said perhaps since 40 of us are at this end we can simply start here. Fell on deaf ears. We then shuffled across the field to the other end of the course. By now my folks are fighting mad. 5 second countdown later we start our first game. There was one strip of "caution tape" dangling across a door way. Seemed part of the map given we were in an abandoned complex scenario. Apparently the geniuses that manage this place thought that one thin and dangling line of caution tape was meant to prohibit those from entering that building. Coincidentally out of the 40 on my team my two sons 11 and 26 decided to use some strategy given your father has military background to enter the building and take cover while attempting to paintball shoot the enemy. Here we go again the Chubacca voiced manager bolts into The building screaming at the top of his lungs and I quote this is off-limits what idiot ignores caution tape.". Just what I needed to tip me over the top. Since you want to use your voice on my kids I now have the right to use my federally government training Marine Corps voice on you. Enter- protective father/company commander of the Marine Corps voice! Needless to say we won't be hearing from that Mgr again! And the bits just keep on coming for the rest of the day. I'll could ink a "war and peace" length novel here but will end it with just our check in/first map experience. All up all end, 6 hours later with just 4 maps, basic/beginner/GenPop experience is simply not worth it. This is the true sense of you get what you pay for. You pay for something cheap you get a cheap experience. I can absolutely positively ensure you the 26 within my camp will never ever ever ever ever ever times 20 more "Evers" return here again! Not for GenPop nor private event which is ungodly expensive AGAIN! Optically it appeared this entire org is run by 18-20 year olds. I may have seen 3 employees over 30 the entire day. I'm done! That is all....carry on! read more

The refs are extremely rude, kept forgetting which rules he had to tell us. Can hardly understand him. They need to use microphones and speakers rather than screaming at us- we're paying you, not the other way around. Do not recommend this place for families with kids, kids can get easily scared by others and refs. Kids did not feel safe at all. We paid for vests, didn't tell us they ran out. Told us they ran out after paying for them so kids had to go in without vests. In conclusion, the staff and refs are super rude. They kept saying "you're paying to get shot." Do not recommend this place, do not take any social distancing rules seriously- even if outdoors. Refs need to stop screaming and treating us as they do. read more

We flew from Philadelphia just to come here !!!! First of all Idk what those past posts are here suppose to do .. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME !!!! Everyone that works here is EXCELLENT! _ All you have to do is ask for help if you're confused !! Large playing maps , great organization on rentals and getting set up - all the staff is PHENOMENAL - from Natalia & Daniella in the front check in - (do the WAIVERS online before you even get there , and then when you get here just walk straight to the check in area ! ) The maps are AMAZING !!! All the staff is helpful and informed - and will help you !!! Maria at the bar is great! Had a great time !! Will b heading back here in September to celebrate my daughters 16th!!! read more

Paintball Explosion - Getting ready to Play - Paintball Near Me - East Dundee, Illinois

Staff was rude, equipment smelled like wet dog and very underwhelming kinda sucks there's not a lot of paintball locations but this one was just gross like every building they had smelled like sweat and old cheese bring your own equipment if u can otherwise just go somewhere else read more

Thank you Laser Tag Explosion for such a great time and lasting memories! We celebrated my son's 6th birthday at Laser Tag Explosion with 27 kids and 23 adults. The Laser Tag Arena was HUGE, so it was great to have such a large group fill the 40,000 sq ft space. The Kids Loved the arena with all the cool places to hide within the train cars, and the awesome SUVs, Police Car, and Helicopter props too. The Dads Loved the big machine guns and 3rd floor sniper locations. The Moms loved spending quality time playing together as a family. The Refs were experts at navigating the games, keeping the pace and also giving the kids advantage by providing them with 10 lives and automatic shooting capabilities! The managers and staff were top notch, always available with impeccable service. We had delicious pizza, burgers, brats & hot dogs from the Grill that were served hot as soon as our games were over. Both kids & parents talked about all the fun they had for several days after the party! We definitely recommend Laser Tag Explosion for a unique and thrilling team gaming experience for the whole family! Both my kids have already asked to have their birthdays at Laser Tag Explosion next year! read more

Paintball Explosion - Paintball Near Me - East Dundee, Illinois

Getting in was really bad. The staff is untrained. You start getting service and another staff member interrupts the transaction process. Processing the information incomplete, instead of finishing the task at hand. The wait time between games horrible. Here over two hours before we can get in a game. Came with our own equipment. Sad this place has definitely gone down in services. read more

One of my all time favorite places to paintball, great set of fields, very covid friendly, the CDC guidelines for face coverings are strictly enforced which is a plus. Cayden Is probably the best referee there and Is just as great of a player when off the clock too. I go to paintball explosion for all the big games as well as partake in open advanced play when I can. read more

See all

Took my son and his friend for their first paintball experience at Paintball Explosion. The staff was very helpful, gave clear instructions and did a great job officiating matches. The fields were nicely designed. COD players should check out Nuketown. (It's like being in the game.) Great fields and great employees led to a great experience. Looking forward to going back. read more

Worst paintball experience of my life. The "army guy" was bring an a hole the entire time to each of us (party of 13), and continued to question us about everything. We had brought our own gear and he wanted to claim it for himself. He also had grabbed one of the kids assuming one of the hoppers was his. Never coming back again. read more

All around fun experience with friends. Employees take jobs serious but are good people.

It's a good park with great maps but the only down falls are the lead ref is a dick and it's a little pricey

This park is only about 10 minutes from my home which is a huge plus. I only visit maybe 2-3 times per year. And I'll tell you why. The cost of the paintballs!!!! Pricing for the paintballs is the biggest complaint I have. With many other places (or buying your own) charging as little as $30 a box, what they ask can be almost 3 times as much. They claim it is a custom blend and you can only purchase their boxes. If this could be lowered, not only would I go more often, I would buy more boxes. If it's your first time, be sure to ask for some guidance or a general tour. It's easy for first timers to walk around like deer in the headlights. Their easy to spot. Once you've been here a couple of times you get the hang of it. The safety video they show in the front entry should include something about the process including check in, gear pickup, knowing what games are being played, something about private parties. The whole process is generally easy to follow. The best thing to do is sign your waiver online before arriving to help make things run more smoothly. Whenever there is a "special" like free entry and gear, you're mainly being "hooked". Once you get in you realize you're still going to pay for the overpriced paintballs and likely want to get some upgraded gear. The fields are all great, but care should be taken as some of them are on hilly terrain. I would be cautious about taking smaller kids. Some of the people who come out here, take this stuff way too seriously and it seems like they enjoy looking for a kill. Overall this place is a good time. If you can afford a private party, I would do that. Some of the games end up having 40+ players on each side during busy times. It's more fun with about 10-15 on each side. read more

This place sucks. The refs live in some weird power trip world where they feel like their gods or something. They make the entire day pretty awful and you just wanna leave early. Don't waste ur time or money on these weirdos. read more

The staff and refs are extremely disrespectful and lack communication. me and my friends and family were constantly harassed and they were just cold to anyone they didn't personally know. I would never recommend this place for airsoft nor paintball. I have never had an issue with any staff or other fellow members out of all the fields I've been to and I will never come back to this field again. read more

Came to PBX for the first time because of the variety of small to medium sized maps. Came in with high hopes from seeing several YouTube videos from famous airsofters but was pretty let down. Both male refs that I encountered were not the most friendly or respectful compared to my past experiences on other fields. I felt like I was back in high school getting yelled at by my gym teacher. Overall the fields are nice but all my gear got stained with paint which alone was not worth the experience. read more

This was an awesome experience. Tons of courses and good guidance from the team leaders. I highly recommend going here if you like paintball. read more

It's a real good place to spend time with friends and fight to the... win. The refs are nice and has a welcoming yet intimidating environment. read more

Extremely expensive! They charge for absolutely everything w. They are super unorganized. The staff is incredibly rude!!! Oh and they keep your credit card and ID when you rent from them! I've never been anywhere where this is required. The ID I can understand but why do you need my credit card? Took them forever to find my card at the end of the day too which sent me into a panic considering how important that is. The wait time between sessions is extremely long! We got there at 10am stayed till close and only got four games in. They never switch up the teams so you are stuck with whichever one you get. read more

Worst Paintball Experience I have had. The Lead Ref is very rude. The staff is very unwelcoming. EVERYTHING is very unorganized, for the price you pay the service should be MUCH better. We couldn't even use the restroom until we filled out the wavier forms, after a long drive. You don't get to pick what map you play, you have to wait for everyone to get done and go to the next scheduled map. We came with 20 people in our group and couldn't play just within our group, so every game was 50+ people regardless of map size. You spend 80 percent of your day standing around and listening to the rules before every game. Just for the rules not to be followed by others. One of our group members had to use 4 different guns because they kept breaking or dying, and he paid for the upgraded package. The Refs don't check the players after they've been hit. They are pretty much useless. The concession stand and bar run off the same register so it takes extra long. The concession stand outdoors was out of pop and burgers. I will never recommend this place and I will never go back despite the Nuketown Map. Absolute joke of an organization/business. It's unfortunate. If I could give zero stars I would in a heartbeat. read more

I am giving this a two-star review because the park itself was nice and out ref Brian was awesome. If it wasn't for these two things it would have been a one. First of all, I have never been treated with such disrespect after spending $1000 on a party in my life. To start things off, I had one guest that woke up with pink-eye the morning of our party. I completely understand a no refund policy for guest that didn't show up, however I was told I couldn't even use this money on food, upgrades or even extra paint. I know I wouldn't want to use a mask after someone with pink eye had it. Next, after checking in two of the young kids in my parry had to use the restroom. However, when trying to walk down the hall to the restroom they were stopped by a very rude woman stating we had to wait for our ref to give us our wrist bands. If we didn't want to wait for those wrist bands we could go back to the front desk and ask the very busy understaffed people for a spectator wrist band. Lastly, after about 2 hours of play, we decided to take a little break. People were getting tired and we needed to refill on paint and air. At this point, one person from my party went to grab a cup of water from the water jug outside. At this point, it was only told to him that the water jug was for employees only. However, another person from my party proceeded to get water from the jug and instead of nicely letting the whole group know they were not allowed to drink the "free tap water" outside, another ref (with long hair) decided to say to our ref with the whole party around " I already fu*king told someone from your group the water isn't for them." I know there are not a lot of paintball fields around, however I would rather drive 45 minutes to Joliet and play, rather than give this place another penny. read more

If you can see past the chaos, it's a pretty fun place to have an outdoor party for active tweens to run around. It was great for a 13 yr old bday party-- our referee, Jaxx, seemed to click well with the kids. However, it was more than slightly annoying that it took a looong time to get through the registration and gear process, despite getting there 30 minutes early, as recommended, and having our waivers in order ahead of time. The (not novice) kids didn't step foot onto their first "field" until 50 minutes into our 2.5 hour party time. That process could certainly be improved. If they dont change anything, they might suggest getting there 45-60 minutes in advance of their party time. The Big Picture: the party goers enjoyed the paintballing, the employees are polite and try to be helpful, and we appreciated having a "party ambassador", Hayley, to help us with our needs. They even held the bday cake in the fridge while the kids were on the field. Hot Tip, though: too chaotic to eat there after paintballing. Instead, have lunch at Village Pizza & Pub (2.9 miles north on Rte 25), call ahead for with your pizza order, and a have a great lunch/dinner! read more

Horrible! Trash trash trash! Unorganized, they take they're time getting your gear wasting your time, huge wait times before matches, the staff is all trashy young punks, who think they are some sort of higher being screaming and yelling, swearing at young kids. No direction or rules to the games, over crowded. They literally let us play in lightning, but then decided to not let us play after lightning had passed so after an hour wait we got one game in, and that was it spent 100$ for one game,I honestly wanted to slap the staff members and refs, the place is garbage, never again. Please go elsewhere people!!!!! read more

I felt like we were lied to by the lady upfront (Maggie) when we went to talk to her she gave us nothing but attitude. We couldn't get to two of the fields and we were not informed when we checked it. We went to talk to her all she said was "I can't do anything" I find her very rude for being someone that runs a big business. read more

One star for Maggie because she was super rude and with attitude. She overcharged me and my team and didn't tell us ahead of time that we can't use two of the maps we paid for. Our team leader Jose was great and very kind. read more

Worst place to paintball for the price. You have to use their paint. It costs $75 and is the cheapest quality I have seen for the price. The balls are full of dimples. The don't fly straight at all. You can't bring your own drinks into the place so you have to buy their overpriced water. My only experience with a ref on the field was him calming. Me a "f***ing idiot" for "blind firing" because I wasn't shooting the gun while looking down the sight. The only reason I did so was because the paint would go where I was aiming so I didn't care. Waste of $200 DO NOT GO HERE if you can help it. Only reason this place has business is because it's close to the city and it's the only place they have ever been. These people care more about money than the sport. Best place I have played is Fort Knox read more

Friends and I Travelled 8 hours to come play at the "Nuketown" map that is advertised by them as one of their main selling points. Spent most of the day sitting around between games waiting to play. Only went out on the field maybe 5 times on the various other maps they have. We were told we could do the "nuketown" map at the end of the day. End of the day comes 30 minutes before they closed and then we are told they already put another group on the "nuketown" map and we wont be playing any more for the day because they were going to start closing the park early. We were going to schedule some private parties with big groups in the future but after that disappointment, no thanks, we wont be back. read more

Very disappointed. My son was really looking forward to going out to this place. The trouble was the staff took upon themselves yo mock his gear, guns and ammo. All he had saved for and paid for on his own. He also complained that despite all their talk of safety they ignored many people getting hurt, continuing to shoot when "out", and so on. If it had been other players I could ignore it. When it is the staff then that reflects poorly on the entire business. Sorry but we will not be back. read more

My family paintballs very often in the NYC Tristate area. For Spring Break this year everyone wanted to drive to Chicago and goto Paintball Explosion to experience Nuketown. We were excited to play that field, but besides that one aspect of the facility, nothing else was really worth the trip. Here's the good first 1- Star is for Nuketown itself. It really is awesome and if you are a fan of COD you will definitely geek out for the experience of playing on the Nuketown field in real life. 1-Star is for the rest of the fields. They are well thought out. We enjoyed playing Vietnam, BioHazard, Turmoil, Mutiny as well as Nuketown. Now for the Bad Basically everything else. From the minute you walk in the word is Chaos. As you walk in there are people pointing you to computers. They don't help you or explain everything they just point at them. Ok, so I'm guessing this is the waiver, great. Then we sat there wondering what next, as we walk down the hallway of the round building we are met by another questionable attendant who doesn't seem to understand anything. We paid for day passes for air which I believe was $20 each and 1 Etek-4 marker rental which I believe was $35. Fine. Then they want $85 per case of paint. What??? Plus Tax. So a case of paint is $93 and change. I asked if I bought multiple cases if there is a discount at all like so many other fields do and the answer was no. Awesome. Paint boxes were unmarked. Who knows where it was made... Probably Empire but who knows. The balls themselves were red/white with a very thin white film. They bored out smaller than anything we have ever shot (I believe .675). For $93 a case I would like Valken Redemption or Ultra Evil. It just seemed ridiculous. Once we got out of that nightmare we walked through the Proshop where I noticed 9V batteries were $14.95 a piece. Make sure you bring spares everyone. Then some guy gives us wristbands and we walk out to the fields to retrieve our rental. Rental lady was rude. I get it. Don't break it. Just don't yell at me. We load up our pods and out we go. Issue is we have no idea where to go or what to do. I find some refs who were less than helpful. Finally I found a courteous ref who explained the fields and how they announced games and we were on our way for the day. Getting to this point however was SUPER painful. It shouldn't be that hard. Everyone that words there needs to relax, not be so yelly, and be courteous to the people going to your establishment. The flow from walking in to playing just needs to be simplified and not such a chore. Overall I'm glad we went to experience Nuketown, but we won't be so quick to come back again. read more

I really enjoy this paintball park but the one thing that keeps me from loving it is the staff. I'd say that about 80% of the staff are 16 year old girls who are slow and clueless. The two in the front take forever to get you signed up to pay admission. If it's a group, which many come to play, they take up to 20 minutes. Even the three people at the shop don't know the prices or what comes in each package. Once you are all paid you head down to the rental place which is always a nightmare. A total of 5 employees are usually there, 3 of which are always just standing around or goofing off with each other. It should not take that much time to accept a ticket and provide a player with equipment. One girl looked like she was in pain from helping out so many customers. There's two tech guys that help out with repairs and they are even slower. One of them even appeared to under the influence. Why are these kids being hired? This is a very popular park and is busy every single day. You should have employees who are competent and can handle the stress. Worst part of all is that management is no where to be found. So I guess this place will just operate half-assed until further notice. Once you do get your equipment though, the park is pretty large and the maps are really fun. A better way of organizing and letting people know what games are about to start would be an improvement. read more

Super disappointing experience. I spent over $400 bringing 9 tweens there this weekend for open play and we left with multiple injuries due to total jerks not playing beginner rules even though they were explicitly instructed to play beginner rules. The crowd this place attracts in general is super trashy. The refs weren't paying attention at all during the so called beg game and none of the people playing against the rules were reprimanded. One ref apologizes to us and said " oh, sorry that happened - it's hard to manage the crowd when we have over 60 people playing". Yea, no kidding. Than get more staff. When asked if our kids could play just against similar ages/ height kids the answer was no. When asked if we could have a private space we were told that has to be booked " way in advance". Epic fail on my part for brining these kids here. This is a dangerous place and I will never return. read more

This place has a five-star potential, but delivers a one star overall experience. 1. In order to encourage people to shoot the marked-up field paints, this field allows automatic modes of firing. As a new player with a rental Tipmann, you can shoot 5 balls a second, but your expensive opponents will shoot 20 balls a second. Rarely do I see a field allowing automatic, since it's so unfair for newer players. 2. Even though this place has lots and lots of staff, they still just run one game at time. During one game, there were 50 players, with vastly uneven experiences and gun power. Instead of running two games, separating beginners and advanced, they ran just one. I saw a lot of staff just hanging around air station and concession room, doing nothing. 3. Refs are not professional. One young ref put 8 beginners with rental markers and three more people with mid-level markers in one team, while EVERYONE on the opposing side had electronic hoppers. What was he thinking??? Even though our side managed to break even for one game, and I shot three middle age fatties with expensive markers, it was not fun because the ref did a terrible job to divide teams. A fun game has to at least have equal rental and non-rental on both sides. 4. No one, not even one ref, is checking BPS or FPS, when apparently there are quite some "expensive" asses out there shooting over 300 FPS, and over 20 BPS. Explosion park of course couldn't care less, as long as they are shooting their marked-up field paints. 5. It claims that it is the most convenient field for Chicago people. Not true. With I-90's traffic, you can get to either Fox or Badlanz with less commute time on a weekend. 7. It claims that they have 8 "distinctly themed" fields. Only four were open on our day of play, and they are all pretty damn "similarly laid out": some random cars/bus in the middle of some regular bunkers. Also, with the summer approaching its peak, this place is even worse, since they don't have a true woodsball field with plenty of shades. It was HOT without the big trees! Certainly not worth the money unless they have some mad Groupon deals again. read more

I took my three boys here today. The two youngest have never paint balled but are familiar with guns and call of duty, so I thought this might be a nice treat. Thus we traveled the hour and a half hours to get here. They are using a section of Santa Claus Village. Some of the bunkers are old park displays. Which is a nice added feature. They also have Nuke Town. Just like in the game. I have read some reviews that say the refs don't care. I have to say that is the opposite of what I experienced today. The refs were helpful and friendly. They were very concerned about younger players and enforced the rules strictly for those games. So I have to give them kudos for that. So why only two stars? This is because of the lack of cleanliness. Now, I've been paintballing a while. Been to a couple of places, and I know it gets dirty and paint gets every where. But it should be cleaned at least every couple if years. The pictures posted on yelp show a clear view of their indoor field with green turf. The current indoor field is white and slimy from paint. It for sure looks nothing like the pictures. I would recommend a thorough cleaning in all areas. Even the gun rental house had sticky floors. We did enjoy the fields. The private parties overtook all our time to play on the speedball field. So it was only outdoor play for us. We tried to keep it to beginner play but advanced played with remote lines kept coming in and blowing out all the novice players. A great ego boost for them I'm sure. But a little rough on the new players. We like the park, it has a big amusement park feel. They get you on the price of paint, food and drinks. Bring money. read more