13 years of paintball dreams in city

POLOKWANE – Paintball is more than just a fun action game. Paintball is like chess, only a 1 000 times faster.

Andrew Phillips (45) is the owner of Predator Paintball and says, like chess paintball requires strategic planning and thinking ahead.

He says he played his first game of paintball at the age of 14 and he had been hooked since the first splatter of paint that hit his target.

“I grew up in Polokwane and many people complained that there was nothing to keep people entertained in the city. I knew paintball would be a great hit, because it offers healthy outdoor fun,” he says.
“I brought paintball to Polokwane 15 years ago. Around 13 years ago I opened Predator Paintball and we are still going strong.”

Andrew explains that the greatest challenge in the paintball business was maintaining the grounds and changing the courses to prevent customers’ boredom.
“I can only thank R&S Traders and Sun Meropa for helping me to keep this dream alive and Predator Paintball running,” he says.

To see any customer enjoying a game of paintball is a joy for Andrew, but his greatest thrill was when a 76-year-old woman joined in and played a game of paintball at Predator Paintball. “She had the time of her life and I could see that she lived her life to the full,” he says. Andrew says he still loves to play paintball and his favourite gun is the Tippmann A4. “It is the best paintball gun that I have ever seen. It is durable and reliable and I respect the craftsmanship that went into that gun.”

His future dreams include adding Laser Strike, a laser tag franchise, to the Predator Paintball line-up and to expand his business.
“I want to put smiles on people’s faces for another 13 years.”
Andrew is a devoted father to his son and daughter. He says his son is already an avid paintball player, but his daughter would probably start playing when she is older.
“If I can teach both my children to play paintball, that would be the highlight of my life,” he says.