Golfland Sunsplash to offer paintball

Paintball will prevail in west Mesa despite the troubled economy.

Ballers Arena, an indoor paintball facility that opened in December 2007 near the intersection of Country Club Drive and Main Street, closed in August when the bank foreclosed on the property. An aging bowling alley had been transformed into the $2.5 million complex, which was a success until the economy tanked.

Now, Golfland Sunsplash, a water park and entertainment center at 155 W. Hampton Ave., has purchased much of the Ballers Arena paintball equipment and plans to transform the water park into a sprawling, outdoor paintball field. The park will function as a full-time paintball field during the offseason, and then will offer after-hours paintball during the summer.

"We realized that Ballers Arena was closing down, and we had always talked about different revenue streams, especially with the way the economy is," said Michael Gallaugher, director of sales and marketing for Golfland Entertainment Centers Inc. "We've got all this space over at the water park that sits dormant for the entire winter season, and why not put it to good use?"

Golfland Sunsplash hopes to debut its paintball business in January, he said. The opening date and hours of operation have yet to be determined, he said.

In essence, players will be aiming for each other within what appears to be an abandoned water park, with numerous water features, plants and rocks providing plenty of places to hide, Gallaugher said.

"There will be portions of the park that will be blocked off for safety reasons, and unlike other places we have to have lifeguards on duty because of the water," he said. "We have a few things that we have to tweak, but other than that, it just offers up a whole new experience than what people are used to."

Players will purchase their paintballs at the park, and the paintballs used will be clear when they burst, leaving only a wet spot that won't stain, Gallaugher said.

"We're finding that some paintballs take paint off of certain things, and, if we're not careful, our park will get destroyed," he said.

Steve Fitch, Ballers Arena president, said paintball at the water park "sounds like a good plan, and I hope it works out great for them." Ballers Arena ran out of funds to expand the complex and attract more customers. In the end revenue generated by the business wasn't enough to pay the mortgage.

"I think it's a good venue there," Fitch said. "It's right there on the freeway so a lot of people will see the signs and they'll know that paintball is there. It's really a unique place to play paintball, that's for sure. It's not like anything I've ever seen or even heard of before because it's different. It ought to be a lot of fun."