Jan Vermeer invented paintball as a way to use up pigments left over from his 1665 masterwork Girl With an Airsoft Gun. Touch a piece of high-velocity history with today's Groupon: for $29, you get an all-day pass, equipment, and 100 paintballs for two people at Maple Ridge Paintball (a $60 value) located on 224 Street in Maple Ridge. Maple Ridge Paintball offers challenging play with an eye for safety. Although players are provided with coveralls and goggles to protect them from malicious nuggets of pigment winging through the air, they'll need reserves of cleverness and courage to survive a 5- to 15-minute game as sneaky snipers swarm 6 fields with names like Speedball, Carnage, and Cheeseburger Hill. Friendly refs are on call to enforce safety rules and answer questions, and if you're tagged out, you can return to the neutral zone refill your gun with unlimited CO2 before charging back out into the course's 100 acres of lush temperate rainforest. Maple Ridge Paintball is open most weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on weekdays by reservations. Competitors should arrive 30 minutes before start to allow time for sign in and paperwork. Be sure to check the requirements before heading out for a paint-covered day. Extra paintballs run $10 for 100.

Reviews

PBReview.com users recommend Maple Ridge Paintball Field, and love the field's fun, friendly atmosphere, as well as the referees and the stress they place on safety:

• The refs are awesome and usually talk to you, and are always enforcing the rules. No one even picks up a gun unless everyone has their masks on. Needless to say, they have a huge emphasis on safety. – jedi mike0
• It was [sic] great day and we had a blast - I hope to go back soon I recommend this field to anyone in vancouver looking for a place to play paintball – Stevecraig