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Airsoft in the San Francisco Bay Area

Posted 15 September, 2007 at 11:16am by Michael Chu
(Filed under: Airsoft)

I suppose we have it pretty good in the Bay Area when it comes to Airsoft. Compared to many other places in the United States (where the sport is just not as popular - everyone plays Paintball instead), there are a lot more choices and options here. Unfortunately, it’s still not easy to find a public field to play on and to get in a game on a private field you have to know people and pack your own gear - not an easy way to introduce new people to the sport.

Currently Open
Roundhouse Productions at Ford Ord (Marina, CA) - Based on the old army base near Monterey, California, this was one of the best places to play large group public games (sometimes over 200 participants). There were going to close after September 2007 and look for a new location, but they’ve managed to keep having games at Fort Ord. Looks like they’re managing to keep alive - which is excellent news. No rentals.
Sequoia Airsoft [Combat Enterprises] (somewhere 45 min. south of San Jose, California) - Runs games every 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month. It is (apparently) the last public airsoft field in the immediate Bay Area. They do not take walk-ons - you must register at least a day in advance to be provided instructions to the field and be allowed on. They ask all their participants to wear appropriate clothing (BDU’s - Battle Dress Uniform/Camouflage) but I’ve read accounts of people bringing guests in black shirts and jeans. Face mask rentals only.
Modesto Airsoft [Combat Enterprises] (Modesto, California) - Games every 2nd Sunday of the month. No walk-ons - all participants must pre-register. Face mask rentals are available.
CQBCITY (Stockton, California) - The airsoft facility with the most annoying website. It’s supposed to be the world’s largest indoor airsoft arena. Being that it’s all the way out there in Stockton, I’ve not been.
Mike Force Airsoft (Moss Landing, California) - This airsoft club runs games in a field halfway between Santa Cruz and Monterey. Public games are held every 2nd Sunday of each month. They do provide weapons rentals, but BDU’s are required.
Sacramento Airsoft (throughout the Sacramento area) - This is more of a loose network of people who play airsoft in the Sacramento area. It doesn’t look like there is a central facility or group of people that make everything happen, but individuals and teams will post their game dates, locations, and rules for others to participate.
Eagle Force Airsoft (San Jose, CA) - Games every Saturday starting at 6am. No BDU’s (battle dress uniform - camouflage) necessary. Must be 16 or over.
Recently closed:
Orchid Bay (South San Jose, CA) - Closed multiple times due to vandalism and fires. Closed for good now because of a huge after hours fire that destroyed just about everything the proprietor had to his name. When they were open, offered weapons rentals and face masks and was a good place to introduce new people to the sport.
FortOrd [Combat Enterprises] (Marina, CA) - Closed.
Operation Paintball (Hayward, CA) - I believe they offered weapon rentals when they were open. Rumor is that the facility was bought by a Laser Tag company and shutdown to be eventually reopened with Laser Tag. (Part of me is sad that a paintball company moving towards airsoft [right direction!] was bought and pulled back to Laser Tag [wrong direction!]) In any case, this was my least favorite environment since it was a pretty cramped indoor arena (arena is the right word - it does NOT feel like CQB) where everyone just rushed around and shot everything. Tactics and strategy had no real place in this environment.
Shadow Tactical (Santa Rosa, California) - A 9,000 sq. ft. indoor cubicle based airsoft CQB (close quarters battle) simulation. Pistol and face mask rentals available.

Given these choices, I’m starting to despair of the possibility of bringing any of my friends to an airsoft event since most of the places require BDU’s and although I now have an extra rifle, I do not have a closet full of different sized camo to lend to friends…

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22 comments to Airsoft in the San Francisco Bay Area

Andrew B, September 15th, 2007 at 11:19 pm:

  • hey, just wanted to let you know that i’ve been to every place on the list, and CQB city continues to be my favorite place to play, even over Fort Ord. it is 60,000 Sq ft of indoor play arena. it’s an actual law enforcement training facility, and usually has a turnout of 50 or more players. it’s well run, with referees and the likes, and will never fail to provide for exciting scenarios. definetely worth checking out.

Michael Chu, September 17th, 2007 at 7:44 pm:

  • Thanks Andrew! I’m really interested in visiting CQB City now. I’ll have to see if I can make it out there in the near future.

Tran Ho, November 19th, 2007 at 1:12 am:

  • I have to agree, I’ve also been to all the metioned fields and have made the City my new home, the games are very well run and the place is huge, big plus also is since its indoor I can play rain or shine.
    Big thanks to Chief and Gamepod for making me feel so welcome.

David Watts, December 31st, 2007 at 10:49 pm:

  • I am new to this sport, and it seems just as I am finding out about it the choice of places to play are less and less. I was told by the good folks at game pod that there is an Antioch field (300 acres?) that should be open by February. it will be run by the same people that run CQB city in stockton. I live in Antioch so if this is true it will be welcome news and may help to bring in more players.

Dennis, January 3rd, 2008 at 9:30 pm:

  • hey i was wondering, is there any field that has the “sniper” rule, where the sniper team can run guns up to 550 fps? i have a tanaka and i really want to field it, does any one know where i can? please email me, djtupp@yahoo.com, or if anyone owns priavte land, i have 8 more friends that are looking to play.

Andrew, January 4th, 2008 at 12:04 am:

  • Dennis, there’s not one field that i know of that practices that rule. i know that there’s a private field in modesto that you might be able to use it on. however, it requires a personal invite (i think). search around for “modesto airsoft” and you should find their forums. if you want to use it on other fields, look around i try to pick up a PCS bolt/valve for it so you can get a variable fps. any more questions, you can email me at andrewpbooth@yahoo.com.

Andrew, January 4th, 2008 at 12:10 am:

  • actually, ignore my post about modesto airsoft, it appears that they have a velocity limit of 400. i would try for the pcs bolt, because you can tune that down to a low fps, and you will definetely be able to get it into field limits. it depends if yours is pre ban or not. i really don’t know where you can find them though. you can try redwolf or WGCshop.

jarrod, March 10th, 2008 at 3:28 pm:

  • anyone know where i can play in a game during the week around the sf area

Michael Chu, March 11th, 2008 at 12:51 am:

  • There really isn’t a place to do it unless you can get into a private game - a group of friends who have permission to play on someone’s field or private property during the week. Asking around on weekend games or in the airsoft community can sometimes result in an invitation to join them on a weekday. It’s been over a year since I’ve placed a middle of the week game. :(

David Wats, March 11th, 2008 at 6:46 am:

  • I just found out that they are going to open a 500,000 sq ft airsoft warehouse in Antioch week after next. The games will be every saturday. they are also opening up a field in Dublin April 3rd or forth. to get all the details call Game-pod in Antioch.Ca otherwise the closets fields are in San Francisco , Stockton or by San Jose. I hope this helps!!.

Alex P, May 4th, 2008 at 5:22 pm:

Michael Chu, May 5th, 2008 at 5:22 pm:

  • Have you called Operation Paintball? The website looks exactly like it was over a year ago when they shut their facility down… I think that July 29 was referring to a previous year - unless they updated the site.

Michael Chu, May 5th, 2008 at 5:25 pm:

  • I just called the number on Operation Paintball’s website and it’s still disconnected. I’m pretty sure they are still out of business.

g_lo, May 7th, 2008 at 4:19 pm:

  • where’s a closer airsoft field to play near san jose?

g_lo, May 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pm:

  • where can we play airsoft in san francisco?

g_lo, May 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm:

  • is there a field around hayward?

Andrew, May 7th, 2008 at 8:48 pm:

  • you could have put those three questions into a single post…but anyways, for san jose, check out http://groups.myspace.com/sanjoseairsoft . i think that’s it… as for hayward and san francisco, the field mentioned are the only ones. you can always arrange a private game on private property. just make sure you have the landowner’s permission, the local law enforcement knows about it, and it’s out of the way of public view.

Chris Hickey, July 14th, 2008 at 8:52 am:

  • Hey guys,

    We’re a pretty new team, my name is Chris Hickey. Our team hosts games out of the east/south San Jose area at 6AM every Sat. If your interested, check us out at http://www.eagleforce.info Our field does NOT require BDU’s and guests area always welcome. We’re also planning on buying some team guns so that new players are able to come and try the game out.

    Field fees are $10.00 for the day and we provide free water. There are no restroom facilities on site, however if you need to, theres a McDonald’s down the street, and a city park not too far away either.

    Come check us out, we’re a pretty laid back place and we like to have a lot of fun. Minimum age to be AT the field is 16 so please don’t call and ask us if your 15 year old brother can come, the answer is no. We’ve had problems in the past and it’s not something we wish to happen again.

    Take it easy, have fun, and keep the killin’ real.
    -Chris

Jordan, July 14th, 2008 at 1:26 pm:

  • To the author of this page, you probably want to update this, Shadow Tactical has recently been shut down.

Chris Hickey, July 15th, 2008 at 7:33 pm:

  • Jordan, He has Shadow Tactical listed as closed. Everything below Orchid Bay is on the closed list, Eagle Force is open and doing well. If anyone’s interested, contact me as I’m the one setting up the games. Dennis can vouch for our games as hes on our team.

    viciousrumors@yahoo.com

Jordan, July 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm:

  • yes, chris, but it was placed in that category following my comment. When I suggested the list be updated, ST was still in the “open” list. Sorry to have caused any confusion.

Michael Chu, July 20th, 2008 at 4:40 pm:

  • No sorry guys - I moved it down to closed after I got the update from Jordan. Thanks Jordan for helping me keep the list up to date!

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