Starting in early August, paintball enthusiasts will be able to face off at an indoor arena on the upper floor of Gulf Mall, near the food court.
The facility was previously set up at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) during Ramadan, but will move to the mall for the next few months.
Speaking to Doha News, the company behind the paintball activity said the arena has an inflatable setup that makes it easy to relocate to other spaces.
At the DECC, the setup fit a maximum of 20 people in a 10 vs. 10 game of paintball.
While playing paintball at the “Game City” arena there, an Egyptian expat told Doha News he was happy to see the activity return to Qatar:
“I really enjoy paintball and I was very disappointed when multiple paintball arenas opened and closed here in Doha. There were at least three that did in the past, and all of them closed after a very short period of time.
Maybe this is also temporary but at least it’s good to see that they opened one indoors.”
Adrenaline rush
Game City was part of a massive indoor souq set up at the DECC last month.
Though most activities finished on June 24, Game City – which included indoor karting, paintball, football and small rides for children – stayed open for an extra two weeks due to popular demand.
Paintball welcomed some 100 visitors a night, according to Elie Elkhoury, COO of Amazing Productions.
“They experienced a new type of adrenaline rush for a change, because in Doha you don’t have a lot of these events,” he said, adding that the indoor arena attracted a wide variety of players, including locals and women.
One thing that sets his company’s offering apart is safety, Elkhoury said. Currently, the company imports high-quality gear, including overalls, helmets and gloves, from Spain.
Additionally, two first-aid trained professionals are always on hand, though there are no reported injuries to date.
Each individual is given a briefing and a testing on how to shoot the paintball guns in a safe manner, according to Amazing Production’s event manager Mohammed Gumma.
Activity hub
At the DECC, individuals got 300 paint bullets for QR100. Elkhoury said the pricing scheme at Gulf Mall will be similar.
He added that his company, which was also behind the dinosaurs show at Gulf Mall during the Eid holidays, is considering setting up a permanent entertainment hub.
“Right now, we’re just trying out the concepts, to see what’s hot and what’s not, but the plan is to have an indoor sports city in the future.”
Thoughts?
