Shoot the Freak

Start 'em young.
Eric is 19, from East New York, and has been "the freak" since 2004. A continual jokester, he likes to say he "had to break down [his] HOUSE to make" the original cardboard armor he wore when he started.
I met Bensonhurst-bred Tommy when he was 25 years old and in his 8th summer at Shoot the Freak. He'd grown up in the same neighborhood as game owner Anthony, who brought him in to help during STF's second year. He's the manager now, although is also a capable barker when needed, and tended bar at Beer Island this past spring while the boardwalk in front of STF underwent repairs. He works in construction after the game shuts down for the winter, and is happily engaged to a young lady who works at Beer Island.

Tommy's seen a significant drop in the Shoot the Freak crowds. In 2008 rumors flew that Coney Island was shutting down, influencing shooters to turn out in record numbers for its last moments. This year, he muses people forgot they were still around.
JJ from Bed-Stuy was 21 when we met, working for his seventh summer at Shoot the Freak. He was the freak for three years, he helped build Beer Island, he's an occasional barker, but he seems most comfortable kicking back with customers, collecting money and setting up the guns. He's in charge whenever Tommy's not around.

Of all the jobs available in New York to a teenager, why Shoot the Freak—nearly an hour's commute from home? JJ laughed and said he could never work in a fast-food joint due to the way his teachers disparaged them. A friend helped him get a job at STF, which paid well in comparison.

He was on the fence about college when we met, but perhaps with the closure of Shoot the Freak he's had to come up with alternate plans.
Pat is one of the alternate "freaks."
Enough for everyone to play.
Prices remained the same since 2000.
It's not the freak's duty to clean the garbage from the lot. Eric just gets bored.
Shoot the Freak is a 14-hour day, at least on weekends. The summer heat in New York can be brutal, and the game often doesn't truly pick up until 1pm.
The game gets off to a slow start.
Everyone on staff chain-smokes, from open until close.
Never too small to shoot.

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Summer 2009
Location: Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

Shoot the Freak's paintball game was held in an empty, garbage-strewn lot between boardwalk businesses. It appealed to those with a taste for the strange, and a mild violent streak. The namesake "freak" was well-protected but played the part of a taunting, damaged target to perfection.

In the summer of 2009, staffers weren't sure how worried they needed to be with Astroland's closure. Many of the boys who worked there expected this bizarre summer job to last until they were ready to leave it, and a few had been there since the beginning. The boys who worked at the boardwalk game were sweet, enthusiastic, and good at their jobs.

Shoot the Freak and owner Anthony Berlingieri's other business Beer Island are part of the Coney Island 8, fighting to hold on to their leases. However, Shoot the Freak's lot was razed before the eviction was final. While the other businesses in the group will operate in 2011 as negotiations continue, Shoot the Freak's future is uncertain.