Steps marked Required must be done before customers can book. The rest can wait, but most fields want them before opening day.
Phase 1 — Tell PBHQ who you are#
1. Field profile — Required Sidebar → Business → Settings → "Field Information"
Your field name, contact email and phone, address, and your "Booking URL" — the short name in your public booking link. Get the booking URL right now; it's what you'll print on flyers. → Field profile
2. Operations — Required Settings → "Operations"
Your "Timezone" (everything on the calendar depends on it), "Buffer Minutes" for cleanup between sessions, and an optional cap on simultaneous private parties. → Operations settings
3. Operating hours — Required Settings → "Operating Hours"
Open and close time for each day of the week. Leave both blank for days you're closed. Nothing can be booked outside these hours. → Operating hours
Phase 2 — Build what you sell#
4. Activities — Required
Paintball is always on. Turn on "Laser Tag bookings" and "Airsoft bookings" in Settings → "Booking Options" if you run them, and add anything else you offer at Sidebar → Catalog & Pricing → Activities. → Activities
5. Gear tiers — Required
At least one per activity. Each tier is a rental option with a price and a stock count. Sidebar → Catalog & Pricing → Inventory → "Add Gear Tier" → Gear tiers
6. Play areas — Optional
Only needed if you have distinct playing fields and want to book them separately, or cap how many parties run at once. Skip this and everything still works. → Play areas
7. Party packages — Optional but common
Birthday parties, corporate groups — anything sold as a package, with a flat deposit or paid in full at checkout. Sidebar → Catalog & Pricing → Party Types → Party packages
8. Extras — Optional
Paint, air fills, rental masks, pizza. Group them, price them, and link each one to the gear tiers it should appear with. → Extras and add-ons
9. Availability by day — Optional
Settings → "Activity Availability" limits which days each activity runs. Settings → "Walk-On Availability" limits which days walk-ons can be booked. Leave everything unselected to allow every open day. → Activities
Phase 3 — Get paid#
10. Connect a payment processor — Required to take money Settings → "Payment Processor"
Choose Stripe or Square and complete the connection. Until you do, PBHQ runs in demo mode — bookings go through and quote a price, but no card is ever charged. → Connect a payment processor
11. Sales tax — If you collect it Settings → "Operations" → "Sales Tax Rate (%)"
One flat rate. PBHQ adds it to what customers pay; you remit it. → Sales tax
12. Deposits — Optional
Decide whether walk-ons pay in full or leave a deposit (Gear deposits), and decide for each party package whether it takes a flat deposit, collects the whole price at checkout, or collects nothing (Party deposits and paying in full).
Phase 4 — Waivers#
13. Waiver text — Required Sidebar → Business → Waiver
Paste your own release of liability. If you leave it blank, PBHQ uses generic default text — fine for testing, not fine for opening day. Have your insurer or attorney look at it. → Waiver settings
14. Safety video — Optional
Paste a YouTube URL and it embeds at the top of the waiver, with a required "I have watched the safety video" checkbox.
15. Guest list — Optional Settings → "Booking Options" → "Collect Guest List"
Decide whether a multi-player walk-on booking asks for every player's name and email, or only the booker's. On by default, which is what gets waivers signed before game day. Each party package has its own version of this setting. → Collecting the guest list
Phase 5 — Make it yours#
16. Photos and branding — Optional Settings → "Booking Page Photos", "Appearance", "Kiosk Logo"
Your colors, your photos, light or dark theme. → Appearance and photos
17. Kiosk PIN — Optional Settings → "Kiosk Mode"
Set a 4–6 digit PIN and the "Launch Kiosk" button in the sidebar comes alive. → Kiosk mode
18. Your team — Optional Settings → "Team" → "Invite"
Add managers and front-desk staff. → Your team
19. Embed on your website — Optional Settings → "Embed Booking on Your Website"
Copy the snippet into your own site so customers never leave it. → Embed booking on your website
Phase 6 — Test before you announce#
Do this before you send anyone your link.
- Click "New booking" in the sidebar and book yourself a session end to end.
- Confirm the gear, price, and times look right at every step.
- Complete checkout and check that the confirmation email arrives.
- Open the waiver link from the email and sign it.
- Find the booking at Sidebar → Operations → Bookings, expand the roster, and check the player in.
- Delete the test booking when you're happy.
If something didn't appear where you expected it, Why isn't this showing up? covers the usual causes.
You're live#
Share yourdomain.com/book/your-slug/ — or embed it — and start taking reservations.
Next, get familiar with game day: Dashboard home and Checking players in.