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Paintball

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Paintball is a sport whose participants use compressed air guns (called markers) to shoot paintballs (roughly marble-sized, .68 caliber, gelatin capsules filled with colored polyethylene glycol "paint") at other players. The game has drawn a wide array of players worldwide and is found in most major countries in the world, and is one of the safest team sports.(2002): American Sports Data, Inc (Published by Action Pursuit Games) [link] URL accessed on 2006-04-28

The game can be played indoors or outdoors in a varying range of styles. There are a few specific rules for playing paintball, with most designed to ensure that participants can enjoy the sport in a safe environment. The sport employs many different types of equipment and has developed its own slang to describe special moves and situations.

Contents

Basic paintball games

Types of play

Woodsball

Main article: Woodsball

Paintball was originally played in the woods and 'Woodsball' remains common today. Woodsball games can involve a handful to hundreds of players and are played in a wooded area that may also include man-made obstacles like wooden bunkers, barrels, buildings, and other obstacles. Unlike speedball, the size and terrain of woodsball fields make it unlikely that a player can observe more than a small subsection of the field at any given time. This limited field awareness coupled with the usually larger number of players causes woodsball games to generally last longer than speedball games.

Playing paintball in the woods introduces several facets to the game that are not present in speedball. The opportunity to blend with the environment and move around the field outside of your opponent's observation makes camouflage important. Because teammates are often so far apart that they cannot see or hear each other, large-scale team communication and strategy have a big impact on each team's success. And because it is possible to move throughout the field unobserved, a small group of players, or even a single player, can win the game for their team, which is rare in a speedball format where the size of the field means all players can see the entire field of play.

Many different game variations may be played in the woods. Capture the flag is probably the most common, but other variations like center flag, total elimination, protect the president, hopperball, 21, and civil war are common. Many playing locations will have their own preferred, custom variations.

Speedball

Speedball is a faster, more close-quarters game than woodsball and is played on a field about the size of a basketball court or two. Artificial barriers (bunkers), often made of inflatable rafting material, plastic tubing, wood pallets or tires, are placed throughout the field for players to move between and take cover behind. Any material may be used and is usually placed in an open field in a symmetrical pattern, relative to the other side, in such a way as to give no advantage to one side or the other.

The close quarters foster a lot of movement and "bunkering", or running up to an opposing player's bunker and eliminating them from close range. Attributes concerning marker preference usually include high rate of fire rate (BPS, or balls per second), reduced weight and compactness of a Marker Setup. Players typically shoot much more paint in this style of play. Most national and local tournaments and leagues are built around the speedball concept.

Speedball played with obstacles made from corrogated platic piping is often referred to as 'Hyperball', while speedball played with inflated obstacles is often referred to as 'Airball'. Airball is the current standard format all regional and national level tournament play.

Scenario paintball

Scenario paintball games are often large scale games with a theme, usually Historical, Fantasy or Science Fiction, sometimes involving hundreds of people, such as major historical battles or modern scenarios such as storming a building and rescuing hostages. Scenario games can last hours or even days, and bigger games often have player re-insertions at set intervals. Teams usually compete to earn the most points over the course of the event. Points may be earned by accomplishing mission objectives, holding certain key areas or locations at particular times, or capturing event-themed props. Some scenario participants wear uniforms or customes that match the theme of the event, including mock armor for a fantasy theme, uniforms for military themes, or other interesting costumes. One of the largest annual scenario games may be "[Oklahoma D-Day]", played on 700 acres of land. D-Day drew over 3,500 participants and 15 Paintball Tanks and pontoon-built landing craft in 2005.

Tournament or Tourneyball

Modern tournament paintball, or tourneyball, has developed in earnest since roughly 1990. Woodsball tournaments, the original and once the most popular format, have largely given way to speedball fields, whose inflatable bunkers can be moved between matches or tournament stages. The most common tournament formats pit two teams of three, five, or seven players against each other. Teams play several other teams, accumulating points in each game for acts such as being the first to get the flag, bringing the flag to the goal, eliminating opposing players, and having non-eliminated players left at the end of the game.

Tournament Formats

Reball

A "reball" is a soft, dense/light-foam substitute for a paintball. Reballs are the same size as normal paintballs but weigh less, and do not contain a paint filling. While they do not break open to leave a paint mark on players, the lack of filling makes them useful for indoor locations where accumulation of paint from broken paintballs would be a problem. A reball is more expensive than a paintball, but since they can be reused, they are cheaper over the long term. Some paintball parks have added dedicated reball fields. The primary use of reballs, as intended initially by the manufacturer, is as a practice aid for teams who wish to practice and save money by using reusable ammunition. Other manuacturers have made Reball duplicates like the V-Ball, a velcro (hence the name V-Ball) reusable paintball. Reballs are also used at a lower velocity because of their inability to break on whoever they hit. For example, a Regular paintball will normally be shot at 280-290 ft/s, but a Reball is supposed to be used at around 250 ft/s. Reballs themselves were preceded by Lazerballs by Brass Eagle. These were of a larger caliber than a paintball, and designed specifically for Family Fun Centers and other venues where paint clean-up would be an issue.

Pump play

A pump action paintball marker operates on the principle that the player has to chamber a new ball after each shot by pumping or sliding the marker's cocking mechanism back allowing a new ball to enter the chamber, then pushing the cocking mechanism forward with the aid of the pump handle, to close the chamber requiring a total of two separate movements to "load" the marker. After loading, the paintball marker is ready to expel the loaded paintball.

A popular style of pump play is the use of what is referred to as a Stock Class marker. Stock Class refers to the marker configuration, reminiscent of the original paintball markers of the early to mid 1980s, and forsakes the use of hoppers and a constant propellant source. Stock Class play utilizes a ten to fifteen round tube parallel to the barrel of the marker. Typically, the feed tube of paintballs is mounted over the top of the marker running flush with the body of the marker so as not to allow any stacking of paintballs over the chamber and hence requiring the marker to be tipped (rocked) forward or backward before being pumped (cocked). The complete action for loading another paintball into the chamber of a Stock Class marker is called "Rock & Cock". 12 gram CO2 powerlets are also incorporated into Stock Class rules so as to require the player to recharge the marker with propellant after roughly 20-40 shots depending on the efficiency of the marker.

Although this style has lost popularity due to modern paintball technology greatly increasing the speed of paintball guns as well as their overall performance, pump tournaments in both the Stock Class and in another class, in which hoppers and propellant other than 12 gram cartridges, continue to be held and in fact attract some of the most popular professional tournament players to guest play on these pump teams.

Paintball equipment

Organizations

Current professional and semi-professional leagues, such as the [NXL] (National X-Ball League), [NPPL] (National Professional Paintball League), [NCPA] (National Collegiate Paintball Association), [GPL] (Global Paintball League), [CFOA] (Carolina Field Owners Association) the [NEPL] (New England Paintball League),the [WPL] (World Paintball League) and the [SPPL] (Scenario Paintball Players League), regularly hold high-class, well-organized events. These aren't the only leagues, however, as most regions both inside and outside the USA have leagues. The [Millennium Series], the [Nordic Series], the former European X-Ball League, the [Centurio Circuit], the XSPL, the [Paintball Association] in the UK, the [Argentine Paintball Association], the [CXBL] ( Canadian Xball League ) and many more leagues exist and draw large numbers of teams and fans. Tournament paintball is played by the same rules as normal paintball, but in a more competitive environment. There is a set number of people on each team (commonly three, five or seven), and modern tournament play is primarily speedball. Due to the competitive nature, most tournament players use high-end markers capable of higher rates of fire. The major leagues are National Professional Paintball League (NPPL), Paintball Sports Promotions™ (PSP), and Millennium Series. The leagues consist of a whole circuit of paintball tournaments, but smaller regional and locally-sponsored tournaments are very common.

Types of players

Players usually fall into one of three categories: recreational, scenario or big game, and tournament.

The recreational class of player encompasses a range of levels of involvement in the sport, from occasional players like members of church groups or people attending birthday or bachelor parties, through more regular players who may own their own entry-level equipment, but do not play in tournaments. Recreational players may play at commercial, insured paintball parks, or on private land.

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association, of the approximately 10 million people who participate in paintball annually only about 15% (1.5 million) of them play 15 or more times per year. These frequent participants can generally be divided into two groups: Scenario players and tournament players. While these two groups differ in style of play and appearance, the most devoted members of both groups may spend thousands of dollars per year not only on paintball equipment, but also on travel to paintball events.

Tournament players.
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Tournament players.

Types of playing locations

Most players play, and most scenario games and tournaments occur, at commercial, insured paintball parks. A paintball park may be an area of woods, a complex of speedball fields, or a combination. Additionally, some commercial fields offer fast-paced indoor game play, often with multiple rooms. Commercial fields adhere to specific safety and insurance standards and have employed staff (often called referees) whose job is to make sure players are instructed in proper play and play in a manner that insures all participants' safety.

Some players play on private land, often referred to as "renegade" play or "out-law ball". While less expensive, and often less structured than play at a commercial facility, due to the lack of standards, instruction, and oversight, the vast majority of injuries incurred by paintball players occur in a "renegade" setting. Private landowners may also be liable for injuries sustained on their property, especially if there are any fees for play.

Major scenario and tournament events may sometimes occur at other locations like fairgrounds, military bases, or stadiums, essentially creating a temporary paintball park, including the trained staff and insurance found at permanent commercial paintball parks.

A typical tournament field.
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A typical tournament field.

Strategies and tactics

Common rules of play

The following are the most basic and common paintball rules. While there is little variation in safety rules, variation in other game rules is quite common, and players should ask about the specific rules where they are playing.

Safety rules

Like many sports, safe participation in paintball requires observance of proper safety procedure. When safety rules are followed, paintball is extremely safe, with an injury rate of only 0.2 injuries per 1,000 exposures(2002): American Sports Data, Inc (Published by Action Pursuit Games) [link] URL accessed on 2006-04-28. Injury rates for other common team sports are much higher, including 12 times as high for soccer (2.4 injuries per 1,000 exposures) and 7 times as high for baseball (1.4 injuries per 1,000 exposures). Put another way, a player who playied paintball twice a week would expect to play for 50 years before sustaining an injury.

Paintball Goggle System - The most important rule in paintball is that all players must wear a protective goggle system designed for paintball use at all times when they are playing or near other people who are playing. While paintballs will not cause permanent injury to most areas of the body, the eyes, and to a lesser extent the ears, are vulnerable to injury if hit by paintball. Wearing a protective paintball goggle system, including goggles to protect the eyes, a mask that protects the face, and ear flaps that protect the ears, protects players from injury to these areas, much like shin guards protect soccer players. Paintball players must never remove their goggles when other people are, or may be, playing nearby. Most fields have a well-defined area at which it becomes safe to remove the goggles when leaving the field (such as a wall to seperate the "staging area" from the field of play). If a player’s mask falls off during a game, he should immediately lie face down on the ground with his arms covering his head, and any player who sees this should yell a pre-defined phrase such as "Mask!", "Goggles!", or "Cease fire!" to alert game officials and other players to discontinue play until the player is able to replace their goggles.

Maximum Paintball Velocity - In addition to mandatory use of masks, paintball guns must not fire paintballs that exceed a certain velocity. The industry standard maximum velocity is 300 feet per second (about 200 miles per hour), but many paintball facilities set a lower limit, usually 250 to 295 fps, for extra safety margin and the comfort of their players. Paintballs traveling faster than 300 fps can potentially break the skin and also may leave large bruises. This velocity can still be painful (although not penetrative) at point blank range, and it is expected to avoid this when unnecessary. Thick jackets and gloves can be worn to cover any exposed skin.

The only way to know the velocity at which a paintball gun is shooting paintballs is to use a chronograph, a device that measures a projectile's (in this case, a paintball's) speed. Chronographs are standard equipment at commercial paintball facilities, but must be purchased if not playing at a commercial location. Players who play without first using a chronograph to check the velocity of the paintballs they are shooting put their and other players' safety at risk. Because changes in temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure will change the size of paintballs, and thus how tightly a paintball fits into the barrel, paintball guns should be chronographed several times throughout the day to protect against changes in velocity. Paintball guns should also be rechronographed after any adjustment or replacement of parts, including especially the barrel, which can also change the velocity of paintballs shot from the gun.

Barrel Blocking Devices - Lastly, all players should install a barrel blocking device on their paintball gun when not actively playing. This protects the player and others in the event a marker is accidentally fired, as the barrel blocking device should prevent the paintball from leaving the barrel of the paintball gun. Barrel plugs, usually piece of plastic with rubber orings placed into the front end of the barrel, were the most commonly used barrel blocking device for many years. Because a barrel plug that does not fit tightly enough into a barrel can be accidentally shot out, leaving the barrel open and unsafe, barrel plugs are being replaced by barrel socks, which do not suffer this weakness. Most commercial locations now require barrel socks instead of barrel plugs.

Player Eliminations

Players eliminate each other from the game by hitting their opponent with a paintball. Players are generally considered 'hit', 'marked' or 'tagged' when a paintball shot by another player strikes and breaks on the player leaving a paint mark. Depending on the specific rules in effect where the player is playing, the mark may need to be a particular size to count (in the US, the size of a US Quarter is a common threshold in recreational play, while any mark counts in most tournament play), or a hit with no mark may count if the hit is observed by a referee. Once a player has been hit, they are eliminated from the game.

If a player is uncertain whether a mark or strike they have received is a valid hit or not, possibly because the mark is from the spray of a paintball breaking on another nearby object, or because they can not see the part of the body where they have been struck by a paintball, or because the paintball may have been shot by a player who had already been eliminated, the player should ask a referee to determine whether or not the player has a valid hit. This request is commonly referred to as a 'paint check', and is most often requested by the player yelling the words 'Paint Check' to a nearby official. Some game rules allow an official to call a player 'neutral' during a paint check so that the official can more closely inspect a player. If a player is called neutral, they must discontinue play while being checked, and opponents may also not fire or advance on the neutral player.

Players may also be eliminated from the game for reasons other than being hit by a paintball, including calling themselves out by saying "I'm hit!" or "I'm out!", due to a penalty, from paint marks from paint grenades or paint mines (in games where such equipment is allowed) or for game infractions like stepping out-of-bounds.

Because players who call themselves out are eliminated even if they are not actually hit, players should always check to see if a paintball that has hit them has indeed left a mark. A paintball may simply bounce off a player’s body, which does not count as a hit. Players may also call for a paint check on another player if they believe they have marked an opponent to insure the player is promptly eliminated from the game, especially if the opposing player may not be aware they are hit or may be attempting to hide or remove a hit. Removing a hit and continuing to play is a severe form of cheating commonly known as 'wiping' and can result in severe penalties, including being permanently banned from the playing location at a recreational or commercial facility, but in most instances a penalty of “3 for 1” will be called. This is where the cheating player and an additional three teammates are eliminated from play.

The X foot/meter surrender rule

Some fields require that if a player is within a certain distance of an unaware opponent (usually 10 to 15 feet or closer), they must demand their surrender (by yelling "Surrender!" or "Mercy!") before they may open fire. If the opponent complies verbally, or by raising their hand or marker, they are considered marked and are out of the match. However, if they refuse and attempt any hostile action (such as turning to fire), the challenging player may fire upon them. While waiting for a response, however, the player can still be hit by other opponents. Getting hit by a paintball from close range can be particularly uncomfortable, and it is thus polite and good sportsmanship to avoid shooting opponents from close range whenever possible.

In almost all tournament play, there is no surrender rule. If a player catches an opponent off guard, they are free to fire at him. Moves such as a 'run through', where a player sprints down the field shooting as many of the opposing team as he can, have developed over time and are now very important plays. Another popular move is "bunkering" this refers to running/charging up to the bunker or barricade that an opposing player is behind and tagging them at very close range. The offensive player moves as close to the opponent as possible, so that they can catch the defensive player off guard, giving them little to no time to react, and minimizing their chance of missing.

Paintball in popular culture

Paintball-like alternatives

Public Perception

Due to paintball's inception as a sport played in the woods that involves both players shooting at each other as well as extensive use of camouflage, some members of the general public believe paintball simulates war and encourages violence. The paintball community generally works to dispel this image, and increasing the public's exposure to paintball is seen as crucial to breaking down this stereotype. While some players, especially scenario players, may use military themes and incorporate military props into their play, the mechanics of paintball are extremely different from actual combat. Paintball also has the least physical contact of any team sport, as physical contact between players (tackling, blocking, etc) is not part of the game's mechanics.

Paintball has also evolved new styles of play since its inception, and competitive paintball bears virtually no resemblence to war at all. Paintball tournaments are usually played on small fields with colored, bright inflatable obstacles, and also include common aspects of other traditional sports, including sanctioning bodies, colorful team jersies with logos and player names and numbers, spectator seating, and even television coverage of the largest events, including the 'US Paintball Championships' broadcast on ESPN2, the 'World Paintball League' on WGN, and the 'College Paintball National Championships' on CSTV.

Paintball lingo and strategies

Every paintball field has its own lingo for various obstacles, bunkers, and landmarks that are unique to the site. Prospective players should always familiarize themselves with the terms used by other players beforehand.

Scenario/Big Game Lingo

Scenario games have their own set of lingo in addition to the standard paintball jargon above.

Professional Paintball Teams

Paintball has many professional players and teams and many of them have become extremely successful and have gained fame around the paintball world. Some of the professional teams are:

References

Fast Fingers (CRO)

External links

Paintball News and Information (Major Sites)

  • [Warpig] (World and Regional Paintball Information Guide), Paintball's 'original' web resource, and fairly unbiased site news and general sport information.
  • [Paintball.com] (Paintball.com), Daily paintball news and features and discussion forums.
  • [68Caliber] (68Caliber.com), Paintball News Website, only online paintball site indexed by Google News

National Leagues

  • [NPPL] - (National Professional Paintball League), Nationwide tournament circuit featuring 7-man format, broadcast on ESPN2
  • [PSP] - (Paintball Sports Promotion League), Nationwide tournament circuit featuring XBall format, formerly broadcast on ESPN2
  • [NCPA] - (National Collegiate Paintball Association), Nationwide association that sanctions college and high school competition, broadcast on College Sports Television Network.

Regional Leagues

  • [CFOA] - (The Caorlina Field Owner's Association), Southeast US
  • [XPSL] - (Xtreme Paintball Sports League), West Coast US

Paintball Groups

Online Communities

 

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