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Paintball

Paintball is any one of several game variations where two or more players attempt to "mark" each other by firing "paintballs" at each other from a "paintball marker" (paintgun). A player is marked if a paintball contacts, bursts and sheds its colored fill on him or his marker. A typical rule of thumb is that the splatter should be contiguous over an area the size of a US quarter (25 mm), but not all fields use this. "Bouncers" don't count as hits in a game. Bouncers are hits that do not burst on the player. In other instances, people also play by being hit more than once in a game and keep playing. Referees are also in the sport like any other to enforce the rules and ensure safety for players of all ages. They are also there to make sure that no one is violating the rules and to check players on the field for hits. Violators are usually thrown from the game.

In addition to paintballs and markers, players also need a "hopper" to hold their paintballs (this also includes the use of an agitating hopper that feeds the marker faster for a steady rate of fire) and an air source (like a small tank of carbon dioxide) to propel the paintball from the marker. Nitrogen or High Pressure Air can also be used to propel the ball. These are also held in a bottle-like container. Because CO2 becomes a liquid when compressed, it needs to expand to a gas to be used by the paintball gun. This expansion is not adeobatic and requires energy, causing the tank to cool as heat is used to expand the liquid CO2 into gas. Eventually, under sustained fire, and especially in cold weather, the tank can become so cold that the liquid CO2 will not evaporate into gas and liquid CO2 enters the gun. The liquid CO2 then evaporates in the gun instead of the tank, causing the gun to freeze. This can cause damage to internal seals and also puts the gun out of commission for a good 15 minutes while it warms back up. When nitrogen is compressed, it remains a gas. When it expands, it also cools the tank, but at an unoticable rate because it does not have to transition the N2 from liquid to gas. Therefore it is viewed as a superior source of propulsion. However, because High Pressure Air is stored at up to 4500 PSI while liquid CO2 is stored at 1200 PSI, tanks for HPA are more expensive. Nitrogen tanks can ether be filled with pure N2 or compressed air, which is 79% N2. These air sources are primarily used by people who play often and have tournament-grade markers.

Players must don a paintball mask and goggles (preferably goggles with "thermal lenses" to avoid fogging) to avoid serious injury to the face, ears, and eyes. Regulated fields require masks, goggles and marker plugs or barrel covers to play on the field. The plugs and covers are used to prevent accidental firing of a paintball while not engaged in a game. Most fields take these safety precautions extremely seriously and will eject players for violating safety rules. Paintballs travel at about 300 ft/s (91 m/s) and getting hit with a paintball usually stings and leaves a welt or bruise on the skin. In general, getting hit by a paintball from far away hurts less than getting hit at close range. Also, getting hit can hurt more if the ball does not break, and instead bounces.

Players usually fall into two categories: recreational and tournament players. Tournament players take the game seriously, investing in excess of US$2,000 in paintball gear. They also attend tournaments in teams consisting of 3-10 people. A common tournament team game is "Speedball", where players play on an enclosed field with a single central flag and hide behind small scattered walls and barrels. A top of the line paintball marker can cost US$700 - US$1,500. A recreational marker can however be purchased for US$80 to US$300.

The prime difference between the low end and the high end paintball markers is that the high end markers have all become elctro-pneumatic. Meaning that the firing system is all controlled electronically. This allows for firing of the marker with less effort than it requires to click a button on your mouse. It also enables markers to have several different firing modes such as 3 shot bursts, 6 shot bursts or even fully automatic. However, virtually all tournaments and paintball fields only allow semiautomatic mode (1 trigger pull, one shot). Because of this, most high end markers ship with a control board only allowing semiautomatic, and for fully auto modes the board will need to be replaced.

With the lower end markers, the action is controlled solely through mechanical means. Many mechanical markers have a hammer which when cocked is held back by a catch connected to the trigger. It will also have a spring trying to push the hammer forward. When the trigger is pulled, the catch is released and the hammer is allowed to slam in to the valve. This diverts the flow of air from the tank, through the bolt and into the paintball, propelling it out the barrel. Excess air not used to propel the ball is then used to recock the hammer.

There are many types of recreational players, ("rec ballers"). Many if not most play games in commercially licensed and insured paintball fields. Paintball is often played by casual or first-time players who play with an organized group, for example, office and birthday parties and team building exercises. Sometimes, if there are not enough players, "walk on" players who are not part of the group may join in to even the teams. "Renegade" players use unregulated fields often in wooded areas, many times without the owner's knowledge. It shouldn't be thought that these "Renegade" players are unsafe or breaking any laws. There are many people who don't play on regulated fields, however they do abide by all the safety rules the fields enforce. Finally, "scenario" players are ones that gather at paintball fields for "Scenario games". These can range from a simple game of "cops and robbers", to elaborate full scale military style conflicts which may last for days.

There are many markers brands including Air Gun Designs, Tippmann, Kingman, Worr Games Products, JT, Sheridan, WDP, etc

Paintball variants

• Airsoft is a sport similar to Paintball, but uses a different type of projectile and gun.

• Much more information can be found at warpig (World and Regional Paintball Information Guide), an old and fairly unbiased site for paintballers.
• Online Paintball Museum
• History of Paintball
• Multilingual Paintball Wiki
• NPPL US National Tournament League
• PSP US National Tournament League
• NCPA - National College and High School Association and League

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