Paintball

A tournament player shooting from behind an inflatable bunker.

A woodsball player firing at opponents from behind cover.

Paintball is a sport in which participants use compressed air guns called markers to shoot paintballs at other players. It is in essence a complex form of tag, as players struck with paintballs during the game are eliminated.

Paintball draws a wide array of players, and the Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association estimates that approximately 10 million people play annually in the United States alone. Insurance statistics show that paintball is one of the safest sports in existence, even more so than golf.

Games can be played either indoors or outdoors and take various forms, of which some of the most popular are woodsball and tourneyball, also sometimes known as speedball under various circumstances. Rules for playing paintball vary widely, with most designed to ensure that participants enjoy the sport in a safe environment. The sport requires a significant amount of equipment and has even developed its own slang.

A game of paintball usually involves two opposing teams seeking to eliminate all of the other team's players or to complete an objective (such as retrieving a flag or eliminating a specific player, see Paintball variations). An average, non-professional game of paintball usually lasts around five minutes to half an hour. Since its inception, paintball has drawn a crowd of both casual and serious players. A full set of paintball gear costs anywhere from $150 to $2,000 dollars (USD), depending on the equipment. Some players may invest hundreds of dollars in equipment to improve accuracy, rate of fire, weight, reliability, and comfort. Instead of purchasing their gear, occasional players may instead rent equipment from a paintball facility for about $10-$30 USD per day. The number of paintballs fired during a game varies from player to player: often depending on their marker's rate of fire, some paintball players fire hundreds of paintballs per game, while others shoot a relatively smaller amount of paintballs, sometimes not even firing at all during an entire game.

History

The first paintballs were created by the Nelson Paint Company in the 1970s for forestry service use in marking trees from a distance, and were also used by cattlemen to mark cows. Two decades later, paintballs were used in a survival game contest between two friends in the woods of Henniker, New Hampshire, and Paintball as a sport was born.

In 1976, Hayes Noel, a stock trader and his friend Charles Gaines, a writer, were walking home and chatting about Gaines' recent trip to Africa and his experiences hunting buffalo. Eager to recreate the adrenaline rush that came with the thrill of the hunt, and inspired by Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game, the two friends came up with the idea to create a game where they could stalk and hunt each other.

In the ensuing months, the friends talked about what sorts of qualities and characteristics made for a good hunter and survivalist. They were stumped, however, on how to devise a test of those skills. It wasn't until a year and a half later that George Butler, a friend of theirs, showed them a paintball gun in an agricultural catalog. The gun was a Nelspot 007 marker manufactured by the Nelson Paint Company. Noel and Gaines each purchased a pistol and had a duel in what became the very first game of paintball. Gaines won.

Thereafter, the friends devised basic rules for the game fashioned along the lines of capture the flag, and invited friends and a writer from Sports Illustrated to play. They called their game "Survival," and an article about the game was published in the June 1980 issue of Sports Illustrated. . As national interest in the game steadily built, Gaines and Noel formed a company, National Survival Game, and entered a contract with Nelson Paint Company to be the sole distributor of their paintball equipment. Thereafter, they licensed to franchisees in other states the right to sell their guns, paint, and goggles. As a result of their monopoly on equipment, they turned a profit in only six months.

The first games of paintball were very different from modern paintball games. Nelspot pistols were the only gun available. They used 12-gram CO2 cartridges, held at most 12 rounds, and had to be recocked after each shot. Dedicated paintball masks had not yet been created, so players wore shop glasses that left the rest of their faces exposed. The first paintballs were oil-based and thus not water soluble; "turpentine parties" were common after a day of play. Games often lasted for hours as players stalked each other, and since each player had only a limited number of rounds, shooting was rare.

Between 1981 and 1983, rival manufacturers began to create competing products, and it was during those years that the sport took off. Paintball technology gradually developed as manufacturers added a front-mounted pump in order to make recocking easier, then replaced the 12-gram cartridges with larger air tanks, commonly referred to as "constant air". These basic innovations were later followed by gravity feed hoppers and 45-degree elbows to facilitate loading from the hopper.

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.

Goggle System - The most important rule in paintball is that all players must wear a protective goggle system (or "mask") 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 serious injury if hit by a paintball. Paintball masks are specifically designed for the sport, and the goggles are capable of withstanding a direct hit from a paintball traveling at well over 300 feet per second (90 m/s). A mask has has goggles built in and commonly has flaps that protect the ears. Some masks cover all of the head, but smaller face masks are more common. Commercial paintball fields require players to wear a mask designed specifically for playing paintball.

Paintball Velocity - In addition to the mandatory use of masks, paintball markers must not fire paintballs that exceed a certain velocity. The industry standard maximum velocity for safe play is 300 feet per second (90 m/s), which is approximately 200 mph. Paintballs traveling faster than this speed will leave large bruises and can potentially break the skin or even fingers. Many commercial paintball facilities mandate a lower velocity, usually 280 feet per second (usually 250 for indoor) in order to create an extra margin of safety. Lower velocities can still be painful at point blank range, and should be avoided when possible. Recreational players sometimes use a "barrel tap" rule where a player is out if they are tapped with an opponent's barrel for safety issues. Many players take care to leave as little exposed skin as possible, as well as using extra protection for more vulnerable areas (i.e. gloves, knee pads, throat protectors, etc)

Paintball velocity is measured using a chronograph. Chronographs are standard equipment at commercial paintball facilities, but should be purchased if not playing at a commercial location. Players who play without first using a chronograph put themselves and other players at risk. Because changes in temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure may affect a paintball's velocity, markers should be chronographed several times throughout the day. Paintball markers should also be chronographed after any adjustment or replacement of parts (e.g. the barrel) that might significantly change the marker's velocity.

Barrel Blocking Devices - All players must use some sort of barrel blocking device on their paintball marker when not actively playing. These devices generally take the form of a small bag (known as a barrel sock, barrel bag or barrel condom) that covers the front end of the barrel and is held in place by an elastic cord looped around the paintball gun. The barrel sock thus catches any paintballs that may be accidentally fired. Prior to the introduction of barrel socks in the late 1990's, barrel plugs, a piece of hard plastic with rubber O-rings placed into the front end of the barrel, were the most commonly used barrel blocking device. Because barrel plugs can fall out or be shot out of the barrel if a round is accidentally discharged, barrel socks are now the insurance-mandated standard at all insured, commercial fields. More recent markers use a safety 'catch' system, where a button on the side of the gun is pressed to lock the firing trigger. However, even with the addition of a safety, players should always use a barrel blocking device.

Player eliminations

Players eliminate each other from the game by hitting their opponents with a paintball that breaks upon impact and leaves them visibly marked with paint. Rules on how big a paint mark must be to count as a hit vary, but a paint mark from a paintball that breaks on some other object before impacting a player, referred to as splatter, does not count as a hit. Once a player has been marked, they are eliminated from the game.

Most rules consider hits on any body part, clothing, gear, or object the player is carrying or wearing as an elimination. This includes the marker, backpack or an object picked up from the field (such as a flag or a pod). Some rules do not count hits on the marker and/or head, or other areas of the body as an elimination, such as anywhere but the torso, or require more than one hit in certain areas for elimination. These special rules are usually found in scenario paintball games.

If a player is uncertain whether a mark 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, 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 or a nearby teammate 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 referee. Some game rules allow a referee to call a player 'neutral' during a paint check so that the referee 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!", from paint marks from paint grenades or paint mines (in games where such equipment is allowed) or due to a penalty, such as stepping out-of-bounds or leaving the starting station prior to the beginning of the game.

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 without breaking, 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 ensure 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. In tournaments, a “3 for 1” penalty may be called, where the offending player and an additional three teammates are eliminated from play.

Surrender rule

Recreational rules often suggest a player within a certain distance of an unaware opponent (usually 10 to 15 feet) should offer the unaware player's surrender (by yelling "Surrender!") before they may open fire. If the opponent complies, either verbally or by raising their hand or marker, they are considered marked and are out of the match. However, if they refuse or attempt any hostile action (such as turning to fire), the challenging player may fire upon them. Getting hit by a paintball from close range can be painful, and it is considered polite and good sportsmanship to offer an opponent the opportunity to surrender when possible instead of unnecessarily shooting at close range.

This "rule" is subject to great interpretation between fields, and even between players, for a variety of reasons. A common field interpretation of the surrender rule is not to prevent two players in a heated exchange from shooting each other close range, but rather from having an experienced player mowing down a first-timer who is in shock and hiding in a bunker. Interpretation at the other end of the debate often stipulates an automatic elimination for any move where a surrender would be offered, such as surprise or bunkering. This strict variant is often called a "bunker tap rule," to differentiate it from a more lax interpretation.

This debate stems from the surrender rule being easily exploited, as the player offering a surrender opens himself to being shot by either his direct opponent or an opportunistic player elsewhere. The time it takes to offer and accept a surrender can halt a fast-paced maneuver, especially in speedball. Newer players can become packed with adrenaline in such situations, and often attempt to fire out of reflex. Thus, experienced players often decide to offer a surrender only in situations where the opponent is completely off guard, and will be too shocked to make any reflex action. For these reasons, when a bunkering move is executed, even in recreational play, a surrender is rarely offered unless field rules absolutely require it.

Note in tournament play, there is no surrender rule whatsoever. When player catches an opponent off guard, they will fire a large, close range volley to ensure the paint breaks. 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 important plays. Another popular move is "bunkering", where a player charges up to the bunker or barricade that an opposing player is behind and shoots them from over the top or around the side of the bunker.

Three Ball Break

Another beginner-friendly rule, similar to the surrender rule in spirit, is called three ball break. Though the exact value of the rule varies (three, five, etc), the rule states if more than n balls break open on an opponent, the player responsible for eliminating the player is eliminated as well. This keeps opportunistic overshooting to a minimum during recreational play. The genre of "break rules" are being phased out at some fields in response to more beginner players with electronic markers, as even on semi-automatic firing modes it is common for many more than three balls to hit a player.

As with surrendering, tournament play has no maximum ball break rule. However, once a player is either called out or calls themselves out, a penalty will be excised for any further breaks on that player.

Types of games

Basic variations

Main article: Paintball Variations

• Capture the Flag - A team must take the flag from the opponents' flag station on the opposite side of the field and return it to their own station in order to win.

noel

Woodsball

Main article: Woodsball

A woodsball player lying in wait.

Dressed in snow camouflage, a woodsball player assaults a position using a Viper M1 marker.

Paintball started out as a recreational game in wooded areas, with capture the flag and elimination being the most common formats. Woodsball can involve any range of players with a variety of bunker types. 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 for an extended period of time. Many playing locations often have their own custom variations. Woodsball gives players the freedom to engage in any number of typical and atypical scenarios such as ambushes, assaults on fortified positions and protecting VIPs. Woodsball can be played throughout the year, although cold weather play often hinders the use of CO2 because lower temperatures don't allow the gas to expand properly. Playing woodsball in varying weather conditions further adds challenges and advantages for the players.

Woodsball is sometimes played in National Forest areas, although the same rules that apply to the discharge of firearms are applicable to paintball players. Woodsball should never be played within sight of roads, trails, campgrounds or any other area where non-players are located. Before playing in National Forests, players should contact the ranger and confirm local rules regarding play.

Scenario paintball

Main article: Scenario paintball

Scenario paintball games are based on a storyline or theme. Scenario games allow for a wide range of player skill levels and an even larger amount of participants. These games can span a period as short as 12 hours or last for days. Objectives vary based on the storyline but cooperation is a major theme in these games. One of the largest annual scenario games is Oklahoma D-Day at The Bunker in Wyandotte, Oklahoma which in 2006 drew around 3,700 players. The largest game to date was Skirmish's Invasion of Normandy, held annually in Jim Thorpe, PA, which drew 4,008 players in 2006.

Speedball

Main article: Speed paintball

Speedball is a type of paintball characterized by a small field size and artificial obstacles. While a woodsball field may cover several acres, speedball fields are usually less than half the size of a football field, and located on level, treeless terrain. Bunkers on a speedball field are man-made, and have evolved from wooden spools and crates to corrogated sewer piping to the customized inflatable obstacles in various shapes that are common today.

Because of the small field size, and the lack of foilage or any other objects aside from the artificial obstacles on the field, players can see from one end of the field to the other, and games are usually much shorter than those played in the woods. Since players can see each other and start the game within range of each other, action between opponents is immediate and lasts the entire game. Due to the smaller field size, there are usually fewer players per team than in woodsball, commonly from three to ten players.

While speedball is presently used in tournament play far more often than woodsball, many casual recreational players also enjoy speedball outside an organized, competitive setting, especially at indoor playing facilities where a woodsball field is not an option.

Tournament Paintball

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A 3-man team at their starting station.

Organized paintball competition is nearly as old as the sport itself, starting with regional tournaments held at National Survival Game locations in 1983 and cluminating in the National Survival Game National Championship (actually won by Canadian team "The Unknown Rebels" from London, Ontario).

Tournament paintball shares its origins with the sport as a whole in the woods, but as speedball became more common in the late 1990's, most tournaments moved from woodsball to speedball play. The small size of speedball fields brings several advantages to competetive play. Artificial obstacles allow the fields to be set up with each side in mirror image to the other, eliminating advantage due to different terrain on each side of woodsball fields. The flat, vegetation-free playing surface makes it easier for officials to see players and make the correct call, and coupled with the small field size allows spectators to see the entire game at once.

Since speedball fields don't have trees or other foilage, camouflage is not of any use. Camouflage clothing common in wooded play has been largely replaced in tournament play by colored team uniforms similar to those in other competitive team sports.

Tournament Formats

Tournaments may be played with teams of various sizes, although the most common modern-day formats are 3-man, 5-man and 7-man. 20-man and 15-man tournaments were common on wooded fields in the 1980's, and professional paintball teams played 10-man for most of the 90's and into the new millenium, but today tournament paintball is dominated by 5- and 7-man formats. In most tournament formats, teams play a set of games against various opponents. Teams earn points for each game, with the most points awarded for capturing and hanging the flag, but some also awarded for opponents eliminated and teammates left alive at the end of the game.

• Capture the Flag - The original tournament format, woodsball tournaments of any size are commonly capture the flag format, as well as most 10-man and 7-man speedball tournaments, but may also be used with other team sizes. The game starts with a flag at each team's starting station, and the team to capture their opponent's flag and return it to their starting station wins. The National Professional Paintball League plays a 7-man capture the flag format, which was used in the NPPL US Paintball Championship (NPPL Commander's Cup 2005 in Miami) broadcast on ESPN2 in the spring of 2006. 7-man capture the flag is also played by regional tournament series like the Xtreme Paintball Sports League and the New England Paintball League.

• Centerflag - The two flags of capture the flag are replaced by one flag located at the center of the field. The first team to take this flag to the opposing team's starting station wins the game. 3-man, 5-man and some 7-man competitions primarily use the centerflag format. Paintball Sports Promotions, a national circuit, offers 5-man centerflag divisions in addition to XBall.

• XBall - A newer format first played at the International Amateur Open in 2002, XBall pits two teams against each other in multiple rounds of Center Flag played one after another until game time runs out. A team scores one point for each game of centerflag they win, and the team with the most points at the end of the match wins. Professional XBall matches are 50 minutes long, split into two halves, while non-professional matches use various shorter game times. Although only 5 players per team play in any given game, depending on league rules, teams may roster up to 19 players and substitute them after each point. Unlike most tournament formats that forbid players to communicate with people on the sidelines, XBall teams have a coach who can communicate, along with the spectators, with players on the field. Players who receive penalties are not permanently removed from the game, but placed in a hockey-like penalty box for several minutes. The National XBall League, a professional circuit associated with Paintball Sports Promotions, plays the XBall format, which was also used for the Smart Parts World Paintball Championships broadcast on ESPN2 in the fall of 2006.

• XBall Light Like XBall, but only has one period, typically 15 minutes long. The first team to reach a set point total (commonly 5 or 7 points), or the team with the highest point total after game time has elapsed, wins the match. XBall Light is offered by Paintball Sports Promotions as well as regional series like the Carolina Field Owners Association.

Stock class

Stock Class play has specific rules regarding the configuration of the marker, restricting the technology of the markers to mechanisms available in the early 1980s. Markers used in stock class play must use a pump action to fire, can not hold more than 10 to 20 rounds of paint, must be powered by 12-gram carbon dioxide powerlets, and must hold paintballs in a linear feed tube parallel to the barrel.

A pump action paintball marker lacks an automated mechanism for moving the bolt between the firing and loading position, and instead has the bolt attached to a manual cocking mechanism. Using a pump handle attached to the cocking mechanism, the player must slide the bolt back to allow the next paintball to fall into the marker, then push the bolt (and the paintball) forward into the chamber, requiring a total of two separate movements to cycle the marker. After the bolt has been moved forward and the paintball is in the chamber, the paintball marker is ready to be fired and expel the paintball.

A 12 gram CO2 powerlet will only fire 20 to 40 rounds (depending on the efficiency of the marker) before needing to be changed for a new powerlet. Because the paintballs are lined up parallel to the barrel, they will not naturally fall into the gun while it is held in a level firing position, requiring the marker to be tipped (rocked) forward or backward before being pumped (re-cocked). This complete action for loading another paintball into the chamber of a Stock Class marker is thus called "Rock & Cock".

Reball or T-ball

A "reball" is a rubber-like substitute for a paintball, whilst a 'T-ball' is slightly harder. Reball is a brand name, as is T-ball, but is often used when describing Rufus Dawg Target Balls, and other knock-offs. 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 manufacturers 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.

Scenario players in camouflage.

Types of players

Players usually fall into one of four categories: recreational, woodsball, scenario, and tournament.

The recreational class encompasses a range of levels of involvement in the sport, from occasional players (church groups, birthday parties, or bachelor parties) to more regular players who may own their own entry-level equipment but do not play in tournaments. Recreational players may play at commercial 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. This 15% can be subdivided into three groups: scenario players, woodsball players and tournament players. While these three groups can 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.

Playing locations

Most players prefer to go to commercial paintball parks, which charge for admission. These paintball parks usually feature different themed fields (e.g. woods, jungle, city, or historical battlefield), as well as a complex of speedball fields for tournament teams. Some commercial fields are indoors, allowing players to play when it is too hot, too wet, or too dark outside. Commercial fields also (but not always) provide such amenities as bathrooms, picnic areas, lockers, equipment rentals, air refills, and even food service. These fields adhere to specific safety and insurance standards and have a paid staff, including referees, whose job is to make sure players are instructed in proper play in a manner that ensures all participants' safety. In order to avoid liability, commercial fields strictly monitor paintball velocity with chronographs.

A typical tournament field.

Players that find commercial fields to be too expensive or too crowded sometimes play on private land, often referred to as "renegade" play or "outlaw ball". Though less expensive and less structured than play at a commercial facility, the lack of safety protocols, instruction, and oversight means that the vast majority of injuries incurred by paintball players occur in these "renegade" games. Private landowners may also be liable for injuries sustained on their property, especially if they opt to charge fees for play.

Major scenario and tournament events may sometimes occur at other locations like fairgrounds, military bases, or stadiums, essentially turning them into temporary paintball parks. The same trained staff and insurance found at permanent commercial paintball parks can be found at these events.

Special Ops Paintball created the Game Locator in 2005 to allow paintball players to post any type of games, search for games by distance, and opt-in to games.

Paintball equipment

Main article: Paintball equipment

• Required for play:
  • Paintball marker - to fire the paintballs.
  • Goggles/Face Mask - Designed to protect the eyes and face from paintballs.
  • Paintballs - Marble-sized, .68 caliber gelatin capsules filled with colored polyethylene glycol "paint".
  • Propellant source - Compressed air or CO₂ to fire the paintballs.
  • Paintball Loader - To hold and feed the paintballs into the marker. Also known as "hopper."
  • Barrel Sock / Plug - In case of accidental discharge, this device will stop a paintball from leaving the barrel.
  • Proper clothing - Suitable for running, sliding, crawling, light protection, etc.
  • Proper footwear - Cleats, athletic shoes, boots or other shoes that are comfortable for running. Depending on terrain, ankle support is also important.

• Common additional equipment, depending on type of play:
  • Gloves, Elbow Pads and Knee Pads
  • A pack designed to comfortably carry 140-round pods containing extra paintballs
  • Squeegee or swab for cleaning out the barrel in case a paintball breaks.
  • Chest protector
  • Throat protector

Strategies and tactics

Main article: Paintball Strategy

Paintball, like many other sports, revolves more around teamwork than it does equipment or even the skill of individual players. A well-organized team working together can defeat a team whose players are in disarray, even if individual members of the confused team have better skills and gear. Communication is key to the defeat of opposing teams, and often time, presence of mind, and teamwork help to win a game.

Paintball lingo

Main article: Glossary of Paintball Terms

Due to the unique nature of paintball and paintball equipment, players have developed a large body of jargon to describe the special kinds of tactics, equipment, phenomena, and even people found in the game. While most of the terms are neologisms, many are also borrowed from gamer and military culture.

Public acceptance

While paintball has received all formal recognition and official acceptance as a safe and civilized sport and garnered a very large casual fanbase, it has been attacked by some as glorifying, trivializing, or popularizing war and the use of firearms. Many paintball players are in the military and even utilize paintball to supplement military training, and in many (but by no means all) cases, paintball games and players take on a military theme, especially regarding camouflage and terminology. Incidents of both accidental and intentional misuse of paintball markers resulting in vandalism, personal injury, harassment, assault, etc. draw controversy as well. Overall, paintball is criticized and debated in the same general manner as violence in the media and gun control.

The supporters of paintball have combated these negative perceptions in several ways. The hand-held device used by players to launch paintballs is officially referred to as a marker, rather than a gun. Media coverage of tournaments, teams, and scenarios shows that mainstream paintball possesses the same general level of sportsmanship, professionalism, safety, camaraderie, and constructive competition as any other sport. It includes diverse members consisting of many races, nationalities, ages, creeds, ideologies, and genders. As an organized sport, it bears no pattern of drawing criminals or inciting civil disturbance. Players are not usually known to violently assault each other, either during or after a game, as opposed to such traditionally acceptable sports as hockey, where fistfights during play are commonplace. Since the sport's inception, its level of acceptance as a legitimate recreational activity among the general public has increased largely with greater exposure. It is believed by paintball's supporters that greater coverage and education of the sport will settle the controversy and lead to greater overall public acceptance.

Recently, professional players have started signing contracts and getting paid. Ex-Dynasty player, Oliver Lang, widely regarded as the best player in the world, signed a 3-year contract with the Los Angeles Ironmen for $100,000. Many players see this as the next step to the acceptance of paintball as a legitimate sport.

Paintball leagues

Main article: Paintball league

Professional, semi-professional, and divisional leagues regularly hold high-class, well-organized tournaments involving a large number of professional teams, crowds of spectators, and large cash prizes. Though most of the major leagues are based in the United States, many leagues in Europe have become powerhouses in their own right, drawing thousands of spectators at every event.

Examples of paintball leagues:

• NPPL (NPPL website) - (National Professional Paintball League), Nationwide tournament circuit featuring 7-man format, formerly broadcast on ESPN2
• NXL (PSP website) - (Paintball Sports Promotions), Nationwide tournament circuit featuring the X-Ball format. PSP's Professional division is known as the NXL, formerly broadcast on ESPN2
• CXBL - Canadian X-Ball League
• Millennium Series - Pan-European paintball league

For a more comprehensive list of paintball leagues, see the main paintball league article.

Paintball in popular culture

• In 1985, the movie "Gotcha!", starring Anthony Edwards as a college student who was part of a game where several college students hunted one another around campus with paintball guns.
• In 2005, rapper B-Real (of Cypress Hill), wrote the song Play it for Real about the sport of paintball. B-Real currently plays competitive paintball and has contributed to the Greg Hastings' series of Paintball Games.
• A simulation of the sport of paintball, using NPPL-like tournament play, and featuring actual professional paintball players and licensed-equipment from actual paintball manufacturers, was created by game developer The Whole Experience. The game, Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball, was released in 2004, and a sequel of the game, Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D, was released in 2005.
• The independent film Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story was about paintball, and brought some interest and attention to the sport from the outside community. It was one of the first widely released films to be primarily about paintball.
• ESPN2 has broadcast the 2005 U.S. Paintball Championships, also known as the NPPL Super 7, in what has been widely considered the best showing of paintball on television to date. The U.S. Paintball Championships was filmed at the Miami leg of the NPPL season.
• The first big time Movie/DVD of paintball "Push" is released. It chronicles Team Iron Men, Avalanche, Aftershock and other popular players. The movie was put out by Dye and chronicles the hunt for the elusive World Cup Championship. This movie set the standard for future paintball documentaries and movies.
• The 2006 movie "Failure To Launch" featured a substantial sequence in which characters played by Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker and others compete in a speedball game.
• There is a very popular Half Life modification based on Paintball called Digital Paintball
• William Shatner is an avid paintball player, and has hosted and promoted large paintball events that support his charity, Ahead with Horses.
• Several televised comedy and cartoon series, such as "Spaced", "The Simpsons", "King of The Hill", "The King of Queens", "Greg The Bunny", and "The Bernie Mac Show", have included paintball story lines. Depictions of the sport on television may not be accurate, however, especially in regard to safety rules.
• The 2006 movie "Man of the year" featured a paintball scene in a woods setting.
• The 2006 movie "School for Scoundrels" featured a paintball scene in a woods setting.It should be noted that the players in the movie were not demonstrating proper safety. Their markers were live and had no barrel bags on, and no one was wearing a mask.
• There is a popular internet video series called, "MRPCrew FPS Series". It consist of the Marsh River Paintball Crew playing in a woodsball setting in a country area south of Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada)

Alternatives similar to paintball

• Airsoft utilizes "guns" which are 1:1 replicas of real firearms, albeit firing plastic pellets, and mostly simulates real military combat, often complete with matching uniforms and gear.
• Laser tag utilizes gun-like devices emitting invisible lasers. Players wear electronic gear, usually just a vest but occasionally including leg, arm, or head sensors, that vibrates, makes noise, and prevents the laser emitter from firing after being hit with a laser burst. Games must be played indoors under low-light conditions in order for the sensors to work. Organized laser tag arenas include structures to serve as obstacles, cover, and objectives or home bases, as well as a computer system that remotely monitors the game and provides statistics for the teams and individual players. Q-Zar is the largest company so far to support laser tag.
• Nerf is a hobby and unofficial sport utilizing modified Nerf toys, or other similar brands of toy projectiles, that is played much like paintball. It is cheaper, simpler, easier, and even safer than paintball. It is popular among children, being favored greatly over paintball by many parents. The game usually works by the honor system regarding hits and outs, restricting it to closely-knit communities and teams.

External links

Paintball History

• Warpig (World and Regional Paintball Information Guide), Paintball's 'original' web resource, with fairly unbiased news and general sport information.
• Sunyjim's Paintball Club - An Ongoing History of Paintball - Extensive, detailed description and timeline of paintball history, replete with photos.
• Inside the cult of paintball