paintball

Paintball is a sport in which players eliminate opponents by hitting them with pellets containing paint (referred to as a paintball)powered paintball gun (or marker).Paintball guns were originally powered by compresed air but were switched mainly to CO2 power after the air paintball guns became less and less effecient. A brand of TIPPMANN pump-gun was powered by a Propane Can, and it was made for players who did not have access to any Co2 or HPA fills. The gun wasn't very successful, and has been discontinued.

The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association estimates that over 5.4 million people played the game in the United States in 2007, with over 1.9 million playing at least 15 times.

Games can be played either indoors or outdoors and take various forms which are generally divided between woodsball played in natural, wooded terrain and speedball played on a level, rectangular field covered with inflatable geometric shapes such as 'cans' and 3 sided pyramids.

Rules for playing paintball vary widely. The most common form involves two opposing teams seeking to capture their opponent's flag and return it to their starting position, but other objectives may include eliminating all of the other team's players, eliminating a specific player, defending or attacking a particular point or area, or capturing objects of interest hidden in the playing area. Depending on the style of paintball played, a game can last from seconds to hours.

Paintball equipment


The paintball equipment used depends on the format (woodsball, speedball, scenarioball)and how much money someone is willing to spend on equipment. Every player, however, is required to have 5 basic pieces of equipment:
- Paintballs : .68(usually) caliber, gelatin "balls" that are filled with a special non-toxic paint mix
- Complete paintball marker : The paintball gun, known as a "marker" can be either mechanical or electro-pneumatic.

- Either a CO2 or high pressure air tank. : The CO2 or HPA tank stores the propellant used in shooting the paintball
- the loader or "hopper" : these can rely on purely gravity to load the paintballs into the breach but these rarely exceed a loading speed of 4 balls a second. for faster loading a electric hopper is needed
- Mask : Necessary for the players' protection. Paintballs leave the barrel at almost 200 mph, and direct impact could result in injuries such as permanent scarring or loss of eyesight.


Playing locations



Many players prefer to visit commercial paintball parks, most of which charge for admission.[citation needed] These paintball parks usually feature fields with different "themes" (e.g. woods, jungle, city, or historical battlefield), as well as a complex of speedball fields made up of inflatable paintball bunkers for speedball and tournament teams. Some commercial fields are indoors, allowing players to play when it is too hot, too wet, or too dark outside. Commercial fields sometimes (but do not always) provide such amenities as bathrooms, picnic areas, lockers, equipment rentals, air refills and food service. Commercial fields usually 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. Many fields only allow the use of their field paint to generate more business, while others avoid it.

Players who 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. Scenario games can last for a week or more; while tournament games are generally the same length, a scenario game focuses on a single 'story' or setting (recreating a famous battle, for example, or 'Cops vs. Robbers'-style games).

A recently occurring trend in paintball is that of a mobile field, where a business primarily provides paintballs and paintball related services on land that they are using only temporarily. This is often done for the means of scenario gaming, to provide different tracts of land for players to play on.

source : wikipedia