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By Carolee Anita Boyles If you haven't tried paintball with your kids, you're missing out. Paintball can create great family time. And if you have youngsters who are interested in paintball but not target shooting, it can create a gateway to bring them into the shooting sports.
One of the first things to know about paintball is that not all paintball games are the same. There are two main kinds of paintball, said Ron Goldblatt, director of marketing for Tippmann Sports: tournament style paintball and woodsball. "Tournament style paintball is played in an arena atmosphere, in a smaller area," he said. "It's usually played with inflatable bunkers. There's a lot of strategy and the games are very quick. Players shoot a lot of paint." This kind of play also is called speedball or x-ball, and may be played indoors or outdoors. "It's a lot of fun and very active," Goldblatt said. "There's a lot of shooting. This kind of paintball represents probably a quarter of the market right now." Most paintball, however, is played outdoors and is called
woodsball or scenario ball. Woodsball may be played by just a few people or by hundreds, depending on the event that's taking place. At its most basic, it may involve two or three families, or a small group of friends, getting together to play for an afternoon. "It's like a game of 'capture the flag,'" Cole said. "You play on a couple acres of woods, and you're roughly ten on ten (or however many are playing). Both teams start at opposite ends of the woods and each team tries to capture the other team's flag." This type of paintball is a great place for women and families to start playing.
"Part of what's fun about woodsball is that there are different levels of it," Goldblatt said. "There's recreational paintball, where people just go out for the day and have a good time playing. You're playing with other people who are at the same level you are, and you're able to have a whole family outing with it. This tends to be the best place for women to start learning to play paintball, because you know who you're playing with and the equipment is all about the same level." Cole agreed. "Woodsball is more fun for everyone," he said. "You can play to your speed. If you want to really mix it up you can, or you can play a slower, more methodical game. And it doesn't take huge physical ability to play, so it doesn't matter if you're young or old, or if you're a man or a woman." Then there's scenario play, which also is a form of woodsball but which is a much larger event. "Instead of regular woodsball, which might be a ten to
fifteen minute game, typically in scenario play we're re-creating
some type of historical event," Cole said. "For instance,
one popular re-creation is D-Day. For one week, players re-create
D-Day like the actual battles. You have people pretending to
be the Germans, and some who are pretending to be the Americans,
and they play out that scenario." "For instance, it could be 'aliens have landed'," Cole said. "That one is very popular in Florida."
Marker. The first thing you need is a marker. Don't make the mistake of calling this a paintball "gun." Although some players do refer to their markers as guns, as gunowners we all need to be differentiating between something we know we're going to be shooting at each other, and something we hope we never need to point at another human being. One piece of safety equipment that goes along with the marker is a barrel plug. "We encourage players to always have the barrel plug
on their marker unless they're playing," Goldblatt said.
"That way the marker doesn't discharge by accident." Mask. This is the first, and most important, piece of safety gear. Don't expect to play paintball without it. "About the only thing that can go wrong in a game of
paintball is for someone to get shot in the eye," Cole said.
"When you wear full face protection-and by that I mean an
ASTM certified mask-you've pretty much guaranteed that you're
not going to get hurt." "That way you're more likely to wear it all day," he said.
"You may want to wear knee pads, shin pads, and elbow pads," Cole said. "You are running through the woods, and you may be falling or diving or crawling. It's just good to have some protection on your elbows and knees because of sharp rocks, stickers, and things like that." In addition, some paintball specific clothing is padded in
key areas where you might get hit. "The more expensive paintballs are designed to break on target but not break in the marker," Cole said. "When you get into less expensive paintballs you may be paying for a paintball that's a little harder than it needs to be, so it doesn't break in the marker but it also doesn't break on the target as well. Or you may be paying for a paintball that's a little softer and breaks in the marker a lot." Any more, it's usually only the really super cheap paintballs that are a problem, Cole said. "When you run into paintballs that are in what we call a 'white box,' which is a box without a label on it, avoid it," he said. "Any of the branded paintballs generally are pretty good." Other accessories. Just like with target shooting or with hunting, you can get as deep into accessories as you want to.
You also can buy long "sniper" or improved barrels that increase your accuracy, scopes, and extra tanks. Just go browse around the paintball department of your local sporting goods store and you'll find plenty of accessories to add! Camouflage. Particularly in woodsball, camouflage clothing is popular. "If you go out to play wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, you're really going to stand out," Cole said. If you're a hunter, you're already set up with this part of your gear. If not, you can pick up camo at your local paintball store, or at any sporting goods store. First Time Out "You want to wear clothes that are really baggy," Cole said. "Baggy clothing helps take the sting out of the paintballs." Start out playing woodsball, he suggested. "Tournament style paintball is somewhat intimidating
to anyone who's playing for the first time," he said. "Those
games are much faster, and everyone can see you all the time." "They'll teach you the safety rules and make sure you have a good time," he said. "They'll put you at the same level as other people who are playing, and that will help make it a fun experience." Paintball Facts
Source: Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association |
"Particularly if you're a mother with sons, it
gives you a chance to bond with them," said Tom Cole, director
of sales for Spyder Paintball. "Any time you play something
that's exciting and that gets the adrenaline flowing, everyone
feels like they're a part of the same thing and that's a good
time to bond."
The way the field is set up dictates the pace of the
game and the way the game is played, which allows different levels
of players to participate on a relatively equal footing.
Equipment
Protective clothing. "When you go to a paintball
field, if you want to you can rent a chest protector," Goldblatt
said. "It's optional. And you can wear paintball gloves."
"Most people want a paintball carrying device
to carry additional paintballs," Cole said. "That may
be a backpack with slots that hold 140 rounds each in plastic
pods. That's pretty necessary if you're playing in the woods
for 30 minutes or so; you'll need to reload at some point in
time."
