Paintball

Paintball

A Paintball player
First played	June 27, 1981, Henniker, New Hampshire
Characteristics
Contact	No physical contact between players (contact can result in penalties)
Team members	Varies depending on game format and level of play (recreational or professional)
Categorization	Extreme; indoor or outdoor
Equipment	Paintballs, paintball marker, CO2, compressed air/HPA (High Pressure Air), mask, hopper

Paintball is a game,^[1][2][3] first played in 1981 in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by hitting them with capsules containing paint (referred to as paintballs) from a device called a paintball marker. The game is regularly played at a sporting level with organized competition involving worldwide leagues, tournaments, professional teams, and players.^[4][5] Paintball technology is also used by armies to supplement military training, riot response, and non lethal suppression of dangerous suspects.

Games are played on indoor or outdoor fields of varying sizes. A game field is scattered with natural or artificial terrain, which players use for strategic play. Rules for playing paintball vary, but can include capture the flag, elimination, defending or attacking a particular point or area, or capturing objects of interest hidden in the playing area. Depending on the variant played, games can last from seconds to hours, or even days in scenario play.

The legality of paintball varies among countries and regions. In most areas where regulated play is offered, players are required to wear protective masks, and game rules are strictly enforced.

History

A paintball player crouching behind cover

In 1976, Hayes Noel, a stock trader, Bob Gurnsey, and author Charles Gaines were discussing Gaines' recent trip to Africa and his experiences hunting buffalo. Inspired in part by Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game, they created a game where they would stalk and hunt each other; recreating the same adrenaline rush that came with animal hunting.^[6] In 1981 in New Hampshire, the group used a "Nel-spot 007" pistol (normally used by farmers and ranchers for marking trees and livestock) to fire balls of paint. Twelve people participated in this first game, which was a "capture the flag" scenario between two teams. The winner captured all flags without firing a shot.^[7]

As national interest in the game steadily built, Bob Gurnsey formed the National Survival Game company, and entered a contract with Nelson Paint Company to be the sole distributor of their paintball equipment.^[8] Thereafter, they licensed to franchises 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.^[8]

The first games of paintball made use of Nelspot pistols, which were the only guns available at the time. They used 12-gram CO₂ cartridges, held only ten rounds, and had to be tilted to roll the ball into the chamber and then 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.^[9] Games often lasted for hours as players stalked each other, and since each player had only a limited number of rounds, shooting was rare.^[10]

Between 1981 and 1983, rival manufacturers such as PMI began to create competing products, and it was during those years that the game took off.^[11] 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".^[12] These innovations were followed by gravity feed hoppers and 45-degree elbows to facilitate loading from the hopper.^[12] In 1984, paintball was established in other countries outside the United States; with Skirmish Paintball setting up fields in Australia and England.^[13][14]

Equipment

The paintball equipment used depends on the game type, for example: woodsball, speedball, or scenarioball, as well as on how much money one is willing to spend on equipment. Every player, however, is required to have three basic pieces of equipment:

• Paintball marker: also known as a "paintball gun", this is the primary piece of equipment, used to tag an opposing player with paintballs. The paintball marker must have attached a loader or "hopper" to keep the marker fed with ammunition, and will be either gravity-fed (where balls drop into the loading chamber), or electronically force-fed. A marker will require a compressed air bottle, nitrogen, or carbon dioxide for propellant.
• Paintballs: The ammunition used in the marker, paintballs are spherical gelatin capsules containing primarily polyethylene glycol, other non-toxic and water-soluble substances, and dye. The quality of paintballs is dependent on the brittleness of the ball's shell, the roundness of the sphere, and the thickness of the fill; higher-quality balls are almost perfectly spherical, with a very thin shell to guarantee breaking upon impact, and a thick, brightly-colored fill that is difficult to hide or wipe off during the game.
• Mask or goggles: Masks are safety devices players are required to wear at all times on the field, to protect them from paintballs.^[15] They completely cover the eyes, mouth, ears and nostrils of the wearer, and masks can also feature throat guards. Modern masks have evolved to be less bulky compared with older designs.

Optional equipment

• Pods: With the advent of semi-automatic paintball markers, the number of shots fired in a game increased, eventually surpassing the capacity of most hoppers (generally 200 rounds). To increase carrying capacity, manufacturers started marketing "pods" with a rigid shell and flip-top lid that could carry 100 or 140 extra paintballs. To carry and quickly access these pods, various "pouches" that clip to a player's belt, or "harnesses" that incorporate a belt, are made that can carry any number of pods the player wishes, from one or two up to several.
• Apparel: Though virtually any clothing is acceptable, players tend to wear long pants, and long sleeve shirts made of durable fabrics, to protect skin from abrasion with the ground or foliage and from direct impact of paintballs. Clothing that breathes well and whisks moisture quickly away from the skin is preferable, as is the case for most outdoor sports. A specialized set of clothing for speedball has been designed, derived from motocross apparel, and is produced by many manufacturers for both professional and amateur players. In woodsball and scenario games, camoflauge is common, and army-surplus BDU clothing is a common choice for the purpose. Some companies also produce paintball-specific camoflauge apparel for woodsball.Playing paintball usually involves running, jumping, sliding, kneeling, and crawling in outdoor fields, sometimes in unkempt areas containing rocks, gravel and compacted dirt. To protect players' knees, elbows and hands, protective pads and gloves are often used, In addition to normal playing apparel. Specialized pad designs for paintball are marketed to provide protection without adding bulk or restricting movement. In addition, more sensitive areas of player's bodies such as the neck, collarbone, groin and similar can be given protective padding to prevent or reduce bruising. The use of such padding often increases the likelihood that shots will bounce off instead of breaking, so most tournament leagues strictly specify the type and amount of padding that is allowed.

Gameplay

A paintball team prepares to breakout.

Paintball is played with a potentially limitless variety of rules and variations, which are specified before the game begins. The most basic game rule is that players must attempt to accomplish a goal without being shot with paintballs. When a player is shot, and the ball breaks rather than bounce, they must raise their marker to indicate that they are out, and leave the playing field.^[16] Depending on the agreed upon game rules, the player may return to the field and continue playing, or is eliminated from the game completely.

The particular goal of the game is determined before play begins; examples include capture the flag^[17] or Elimination.^[18] Paintball has spawned popular variants, including woodsball, which is played in the natural environment and spans across a large area.^[19] Conversely, the variant of speedball is played on a smaller field and has a very fast pace (with games lasting up to five minutes).^[20] Another variant is scenario paintball, in which players attempt to recreate historical, or fictional settings; the largest being Oklahoma D-Day's World War II re-enactment.

Enforcement of game rules

Regulated games are overseen by referees, who patrol the course to ensure enforcement of the rules and the safety of the players. If a player is marked with paint, they will call them out, but competitors may also be expected to follow the honor code; a broken ball means elimination.^[21] Field operators may specify variations to this rule, such as requiring a tag to certain body locations only – such as the head and torso only.^[22] There are game rules that can be enforced depending on the venue, in order to ensure safety, balance the fairness of the game or eliminate cheating.

• Masks On – Even when a game is not in progress, virtually all venues enforce a masks-on rule while players are within the playing area. More generally, within any given area of the park, either all players'/spectators'/officials' masks must be on, or all players' markers must either have a barrel block in place or be disconnected from their gas source, to ensure that a paintball cannot be fired from any nearby marker and cause eye injury. Some fields encourage players to aim away from opponents' heads during play if possible; splatter from mask hits can penetrate ventilation holes in the goggles and cause eye irritation, close-range hits to the mask can cause improperly-maintained lenses to fail, and hits to unprotected areas of the face, head and neck are especially painful and can cause more serious injury.^[23]
• Minimum distance – When being tagged, depending on the distance from where the shot was fired, getting marked can feel like a firm pinch. Being marked may even leave a welt. Because of the pain associated with being hit by a paintball, commercial venues may enforce a minimum distance rule; such as 15 feet (4.5 m), whereby players cannot shoot an opponent if they are closer than this distance.^[24] Many fields enforce a modified minimum distance surrender rule; a player who advances to within minimum range must offer his opponent the chance to surrender before shooting. This generally prevents injury and discord at recreational games, however it is seldom used in tournaments as it confers a real disadvantage to the attacking player; he must hesitate while his opponent is free to shoot immediately. The act of shooting a player at close range is colloquially called "bunkering"; it happens most often when a player uses covering fire to force his opponent behind a bunker, then advances on that bunker while still shooting to eliminate the opponent point-blank.^[25]

• Hits -A player is hit if a paintball leaves a solid, nickel-sized mark anywhere on the player's body or equipment. Some variations of paintball don't count gun hits or require multiple hits on the arms or legs. Most professional fields and tournaments, though, count any hit on a person or their equipment. Splatter often occurs when a paintball does not break on a person but on a nearby surface and then paint bounces onto the player, but this does not count as a hit unless it forms a solid mark on the player.
• Overshooting – Fields may discourage players from overshooting (also regarded as bonus balling, "overkill" or lighting up), which is to repeatedly shoot a player after they are eliminated from the game.^[26] It is also considered overshooting if a player knew the opponent was eliminated but continued to shoot, disregarding the safety of the opposing player and risking dangerous injury to others.
• Ramping – Ramping is a feature of many electronic markers, where after a certain number of rapid shots or upon a threshold rate-of-fire being achieved by the player, the gun will begin firing faster than the trigger is being pulled. Ramping of rate of fire is widely prohibited at most paintball fields, however it is allowed in some tournament formats under specific conditions.^[27]
• Wiping – Players may attempt to cheat by wiping paint from themselves, to pretend they were not hit and stay in the game.^[21]

Playing venues

A "speedball" field consisting of inflatable paintball bunkers

Paintball is played at both commercial venues, which require paid admission, and private land; both of which may include multiple fields of varying size and layout. Fields can be scattered with either natural or artificial terrain, and may also be themed to simulate a particular environment, such as a wooded or urban area, and may involve a historical context.^[28] Smaller fields (such as those used for Speedball and tournaments) may include an assortment of various inflatable bunkers.

Commercial venues may provide amenities such as bathrooms, picnic areas, lockers, equipment rentals,^[29] air refills and food service. Countries may have paintball sports guidelines, with rules on specific safety and insurance standards, and paid staff (including referees) who must ensure players are instructed in proper play to ensure participants' safety. Some fields are "BYOP" (Bring Your Own Paint), allowing players to buy paint at unrelated retail stores or online and use it at their field. However, most fields are FPO (Field Paint Only); players must buy paint at the venue or at a pro shop affiliated with the park. This is largely for revenue reasons; field and rental fees generally do not cover expenses of a paintball park. However, other reasons relating to player safety are generally cited, and have some merit as poor quality or poorly-stored paint can cause gun failures or personal injury to targeted players^[30][31][32]

Playing on a non-established field is sometimes referred to as renegade play or outlaw ball (with the players nicknamed renegade ballers or outlaws).^[33] Though less expensive and less structured than play at a commercial facility, the lack of safety protocols, instruction, and oversight can lead to higher incidence of injuries.

Organized play

Many used or smashed paintballs

The first organized paintball game in record was held by Charles Gaines, Bob Guernsey and friends in New Hampshire in 1981, with the first paintball field opening approximately a year later in Rochester, New York.^[34] In 1983 the first National Survival Game (NSG) national championship was held, with a $14,000 cash award for the winning team.^[35] As of 2010^[update], tournaments are largely organized by paintball leagues.

Leagues

A paintball league is an organization that provides a regulated competition for paintball players to compete. Leagues can be of various sizes (for example, regional, national or international) and offer organized tournaments for professional, semi-professional, and amateur teams, sometimes with financial prizes.^[36] As of 2010^[update], major leagues include the NPPL and PSP in the United States,^[36][37] the Millennium Series in western Europe,^[38] the Centurio series in Eastern Europe, and the National Collegiate Paintball Association in the US and Canada.^[39] They are supplemented by various regional and local leagues spread worldwide.

Tournament format

The nature and timing of paintball events are specified by the league running the tournament, with the league also defining match rules – such as number of players per team, or acceptable equipment for use. The number of matches in a tournament is largely defined by the number of available teams playing.

A match in a tournament is refereed by a judge, whose authority and decisions are final. Tournament rules can vary as specified by the league, but may include for example – not allowing players to use devices to communicate with other persons during a game, or not allowing players to unduly alter the layout of terrain on the field. In contrast to a casual game designed for fun, a tournament is much stricter and violations of rules may result in penalties for the players or entire teams.^[40]

Though tournament paintball was originally played in the woods, speedball became the standard competitive format in the 1990s.^[36][41] The smaller fields made use of artificial terrain such as bunkers, allowing symmetrical fields that eliminate terrain advantages for either team; woodsball fields having no such guarantee.^[34] Most recently, fields using inflatable bunkers, tethered to the ground with stakes, have become standard for most tournament formats; the soft, yielding bunkers reduce the occurrence of injuries, the bunkers deflate to store in a compact space and anchor to the ground with tent stakes, allowing for temporary fields to be set up and torn down with less impact on the ground underneath, and the arrangement of bunkers can be easily re-configured to maintain novelty of play or to simulate a predetermined field layout for an upcoming event.^[42]

Professional teams

A professional paintball team is one that plays paintball with the financial, equipment or other kind of support of one or more sponsors, often in return for advertising rights. Professional teams can have different names in different leagues due to franchising and sponsorship issues.

Student organizations

Paintball has also been used by student organizations, such as the Drexel University Paintball Team,[2] the University of Illinois,[3] and the Penn State Muslim Students Association.^[43][44]

Military usage and themes

As of 2007^[update] major militaries, including the U.S. military, Canadian forces, and British forces, have used training on paintball ranges to supplement combat training for their soldiers.^[45] In these cases the games take on a military theme,^[46] with players able to replicate authentic militaristic scenarios by using fully functional military accessories alongside paintball markers, designed to appear like realistic weaponry; enabling military simulations (or MilSim). Such games are not restricted to the military however, but can also be played at a casual or professional level.

However, due to firearms crime, paintball occasionally receives negative publicity. To combat negative perceptions, paintballs military theme can be de-emphasised^[47] by referring to a paintball gun as a marker.^[24][33]

Accused terrorists' usage

Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte, two Muslim men arrested in June 2010 as they were bound for Somalia, and charged with terrorism and conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap people outside the U.S., had simulated combat at an outdoor paintball facility in West Milford, New Jersey, according to the complaint against them.^{[48][49][50][51]}

Similarly, 11 men, convicted in 2003–04 of comprising the Virginia Jihad Network, engaged in paintball training in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, to simulate small-unit tactical operations and develop combat skills to prepare for jihad, according to prosecutors.^{[49][50][52][53][54][55]} In 2006, Ali Asad Chandia of the Virigina Jihad Network was also sentenced to 15 years in prison for providing support to a Pakistani terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba, including helping Lashkar ship 50,000 paintball pellets from the U.S. to Pakistan.^[56]

In addition, two of the 2005 London 7/7 bombers were filmed in June 2005 at a paintball center in Tonbridge, Kent, ducking behind oil barrels and shooting paintball at cut out figures before lining up to pray at the end of the day.^[57] Also, the suspects in the 2006 Toronto Terrorism case played paintball to prepare for their attack.^[58][59] In 2007, paintball training was engaged in by five Muslims to prepare for an attack aimed at killing American soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey; they were later convicted.^[60][61]

Safety statistics

Paintball players in mid-game

The rate of injury to paintball participants has been estimated as 45 injuries per 100,000 participants per year.^[62] Research published by the Minnesota Paintball Association has argued that paintball is one of the statistically safest sports to participate in, with 20 injuries per 100,000 players annually,^[63] and these injuries tend to be incidental to outdoor physical activity (e.g. trips). An international study using 288 incidents has shown that of modern sports, paintball is responsible for 20.8% of eye injuries.^[64] Furthermore, a one-year study undertaken by the Eye Emergency Department, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston has shown that most sports eye injuries are caused by basketball, baseball, hockey, and racquetball.^[65] Another analysis concluded that eye injuries incurred from paintball were in settings where protective equipment such as masks were not enforced, or were removed by the player.^[66] Eye injuries can occur when protective equipment is not properly used and such injuries often cause devastating visual loss.^[67][68] For safety, most regulated paintball fields strictly enforce a 'masks-on' policy, and most eject players who consistently disobey.

Regardless, paintball has received criticism due to incidents of injury. In Canada in 2007, an eleven year old boy lifted his mask and was shot point blank in the eye by an adult playing on the same field,^[69] leading to calls by the Montreal Children's Hospital to restrict the minimum age of paintball participants to 16 years. In Australia, the sport attracted criticism when a 39 year old man playing at a registered field in Victoria died of a suspected heart attack, after being struck in the chest.^[4][70] However, the coroner on this case concluded that the heart attack was not caused by a single paintball hit, but was more likely due to his health, lifestyle and habits.

Additionally, the use of paintball markers outside a regulated environment has caused concern. In the United States in 1998, 14 year old Jorel Lynn Travis was shot with a paintball gun while standing outside a Fort Collins, Colorado ice cream parlor – blinding her in one eye.^[71] In 2001, a series of pre-meditated and racially motivated drive-by shootings targeted Alaska Natives in Anchorage, Alaska, using a paintball marker, and paintball ammunition which allegedly had been frozen solid. In Ottawa, Canada in 2007, Ashley Roos was shot in the eye and blinded with a paintball gun while waiting for a bus.^[72][73][74]

Legality

Australia

Paintballing in Australia is controlled by the police in each state, with differing minimum age requirements. Players under 18 are required to have a guardian sign a consent form. The minimum ages are 12 for New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, 15 for Queensland, 16 for Australian Capital Territory, and 18 in Victoria.^[75] Paintball has been banned in Tasmania since the events of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.^[4]

Operators must adhere to particular rules on gun storage, safety training and field sizes. In all states, in order to own a paintball marker, players must have a paintball gun licence, be at least 18 years old, and have the marker safely stored in a category 2 safe.^[76] Until 2005, Victoria was the only state which required players to have a long-arm firearm licence; a law which was criticized on the grounds it drew players to real firearms.^[77]

Germany

In Germany, paintball is restricted to players over 18 years of age, and is not generally played in military fatigues.^[78] Paintball markers are classified as weapons that do not require a license or permit; they are legal to buy and use, but restricted to adults.^[79] In May 2009, reacting to the Winnenden school shooting, German lawmakers announced plans to ban games such as paintball as they allegedly trivialised and encouraged violence^[80][81] but the plans were retracted a few days later.^[82]

United Kingdom

Laws pertaining to paintball markers in the United Kingdom classify them as Air Weapons, as they fire frangible ammunition which breaks up on contact rather than inflicting a penetrating injury. Owners do not require a license unless the marker fires above 300 feet per second (91 m/s). Only approved paintballs can be used, and the marker must not be fully automatic. The minimum age to be in possession of a marker is seventeen, except in target shooting clubs or galleries, or on private property so long as projectiles are not fired beyond the premises. It is prohibited to be in possession of a paintball marker in public places.^[83] The absolute minimum legal age for a commercial venue is 12 "Paintball – The Law". The Activity People Limited. http://www.paintballguide.co.uk/faqs.asp. Retrieved September 1, 2010. </ref>, although facilities exist with lower-powered guns for children of a younger age."Battle Stations Paintball". Battle Stations Paintball. http://www.battle-stations.co.uk/. Retrieved September 1, 2010. 

United States

In the United States of America, eight states define explicit legislation for paintball guns. In Pennsylvania, paintball markers have transport requirements, cannot be used against anyone not participating in a paintball activity, and cannot be used for property damage. New Hampshire and Rhode Island require players be at least eighteen years of age to own a marker, with students in New Hampshire faced with the possibility of expulsion from school for possessing a marker. In Illinois, owners must be over the age of twelve and can only use their markers in private land or on safely constructed target ranges.

Virginia is one of two states that permit its towns to adopt ordinances on paintball guns, allowing its local authorities to do so. Delaware on the other hand only authorizes Wilmington to do so, but does allow paintball to be played on farms as it is considered an agritourism activity. Florida and Texas limit government liability if a government entity allows paintball on its property.^[84]

See also

• Airsoft
• Laser tag

References

External links

• Paintball at the Open Directory Project