What Is Paintball?

Paintball is a sport played with a gas powered paintmarker. The paintmarker shoots a .68 caliber paintball. It is generally played with two opposing teams trying to mark or tag the players of the other team while trying to achieve a specific goal in order to mark the end of the game.

Paintball has been around for twenty years or more. As far as I can tell, the first paintmarker was developed when loggers needed an easy way to mark trees. The loggers contacted gun smiths and explained what they needed. The result was a pistol style paint marker powered by a 12 gram CO2 cartridge similar to the ones found in pellet guns. From there Paintball took off as if it had wings.

Today Paintball is played with a larger version of the orignial paintmarker. These newer paintball guns can be anything from a PGP pistol, a pump type gun, a semiautomatic, or even now with a fully automatic paintball gun. The most comman version today is the semiautomatic. The 12 gram CO2 cartridge has been replaced with a CO2 Cylinder containing from seven to twenty ounces of CO2.

The paintball is a .68 caliber plastic shelled ball. It is similar to a bath oil bead. The paint is a mixture of water, soap, and food coloring. There isn't even any real paint in a paintball. This makes the paintball a non-toxic, non-caustic, water soluble mixture. This means that it won't stain clothes, skin, or anything else it contacts.

The balls travel at speeds above 300 feet per second(FPS). The international safety limit is 300fps. I won't lie and say this doesn't hurt. It feels as if someone thumped you real hard. There isn't any real pain but you will know when you are hit.

Saftey is one of paintballs biggest concerns. Only play at fields where safty comes first. The number one safty item is eye protection. Don't put on a pair of shades and say lets go. You'll be going straight to the hospital. Eye protection is provided goggles which are designed to survive the impact of a paintball. If nothing else, follow this one rule - NEVER take off your goggles while you are playing. If your goggles get fogged or covered in paint, call a timeout. You might be eliminated from that game but at least you'll be able to see to play again.

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