Paintball 101

Some general things written about paintball, from the educational to the entertaining.

What is Paintball?

Paintball, splat-ball, paint-tag... this sport has a few different names, but it's all basically the same. You have a marker (the correct term for your "gun") that shoots small gelatin pellets filled with a water-soluble paint. These markers are "gas" powered, generally CO2 or Compressed Air, though Tippmann now makes a propane powered marker.

Your First Marker

The following is taken from an email discussion that started when someone we played with out at Splat Tag emailed me to ask what a good marker is for a beginning player. Even though this is from a few years ago now, the Tippmann 98 Custom and A-5 are still a couple of the best markers you can get, and with the recent option of adding a cyclone feed system to a 98, your choice between the two is pretty much down to a decision of your budget, not quality or features.

Tanks and Hydrotesting

As paintball has grown, safety is an area that has always been at the forefront of everyone's mind. We all get drilled in to our heads the importance of using barrel blockers, chronoing, wearing our masks, and the like. Because of this, paintball continues to be one of the safest "extreme" sport out there.