Paintball: How to Play

Paintball is a sport that has many variations. Typically, it is a team event. A paintball game can be anything from a small group of friends out on the paintball field and the last man standing wins to very detailed scenarios with objectives involved and hundreds of players on each team.

If you are new to paintball, you might be wondering how the games are organized, how many players you can use, if there are time limits, or even if there is a goal.

Although there are many different game formats, a very common game to play when you go to a paintball field is "capture the flag."

In the two flag game, each of two teams starts from its own home base and has a flag there, usually on a pole and easily detached. The object of the game is to capture the other team's flag and carry it back to your home base area. Some fields play that if the flag is dropped because the player carrying it is killed, the game times out and the flag goes back to the home base area. Other fields play that if it is dropped it stays where it is and can be picked up by the owning team and put back in the home base area or by the capturing team to continue on.

In the one flag game, there is a single flag in the center of the field about an equal distance from each of two teams. The object of the game is to capture the flag and either advance, carrying the flag to the opposing team's home base, or retreat, and take the flag back to your own home base.

The strategies for the flag games are similar. Check with your field monitors, referees and teammates to make sure you understand all of the objectives and rules before beginning the game.

Teams are usually an odd number of people and most teams appoint a captain. It is always a good idea to appoint a captain. Effective communication is one of the most important things for a winning paintball team to have.

Games almost always have time limits, varied by the number of players and the size of the field. The only exception to this is sometimes a death match, where the game is over when the last player dies, may not have a time limit. For smaller games of up to 25 on a side, most paintball games will have a time limit of 15 or 20 minutes. For games with more players, time limits can be 30 to 45 minutes per game. For very small games, such as 3 to 5 players on a team, the games might be as short as 10 minutes.

In all games, even the capture the flag games, players also try to eliminate opposing players by tagging them with a paintball marker (also called a paintball gun). There will be rules as to what is a legal shot and what size paint splatter is needed for a “kill”. Check with the referees before the game to be sure you understand the rules being used.
 
Obey the referees. They can start and stop games, enforce the rules, and control the safety, and make decision regarding legal shots and kills. Be aware that the playing field will have a marked boundary and if you go out of bounds you will be eliminated from that game.

Do not be afraid to ask questions. Win or lose, everyone has a good time and there's always another game.