6 Tips to be good at paintball (even if you are new to the game)
Are you excited to try paintball for the first time? Listen up, beginner, things are about to get wild...
Paintball is a great and thrilling activity that you can do for a birthday party, a work event, or just for fun. But let's admit it, it's not easy to be a paintball star if you don't know how to use your paintball gun correctly. To help newcomers, we have some paintball tips that can help you survive your first paintball match and improve your skills.
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| 6 Tips to be good at paintball (even if you are new to the game) |
1. Don't let the paint intimidate you
Some new players are so afraid of getting hit by a paintball that they hide in a corner or behind a bush for the whole game. But this is not only dull, but also pointless.
Okay, so nobody likes ouchies. But the first thing to know is that getting hit by a paintball is not as bad as you imagine! Once you get hit, you will see that it doesn't hurt that much and that you were overreacting all along.
The second thing to know is that the best way to avoid getting hit is to win your paintball games! And trust me, that won't happen if you are hiding. So be courageous and move around — it's just paint!
If you are really sensitive to pain, then wearing some extra clothes and some light gloves will make the impact less painful.
2. Know your paintball gun; win many games
Most paintball guns work by gravity; the paintballs roll from the hopper (the part that holds the paintballs) into the barrel before being shot. This means that your gun won't work if the hopper is below the barrel of the gun, which can happen if you hold your gun sideways or upside down.
Also, make sure that your hopper lid is closed tightly! It's sad to see a new player drop their paintballs (almost everyone does it once), because dirty paintballs can't be used as they make the gun jam.
If possible, try to shoot some practice shots with your gun before the game starts (ask the marshal first). This will let you know if your paintball gun is working and will let you get used to its distance. There's no point in shooting at enemies who are too far away, it will only tell them where you are.
3. Use your eyes, ears and mouth
The first thing that most new players do is get their head down when shots are fired.
In a way, this makes sense, you should try and keep as much of your body behind cover as possible. But being behind cover is a trade off — it usually protects your body, but it also limits the amount of the battlefield that you can see. In paintball, a player that can’t see his opponent won’t beat his opponent.
It’s important to really use your eyes and ears to identify where your opponents are, then use your mouth to call out their position to your teammates. As a good rule of thumb, you can take three seconds to look around before you get back in cover (it takes a second for an enemy to spot you, another one for them to aim and another one for them to pull the trigger!)
4. Listen to the marshal
Marshals are there to make sure that everyone is safe and to make sure that the rules are being followed. You must listen to the marshal, not only because they are responsible for your safety, but also because they have the power to penalise your team if they think that you are breaking the rules!
As an extension of this, being hit doesn’t always make you out. If you do get hit by a paintball, it might bounce rather than break, in which case you are still in the game. If you call yourself ‘out’ however, you can’t go back in even if you realise later that the paintball didn’t actually break on you. So check for splatter before calling yourself out, and if you are unsure, ask the marshal to check you for paint.
5. Understand your objective
Elimination style paintball games, where the objective is to cover the enemy team in paint, are actually less common than you might think. More often than not there is a different objective, such as capturing a flag, a zone, or protecting a VIP. You will win or lose according to these objectives, so coordinate with your team to make sure that you have the best possible chance of having fun with paintball!
6. Don’t get yourself pinned down
Think before you move! You might be able to reach cover without getting hit, but what will you do once you get there? More often than not, a good number of the opposition will have spotted you and they’ll keep firing until they land a hit, causing you to be trapped. To avoid this situation, try and think two moves ahead. Not just “I’m going to go there”, but “I’m going there so that I can then achieve that!” If you do find yourself pinned down, there’s no point staying quiet about it! Shout to your teammates and see if they can give you covering fire.
Do you have any tips that we missed? Or any other questions? Let us know.