So you’ve decided that you want to take a plunge and enter into one of the fastest growing sports in the world – paintball. While paintball is a pretty simple sport there are still a lot of intricacies involving the equipment that is required to play the sport that could keep you from excelling on the field of play. Read on to discover what you need to know before you buy your equipment for paintball.

The great thing about paintball is that it is growing wildly. The bad news is that the corporate world has discovered that and there are now several manufacturers looking to capitalize and profit on that excitement. What does that mean for you? Basically it means you have a ton of options when you go shopping for your paintball equipment and while that can be a good thing it can also be a bad thing…

What do you Absolutely Need?

If you talk to a gungho paintballer, he’ll tell you that you need the latest and fastest paintball gun/marker to compete on the paintball field but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is that you can dominate on the paintball field with used paintball guns as well as you can with the newest and latest paintball guns. Quite frankly all you need is a paintball gun that works to compete.

Aside from a paintball gun, I strongly recommend a good paintball mask. Most paintball facilities will only require that you wear goggles but goggles will do nothing to protect your face and ears from paintballs. If you’re going to be renting your equipment, it might be a good idea to call ahead and ask if they rent helmets as not all places do.

If you’re worried about the pain associated with playing paintball, you’ll probably want to layer up with your clothing. A couple of long-sleeve sweatshirts will be more than enough to protect your body from the sting of paintballs. If your hands are a bit sensitive, you may also want to consider wearing a pair of gloves to protect your hands.

What is your skill level?

One of the most important things you need to determine before you buy paintball equipment is determine what level of paintball player you are. Every now and again on the course you’ll notice some guys fully decorated in army apparel with fully automatic paintball guns using compressed air. They’ll look like the guy to the left…

As awesome as it would be to intimidate all of your competitors into submission before the game begins, unfortunately it would also be very expensive. For someone who is just getting started with paintball we normally recommend you get started with a used paintball gun or a pump paintball gun. The thing is when you’re just getting started with paintball you still don’t know how much you’re going to like the sport and if you do enjoy the sport, you still don’t know which paintball game will be your favorite. And frankly you still haven’t a clue about how much it’ll cost you to play routinely and what all the other stuff like air and paintballs will cost. Worst case scenario you can always upgrade your marker as your skill level increases.

You’ll also want to take into consideration the other various pieces of equipment that you’ll need to play the game if you plan on buying your equipment. I’ve already mentioned the two most vital pieces of equipment you need for paintball and that’s your paintball gun/marker and a helmet. Next on the list is a hopper which is that thing that holds your paintballs and feeds them into the paintball gun firing chamber. If you have some money left over you may want to pick up an electric/automatic loader which will make your paintball gun work much more efficiently and jam free. In paintball you will be constantly buying air and paintballs so keep that in mind when shopping for your equipment. It’s best to set a budget for these things as they can add up.

There’s no doubt about it, paintball is an awesome sport. If you’re considering it, I strongly recommend you get out to your nearest paintball field and give it a go to see what you’ve been missing!