You have decided it’s time to dedicate more time and effort to paintball. You’re eager to join the league of paintball players.
Whether you want to consider paintball as a career or recreational sport, you’re going to make some financial commitment.
You have to invest in accessories such as paintballs. And the numbers of paintballs you’ll need daily differ from one player to another. There are different levels of paintball. And the one you settle for will depend on the intended use.
So, what do you intend to do? Do you have plans to only practice, recreational paintball or you want to play in tournaments? How you intend to use the paintball is going to determine the specific level of paintball you should get.
Let’s go further on this topic.
The Different Levels Of Paintball
The different levels of paintball or the types of paintball are a crucial topic for every paintballer.
Why is it important? The type of paintball you need when playing casually differs from the one you need when you are playing in a tournament setting.
Here are the three levels of paintball
- Field/practice paintball
- Mid-grade paintball
- tournament-grade paintball
1. Field/practice paintball:
The first level of paintball is the field or practice level. As the name implies, this is the paintball used for practice. It’s a bit cheaper and a wise choice for paintballers trying to improve their shooting accuracy.
This paintball boasts a thicker shell, though the fill is much thinner. The paintball is less spherical in shape compared to other paintball levels.
The shape of this paintball (the fact that it is less spherical in shape) makes it less accurate. But the fact that it is less accurate doesn’t make it unfit for shooting practice.
The thing is when you practice with balls that are less accurate to improve your accuracy; you’ll perform much better when you get accurate paintballs.
Another characteristic of the field/practice paintballs is the fact that they’re tougher or rather, harder to break. Being tough makes the paintball a wise choice for shooting practice. You’ll improve your accuracy when you practice how to shoot accurately with balls that are far less accurate.
Finally, bear in mind that having thinner fill doesn’t mean that the practice paintball won’t shatter when it hits its target. On the contrary, it does.
A Handy Tip: If you are eager to learn how one can aim and shoot accurately, you should make efforts to practice regularly.
Constant practice will make you a better shooter and player. It will help build your confidence and you’ll be able to shoot more accurately in no time.
So, whether you’re a beginner or established player, keep practicing how to shoot and your body positioning. Have in mind that there’s always room for one to improve in paintball.
2. The mid-grade level paintball:
The mid-grade level paintball is an upgrade on the first paintball discussed (the practice paintball). It is made to a higher standard than the low-grade practice paintball that is less accurate.
What do the mid-grade paintballs look like? What characteristics do they possess?
The first thing you’ll notice about the mid-grade paintball is that they boast brittle shells that appear thinner.
On the other hand, the paint fills in these paintballs are a bit thicker.
Now, what guns can shoot the mid-level paintball? Majority of the paintball guns out there can conveniently shoot this grade of paintball, but keep in mind that the high-pressure markers can slice through them.
A Handy Tip: The mid-level or grade paintball is a little more expensive than the practice paintballs and it’s worth the high price point.
Mid-grade paintball is ideal to use in local tournaments and big games. This paintball’s shooting accuracy is better than practice paintball.
3. The Tournament-grade paintball:
Tournament-level paintballs are top grade paintballs. You can tell by the name and event this specific grade of paintball is used in.
This is the highest grade of paintball and it’s pricier than the rest. The tournament paintball is a wise choice for tournaments. This paintball grade is what the organizers of paintball events use. You can’t use it to practice given its price point, unless you have enough money to spare.
Tournament paintball is made to the highest of quality. It is round and consistent in shape throughout, a reason for its unmatched accuracy.
Another unique thing about the tournament-grade paintball is that it is brittle and breaks easily upon impact. The fill on this paintball is thicker and visible.
A Handy Tip: The Tournament-grade paintball is a high-end paintball built for tournaments. Paintball organizers use it in paintball games where something is at stake.
Tournament paintball is spherical and the roundness is consistent, a reason for its high accuracy. The ability of a user to fire accurate shots depends on the person’s skill set and not the paintball’s quality.
Tournament paintball is accurate and boasts thicker fills. Another thing you need to know is the quality of the marker used to shoot this grade of paintball.
Note that you can use a premium or mid-range marker to shoot this paintball to ensure it doesn’t break before leaving the barrel.
The Different Types of Paintball Events You Should Know
Paintball is truly a unique sport, as it offers every player an opportunity to have fun, or win a medal, including cash.
So, paintballers have various opponents to become a super star in the game or just play for fun. Dozens of competitions are hosted every year and here are a few of them.
Tournaments:
Paintball was invented as a survival game in the 1980s. Not long after the invention, teams started nursing the idea of wanting to show who the best paintballing team is and that was how the game was born.
Paintball tournament was born and it still exists till this day. It started many years ago and remains highly competitive till this day.
The modern paintball tournament is highly engaging and fierce. What started with only 15 players many years ago has now become a competition in which paintball teams from different parts of the country put their skills to test.
Teams have to hone their paintball skills such as dive, crawl, run, communicate and slide to send opponents off the field and hang white flags to score points.
Paintball tournaments are played local and nationally. It can be played locally at the speedball field and nationally in the National XBall league.
In the National Xball league, teams compete all the way up to the professional level and there are prizes to be won.
The National Xball League is where you get to see top paintballers competing and showing off their skills. It’s always fun to watch.
Woodsball:
It’s no longer a secret that paintball started in the fields. It was born there and it continues to celebrate this heritage using woodsball events that are organized now and then.
This woodsball event can take the form of a recreational event in which players gather to play paintball in the local field. Or, it can be a competitive game like the “Iron City Classic” paintball tournament.
Teams of 10 players each compete in the woodsball tournament. They can compete in a wooded field, mounds and hyper ball fields.
Another thing you need to know is two types of guns and a specific firing rate is allowed in woodsball. You can use electronic or mechanical paintball, but firing rate mustn’t exceed 5-6 balls per second. The organizers capped the firing rate to 5-6 balls per second to give every player the same advantage and ensure easy movement.
Typical woodsball field features tall and large trees, including man-made structures or stacked up logs.
Speedball:
The brain behind speedball is a simple one: take paintball out of the woods. Most people see paintball as a game played in the woods, and speedball seeks to change that.
Today, the speedball format of paintball is what is used in local, regional and national tournaments. It involves playing paintball in an arena where spectators can watch and cheer their favorite teams like every other sport on the planet.
Each paintball team usually features 3 to 10 players.
Scenario paintball events:
Wayne Dollack is the person who invented the scenario paintball, an event that is rewriting the history of paintball. The game allows the paintball players to assume the character of a figure in diverse movies such as Black Hawk, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.
The scenario events can take place in a full day or an entire weekend.
Final Thought
So, what are the different levels of paintball? It includes the practice paintballs, mid-grade paintballs and the tournament-grade paintball.
The tournament-grade paintball is more expensive, but worth the value for money. It is consistently spherical and accurate. This paintball also boasts thicker fill and breaks easily when they land on targets.
Furthermore, we also discussed the various paintball events that take place annually. These events help to refresh the game in the minds of spectators and they keep paintball players on their toes.
