Paintball
I wish I played paintball more. I’m probably not going to do anything about it, but I wish I did.
I got my first paintball marker (who actually calls it a paintball marker? It’s a paintball gun) for Christmas in the early 2000s. Actually, I got 2 that year. I got a Brass Eagle Talon Ghost on the recommendation from my cousins, who had the standard grey variant Talon. In addition to the Talon, I got a Brass Eagle Blade. Both were pump actuated, both used the small CO2 cartridges, and both were apparently made by Brass Eagle.
Neither of those markers were actually used to *play* paintball. I would load up a CO2 cartridge and hopper full of paintballs, and pop random things on my grandparents’ property. Old buildings, trees, and their kerosene tank all had dripping splotches of paint. Truthfully, that was fun in and of itself. I was always a little afraid of getting shot with paintballs, so I wouldn’t even consider shooting people with them.
In high school, a friend’s youth group planned a trip to go play paintball at Red Fox Games in Woodruff. He invited me along, and I was thrilled about the opportunity. A marker rental was included with the price, and I assumed the rented marker would be better than the cartridge guns I had, so I decided to leave my own guns at home and just use the provided markers. They offered the option to upgrade to a Tippmann 98 Custom, but I elected to stick with the base model. I had never played paintball, so any extra firepower would be wasted on me.
During the matches, I noticed that the semi-automatic fire of the rental I had was a game changer over my pump-action markers. Furthermore, the Tippmann was a substantial upgrade over my base-level rental. If I were going to actually play paintball with any regularity, I definitely needed to get something better than what I already owned.
My Christmas that year was themed around paintball. I got that Tippmann 98 Custom, as well as a mask, several tanks and accessories, and boxes of paintballs. I played around with it in much the same way that I had with the pump action markers. The following summer, I got the chance to play again at the same field. This time, I would be one of those professionals with my own marker, dominating the game.
Except this time, we got grouped with some ex-military guys who had some ridiculous gear and way more years of experience playing paintball. Every single match, we just got destroyed. They had better guns, they knew how to use the guns better, and they were just plain better than us at the game. We had a good time, but it wasn’t even a competition.
Several years went by, and I didn’t get the chance to play again. Mind you, I didn’t exactly try very hard to play. I could’ve gone to Red Fox by myself and played with some randoms, but I wanted to play with people I knew. We mentioned several times how we should go and play again, but it just never materialized.
In 2015, a friend was selling some old paintball gear he didn’t use anymore to fund an adoption. The gear included several tanks, pods, and hoppers, but the key component was a Tippmann A-5. In comparison to my Tippmann 98 Custom, the A-5 boasted an improved fire rate due to the Cyclone Feed System. Where most low and mid-range markers allow gravity to pull paintballs down from the hopper, the Cyclone system uses pressure from the firing process to expel another paintball into the chamber. I thought that all A-5 markers were fully automatic, but apparently that was not the case. Still, it was a more powerful gun and I was really curious about how it might perform.
If he didn’t use it, and I was benefitting a good cause, I figured I may as well buy it. I picked it up and brought it home, inspecting my spoils. The body armor was too small for me, but everything else would do fine. You could always use more pods, and having an extra tank would give me more opportunity to play without having to fill up again. Plus, that gave me a backup marker to lend out, should someone want to play who didn’t have their own.
I planned to go at my earliest convenience to fill up the CO2 tanks, buy a box of paintballs, and try out my new marker. That was in December 2015. It is now 2021 and I still haven’t even filled up those CO2 tanks. I have never once fired a paintball marker that I bought nearly 6 years ago.
Various times since then, I have mentioned to friends that we should go play paintball together. Each time, something came up, and we just never got to go. I really thought things were going to fall into place one time with a group of my coworkers. We went out once a month for lunch together, and we did a few things together outside of work, like a recreational league kickball tournament. These were people that I liked, and we had a penchant for doing things as a group. Surely, paintball would work out with them.
Several people seemed interested when I brought it up, we just needed to figure out a time that worked for everyone. But then the company was bought out, and we didn’t get funding for team building exercises like we did before. And then COVID hit and nobody was actually doing anything together. And then I got laid off from that job, so I didn’t actually work with those people anymore. I still see a few of them on occasion, but that paintball trip looks like it might not work out anymore.
So, here we are. I own 4 paintball markers, only 1 of which has ever been used to play with other people, and 1 of which hasn’t even been fired by me. I really would like to play again, but it just hasn’t worked out. Conditions haven’t been right. Maybe this summer, if I can find a willing group, we’ll play at least a few matches together. If nothing else, I at least want to ride around on a go kart and shoot things with it. If only I would actually fill up those tanks and buy some paintballs.
Maybe in a few months, I’ll post about how I’ve started playing paintball every other weekend with some people. Or, maybe in a few years, I’ll post about how I never got around to filling up those tanks. Only time will tell.
I got my first paintball marker (who actually calls it a paintball marker? It’s a paintball gun) for Christmas in the early 2000s. Actually, I got 2 that year. I got a Brass Eagle Talon Ghost on the recommendation from my cousins, who had the standard grey variant Talon. In addition to the Talon, I got a Brass Eagle Blade. Both were pump actuated, both used the small CO2 cartridges, and both were apparently made by Brass Eagle.
Neither of those markers were actually used to *play* paintball. I would load up a CO2 cartridge and hopper full of paintballs, and pop random things on my grandparents’ property. Old buildings, trees, and their kerosene tank all had dripping splotches of paint. Truthfully, that was fun in and of itself. I was always a little afraid of getting shot with paintballs, so I wouldn’t even consider shooting people with them.
In high school, a friend’s youth group planned a trip to go play paintball at Red Fox Games in Woodruff. He invited me along, and I was thrilled about the opportunity. A marker rental was included with the price, and I assumed the rented marker would be better than the cartridge guns I had, so I decided to leave my own guns at home and just use the provided markers. They offered the option to upgrade to a Tippmann 98 Custom, but I elected to stick with the base model. I had never played paintball, so any extra firepower would be wasted on me.
During the matches, I noticed that the semi-automatic fire of the rental I had was a game changer over my pump-action markers. Furthermore, the Tippmann was a substantial upgrade over my base-level rental. If I were going to actually play paintball with any regularity, I definitely needed to get something better than what I already owned.
My Christmas that year was themed around paintball. I got that Tippmann 98 Custom, as well as a mask, several tanks and accessories, and boxes of paintballs. I played around with it in much the same way that I had with the pump action markers. The following summer, I got the chance to play again at the same field. This time, I would be one of those professionals with my own marker, dominating the game.
Except this time, we got grouped with some ex-military guys who had some ridiculous gear and way more years of experience playing paintball. Every single match, we just got destroyed. They had better guns, they knew how to use the guns better, and they were just plain better than us at the game. We had a good time, but it wasn’t even a competition.
Several years went by, and I didn’t get the chance to play again. Mind you, I didn’t exactly try very hard to play. I could’ve gone to Red Fox by myself and played with some randoms, but I wanted to play with people I knew. We mentioned several times how we should go and play again, but it just never materialized.
In 2015, a friend was selling some old paintball gear he didn’t use anymore to fund an adoption. The gear included several tanks, pods, and hoppers, but the key component was a Tippmann A-5. In comparison to my Tippmann 98 Custom, the A-5 boasted an improved fire rate due to the Cyclone Feed System. Where most low and mid-range markers allow gravity to pull paintballs down from the hopper, the Cyclone system uses pressure from the firing process to expel another paintball into the chamber. I thought that all A-5 markers were fully automatic, but apparently that was not the case. Still, it was a more powerful gun and I was really curious about how it might perform.
If he didn’t use it, and I was benefitting a good cause, I figured I may as well buy it. I picked it up and brought it home, inspecting my spoils. The body armor was too small for me, but everything else would do fine. You could always use more pods, and having an extra tank would give me more opportunity to play without having to fill up again. Plus, that gave me a backup marker to lend out, should someone want to play who didn’t have their own.
I planned to go at my earliest convenience to fill up the CO2 tanks, buy a box of paintballs, and try out my new marker. That was in December 2015. It is now 2021 and I still haven’t even filled up those CO2 tanks. I have never once fired a paintball marker that I bought nearly 6 years ago.
Various times since then, I have mentioned to friends that we should go play paintball together. Each time, something came up, and we just never got to go. I really thought things were going to fall into place one time with a group of my coworkers. We went out once a month for lunch together, and we did a few things together outside of work, like a recreational league kickball tournament. These were people that I liked, and we had a penchant for doing things as a group. Surely, paintball would work out with them.
Several people seemed interested when I brought it up, we just needed to figure out a time that worked for everyone. But then the company was bought out, and we didn’t get funding for team building exercises like we did before. And then COVID hit and nobody was actually doing anything together. And then I got laid off from that job, so I didn’t actually work with those people anymore. I still see a few of them on occasion, but that paintball trip looks like it might not work out anymore.
So, here we are. I own 4 paintball markers, only 1 of which has ever been used to play with other people, and 1 of which hasn’t even been fired by me. I really would like to play again, but it just hasn’t worked out. Conditions haven’t been right. Maybe this summer, if I can find a willing group, we’ll play at least a few matches together. If nothing else, I at least want to ride around on a go kart and shoot things with it. If only I would actually fill up those tanks and buy some paintballs.
Maybe in a few months, I’ll post about how I’ve started playing paintball every other weekend with some people. Or, maybe in a few years, I’ll post about how I never got around to filling up those tanks. Only time will tell.
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