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Paintball

PAINTBALL

Paintball is the fastest growing sport in the United States. Since its debut, in the late 1980's "paintball has become a worldwide phenomenon". Enthusiasts have setup leagues and tournaments. But paintball still isn't as popular as older sports such as basketball and baseball. There are three main things that set paintball apart from other sports. The biggest one is the equipment that is used to play. Next there is the paintball guns and how they work. Then finally there is the playing field and how it differs from other sport's playing fields.
Equipment
In paintball there is a variety of different essential and non-essential pieces of equipment. Some of the more essential items include, the paintball gun (also called a marker), paintballs, CO2 tank, hopper, and then there's the safety equipment.
The paintballs are obviously an essential item because if you didn't have them you couldn't get anybody out, just like you cannot
go hunting without the shotgun shells. The common paintball is like a small water balloon, it weighs only a few grams and measures only 0.68 inches in diameter. But instead of having water inside it contains a paint like, liquid substance referred to as paint. The "paint," which comes in many colors, is non-toxic, biodegradable and water soluble (so it will wash off skin and clothing).
The CO2 tank holds compressed CO2 (carbon dioxide). The Compressed CO2 is what propels the paintball out of the barrel and into the air (hopefully) hitting your target. CO2 tanks come in many different sizes and shapes. Some tanks fit in the handle of the gun and some tanks can big enough that they go on your back and attach to your gun using a hose. The most common size is 10-20 ounce tank that attaches to the bottom of the handle using a drop down to hold the tank horizontally. The only aspect of a tank that can seriously affect your performance while playing paintball and it is the capacity of the tank that you use. This affects your game...