PaintballWashington.com Frequently Asked Questions
General Paintball Questions
Is Paintball Safe?
Yes, but there are risks.
Most commercial paintball fields understand the risks and do an excellent job minimizing them. If players follow basic safety rules, the chance of serious injury is nearly eliminated. Noone, however can guarantee that other players will follow those rules, just as noone can guarantee that the other drivers you encounter on the road to the paintball field will follow the safety rules.
Most paintball fields are outdoors so players face many of the risks they face engaging in any outdoor activity. You may face injury from falls, falling branches and other objects and wild animals (not likely), to name just a few.
The vast majority of people who play paintball come away with either no injuries, or the sort you expect from vigorous outdoor activity ( minor scrapes, etc.)
Does Paintball Hurt?
Yes, pain is involved in playing paintball.
The pain, however, is usually minor. The fact that a little pain is involved may be part of the reason people like paintball. While no paintball player I know of actually enjoys pain, the prospect of feeling pain makes avoiding being hit much more exciting than it would other be.
Who Plays Paintball?
Perhaps every group you can think of has members that enjoy playing paintball. Women, men, boys and girls all enjoy playing paintball. I personally know of CEO's (Chief Executive Officers) of major corporations that have playerd. People from all walks of life come and enjoy paintball. One of our fields hosted the University of Washington Husky football team recently.
Children as young as7 years old have paintball birthday parties. Sports teams, church groups and friends play. We have even had cheerleaders from a major professional sports team come and play.
How Many Paintballs will we use?
The number of paintballs used by individual players varies tremendously. Players on their first outing are often timid and shoot less. Other players shoot far more paintballs on their first outing.
Most players on their first outing use, on average, 100-300 paintballs per hour. Very few players shoot less than 100 paintballs per hour, but some players on their first outing shoot considerably more than 300 paintball per hour.
The number of paintballs you actually shoot is likely to depend on your experience level, your personality, your budget, and other factors.