How to Stay Safe in a Paintball Game

Paintball games used to be really dangerous, so people could be excused for thinking that the game was risky and foolhardy. There were incidents of bruises, scrapes, cuts and even temporary blindness from paint splatters. However, this is mostly because the players did not don the necessary safety equipment and they did not follow other safety rules. These few black sheep gave paintball a bad name, which is not true.

There are obviously rules and regulations to the sports that ensure the safety of gamers. It was categorized as war games-and still is, but the rates of injury are much lower than before. This is because of the change in guns used for the game. A couple of decades ago, when paintball first began, powdered guns and powerful air pistols were used to activate and fire blobs of paintball. The paintball itself wasn't dangerous, but the impact sure was! Thus, there were countless of reports of bruising and scratching, which isn't surprising at all.

One of the paintball pioneers, Skirmish, called these games "friendly war games" designed to stimulate the battle scene in reality rather than in the virtual world. Later, more innovative companies introduced the War Game Products, which saw the birth of the air-launched paintball. This air can either be a compression of atmospheric air of carbon dioxide. This means that the impact will be less as the firing is less explosive.

According to America Press's statistical records, there were at least 20,000 injuries reported each year. Many in fact go unreported. Moreover, a research conducted recently by American Sports Data found that approximately 9,000,000 people played the sport last year with fewer injuries. They also found out that the reason behind this dip in injury was due to the game being standardized and the rules strictly adhered to. Many now consider the sport to be safer than other high-action high-impact games like soccer or netball, where the injury rates are higher.

Paintball has such a surge in popularity that experts estimate it has overtaken snowboarding in demand. It is considered one of the biggest sports in America today and the demand is still climbing. Given enough time, it could very well be the top sport in America after football.

Paintball associations are constantly on the lookout to improve the sport for players, setting new rules and changing the makeup of equipment, if possible. New types of safety equipment has also been developed and more people can experience the excitement of paintball without the injuries now.