Paintball is a sport in which participants use compressed air guns called markers to shoot paintballs (marble-sized, .68 caliber, gelatin capsules filled with colored polyethylene glycol “paint”) at other players.

Paintball is in essence a complex form of tag, as players struck with paintballs during the game are eliminated.

Paintball draws a wide array of players worldwide, and the Sporting Goods Manufacturer’s Association estimates that approximately 10 million people play annually in the United States alone.

Like many sports, safe participation in paintball requires observance of proper safety procedure. When safety rules are followed, paintball is extremely safe, with an injury rate of only 0.2 injuries per 1,000 exposures.

Paintball Velocity - In addition to the mandatory use of masks, paintball markers must not fire paintballs that exceed a certain velocity. The industry standard maximum velocity is 300 feet per second (about 200 miles per hour).

Players eliminate each other from the game by hitting their opponent with a paintball. Players are generally considered ‘hit’, ‘marked’ or ‘tagged’ when a paintball shot by another player strikes and breaks on the player leaving a paint mark.

Some rules require that a player within a certain distance of an unaware opponent (usually 10 to 15 feet) must demand the unaware player’s surrender (by yelling “Surrender!” or “Mercy!”) before they may open fire.

In almost all tournament play, there is no surrender rule, and if a player catches an opponent off guard, they are free to fire at him.