Paintballing is a fun and exciting game that allows you to exercise your body to achieve a full-body workout. Although it’s considered one of the fastest-growing sports in the world today, all thanks to its affordability, this sport has a reputation for being expensive when you consider the cost of buying the equipment. Now, if you’re a beginner looking to dive into this military-simulation game, one question you’ll have to ask yourself is how much does paintball cost. At least, by doing this, you’ll be able to figure out the amount of cash you’ll be expected to spend.
When thinking about the cost of playing paintball, there are so many factors you’ll need to consider. One of those is figuring out whether you’ll be playing the game frequently or occasionally. Another consideration is the type of game you’ll be playing. This is an important consideration because an attacking style of play will force you to use more paintballs as considered to a defensive style of play. So, with that said, this short guide will get deep into the world of paintballing to give you a detailed cost breakdown of playing this addictive sport.
Types of Paintball Games
Just as we mentioned earlier, the cost of paintballing usually meltdown to the type of game you’re looking to play. That’s because each game requires specific gear, clothing, and a specific location to play the game.
- Woodsball
Also known as recreational paintball, this type of game is among the earliest type of paintball games that involved playing in vast areas of land consisting of trees and bushes. The reason why it’s called woodsball is due to the wooded areas the players have to play on.
Also, due to the vast fields available, this game involves a large number of players playing at a time. The game is also open to customization such as involving a variety of typical and atypical scenarios such as assaults, ambushes, concealments, and military-type tactics.
- Speedball
Unlike in woodsball, the speedball game involves playing on a small field that’s usually about half the size of a soccer field. This field is usually more artificial than natural as it doesn’t contain any trees or bushes. Instead, artificial bunkers and obstacles are set throughout the field to create some hiding spots for players during play. Since the size of the field is small, this game usually has fewer players with the game taking less time to play.
- Scenario
The scenario paintball game is very similar to the woodsball game. The amount of area required to play the game is vast while the number of participants is huge just like in the woodsball game. The only difference between the two, however, is that in scenario paintball, the game is more organized as it follows a specific theme or structured storyline. Since the game has a more organized play, the number of players is usually huge while the game can last for several hours or even days.
- Tournament Play
This type of paintball game is more of a combination between the scenario and the speedball paintball game. First, the size of the field is small just like in the speedball game while the gameplay is more organized to create fair competition just in scenario paintball game.
Since it’s a tournament, the field has artificial bunkers and barricades that are similar on each side to encourage competitiveness without allowing any team to possess any terrain advantage. This game has officials and spectators watching and it can also be televised live for home viewers.
Detailed Cost Breakdown of Playing Paintball
As you can see, there are many types of paintball games you can enjoy with friends and family. The main reason why we highlighted some of these games is to let you understand how these games can affect how much you’ll be expected to spend if you need to start playing. Since you’re now acquitted of some of these paintball games, our next discussion will be a detailed cost breakdown of each piece of equipment you’ll need during paintballing.
But First, Should You Buy or Rent the Equipment?
As a beginner, the first question you have to answer the moment you choose paintballing as your hobby is whether to rent the gear or to buy your own. Now, according to most experts, renting out the equipment during your first day in paintballing is the best logical option as it will help you to get acquitted with the game before deciding whether to continue or not.
On average, the cost of renting can range from $20 – $30. In this package, you’ll expect to get a good entry-level gun, a tank, a hopper, a mask, and some paintballs. If you’re lucky enough, some establishments can include the field fee, the entrance fee, the cost of the CO₂ refill, and the cost of the paintballs on the initial cost of renting the equipment thus saving you a lot.
Once you’ve played the game and you’re sure you love the sport, you can then proceed to buy your own equipment. Although you can save a lot renting out the gear, purchasing your own gear has more advantages over renting out. First, most of the rented gears smell awful making you feel uncomfortable when playing. Secondly, rented gear will never give you the liberty of going with it wherever you want as compared to having yours.
Thirdly, by having your own gear, you’ll be able to understand its dynamics much faster. This is usually true with weapons where spending more time with your marker will allow you to master it and get used to handling it.
What’s the Cost of Each Equipment?
Entry Level Pump Pack
If you’re paintballing for the first time, the best advice is to go for the cheapest paintball equipment in the market. This way, you’ll learn some of the basics of this outdoor game before deciding whether to make it a hobby. In most cases, the basic pack will offer you a hopper, a mask, a plastic marker, and 12 grams of CO₂ canisters.
This pack usually costs $30 – $50. Although it’s affordable, take note that most of the equipment in this pack is either inaccurate or uncomfortable. For instance, the mask is quite uncomfortable while wearing while the plastic marker has a tendency of dripping paint in the barrel not forgetting it’s slow and less accurate.
Basic Equipment
If you have decided to take paintballing as your major recreational sport, then you might think of upgrading your equipment to make things more enticing. Here, you can decide to shell out around $70 – $100 to get an entry-level semi-automatic or electro-mechanical gun that’s more accurate than the one in our previous pack.
The best thing about this pack is that you’ll get additional accessories other than the marker such as a hopper, a mask, and a CO₂ tank. Something else about this pack is that the mask, the hopper, and the tank can be purchased separately at an affordable cost. Depending on the brand, you can purchase this equipment as little as;
- Around $20 for the mask
- $5 – $20 for the hopper
- Around $12 for CO₂
High-End Equipment
As you climb up the ladder to a professional level, you might be forced to upgrade your weapons to enjoy the game to its full potential. Although entry-level guns can make the job done, one major setback about them is the fact that they’re not upgradable. For this reason, you might be forced to spend more on high-end weapons and gear.
To get such weapons, you might be forced to spend as much as $2000 on high-end equipment. The best thing about high-end markers though is that they’re fast, efficient, and very accurate. Most of them use compressed air instead of CO₂ which is great. They also rely on the motorized hopper to enjoy the advantage of firing paintballs at superfast speeds. These markers are also open to various upgrades and customizations especially on the circuit boards to make them more efficient.
Cost of Paintballs/Paint
Unless you decide to rent out your equipment, all your paintballing gear including the marker, the mask, the goggles, the gloves, the pants, and the jersey are one-time costs meaning you won’t have to spend any more cash once you purchase them. When it comes to the paintballs, the CO₂, and the paintball field, however, these are expendable items whose cost is recurring meaning you’ll need to pay for them each time you go out paintballing.
About the paint, the capsules are usually available in cases each comprising of 500 – 2000 paintballs each. These paintball capsules differ in size from .50 to .68 caliber rounds. They also differ in thickness and shell appearance. So, when purchasing paintballs, always go for thick rounded capsules that contain cornstarch and metallic flakes. Such paintballs burst easily upon impact and they release thick and bright paint that will be impossible for your opponents to hide or erase.
If you’re a beginner, then you can get inexpensive paint that costs around $30 for a case of 2000 rounds or $10 for a case of 500 rounds. However, if you’re playing at a professional level, then you must go for the high-end package that costs $80 for a case of 2000 rounds.
Paintball Gas/Air
Another thing you’ll have to spend your money on when paintballing is the air. You see, paintball markers require CO₂ or compressed air to fire the paintballs. Therefore, you will need to refill your marker regularly for you to use your gun. Thankfully, the cost of refilling your marker’s canister is relatively low with costs ranging from as low as $3 – $6 per refill. However, the cost can sometimes vary depending on the size of your tank.
Field Fees
The last thing you’ll need to think of when paintballing is the price you’ll have to pay to play on various fiends. If you’re looking to play in a low-level paintballing course with perhaps fewer amenities, then you can expect to pay fewer rates ranging from $10 – $25. On the other hand, if you’re intending to play on a professional field, then you’ll expect to pay higher rates than this.
Conclusion
In conclusion, paintballing is a thrilling and exciting sport that allows you to have ample fun with friends and family. When it comes to the cost, this game can either be cheap or expensive depending on how you want it to be. As a beginner, however, it’s usually recommended that you start small by renting out or borrowing the equipment to familiarize yourself with the sport before you can decide whether to purchase your own gear or not.
Once you’re sure about taking paintballing as your number one hobby or sport, then you can proceed to research and compare products online to find the best deals without having to spend too much money. It’s also good to understand that the cost of paintballing varies depending on whether you’re an adult or a junior.