Paintball Rules - How To Have A Safe Paintball Day

Staying Safe While You Play

Even if you’ve never played paintball, you’ve probably heard plenty about it. Paintball rules are simple: you have a paintball marker, your supplies — paintballs, and maybe even “smoke flares” — and your only aim is work with your team to shoot down your rivals! However, you might have also heard plenty of other things, like that paintball is painful and you’ll come back with your body looking like it’s done twelve rounds in a boxing ring. At UK Paintball, we take your safety very seriously, so we can guarantee you won’t be pummelled and struggling to move the next day. Here are the paintball rules we follow — and so should you! — when it comes to safety.

• Wear Your Mask and Overalls at All Times

Whenever you come to a UK Paintball venue, you’ll be supplied with camo overalls and a mask. The overalls are designed to help you stay hidden in our forest-themed maps, but they also serve a crucial safety purpose. They’ll keep your body completely covered so that when you do inevitably get hit, your protective layer will take more of the impact. If you choose to go paintballing for your stag do, you can also choose to wear our bright yellow banana outfit — why not? If you want to go for fancy dress and the banana isn’t quite hitting the spot, you can also choose to wear something else — within reason! However, you must always wear your overalls underneath.

Your mask and goggles also provide vital protection, so it’s important to keep them on at all times on the battlefield — even when you think you’re in a dead zone. If you’re worried about the potential pain, the fear of getting hurt is usually much worse than the reality of getting shot. You might get a red mark and the occasional bruise, but these only usually occur when participants shoot each other at close range. This brings us to a paintball rule that’s considered the customary thing to do…

• Give Your Rivals the Chance to “Surrender”

When playing paintball, it’s considered a common courtesy to give your opponents the chance to surrender if you’re too close. Close-range shots are more high impact — and, therefore, more painful — than distance shots. Paintball is designed to be a fun experience for everyone involved and you don’t want to ruin it for others by taking a cheap shot at someone who's accidentally run out in front of you.

• Don’t Shoot Blind

When you’re in an adrenaline-fueled game and you spot someone dodge out of the corner of your eye, it’s easy to get a little trigger-happy. On average, an individual might get through between 500 and 700 paintballs in a full-day session. That being said, you should never blindly shoot in the hope that you’ll get a shot. If you’re not looking, you might end up firing at referees or other players leaving the field.

• Keep the Booze for Later

If you’ve planned a weekend day out or are heading for a spot of stag do paintballing, you might be tempted to have a drink beforehand. Drinking alcohol will slow your reflexes and can put you at risk of getting hurt. Not only that, but you’ll also ruin the experience for others playing the game. We know that you might be celebrating, but you’ll have enough fun on the battlefield anyway. If you’re caught drinking on our site or you’re already under the influence, we’ll ask you to leave, so save the pub and the party for later!

Now that you know the paintball rules and how to stay safe, what are you waiting for? Find your closest paintball venue and book in today!