The sport of paintball, fast paced action that gives you such an adrenaline rush, it can easily be said that this is the most fun sport you can play. Anybody can play, but you will need your own equipment, eBay has helped me buy these things and helped start my own hobby of paintball.

• First you will need a paintball marker, or the tool used to actually shoot a projectile and mark your opponents. Any new player will want to look into brands such as Kingman, Tippmann, and 32 Degrees. Experienced players can pretty much get anything on the market today.
• Next you will need a paintball hopper/loader, or the piece of equipment that sits on top of your marker and loads the balls into the marker. Slower markers like Tippmann may not need the electronic hoppers, people with those markers will want to stick with the low-cost gravity fed loaders.
• The next piece of equipment you will need is an air system. There are two choices here, Co2 and Nitrogen. Co2 is the cheapest most common form of air in the sport today. The only problem is that in cold weather it freezes up your marker. I would stick with Nitrogen, which is pure gas and is the most consistent in any weather. Nitrogen costs a pretty penny, too, so make sure you have access to refilling your tank.
• The most importent piece of equipment that is mandatory to play is your goggles. Any goggle will do, just so long that it has great eye, face, mouth and ear protection. Paintballs whiz by you at 300 feet per second. You wouldn't want one of those hitting your eye now, would you?
• Optional equipment that may improve your game, but are not needed include a harness, which holds more pods of paint, and marker upgrades such as a new barrel or gas regulator.

For the new people, I would suggest looking around eBay for a total package, with the marker, air system, loader and mask all included. These are the best deals you can ever imagine and will make sure that you have everything you need to play.

**THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO STAY AWAY FROM**

• Remote lines. These attach to your air source and let you hold the air tank on your back. These coils lower air pressure and give you less air to shoot, as well as they can sometimes wrap around your arms and legs and are not to comfortable to have around.
• Brittle, cheap, Wal-Mart brand paint. Trust me on this one. As soon as you see a few thousand paintballs for 10 dollars you may think it is a good deal. Chances are these are very brittle paint. What this means is, once the marker projects the paint out and hits it with the bolt, it is likly that the paint will just break in the barrel or breach of the marker.
• Barrels with a length more than 14 inches. I see so many people everywhere wasting money on these. I will tell you up-front right now that there are no such things as "paintball snipers". A longer barrel will not let you shoot further, or shoot faster, or shoot more accuratly. In fact, a longer barrel will prevent these. With a 21 inch barrel, for example, you will be using way more air to push the paint out of the barrel. The air will not all rush out of the barrel either, and will cut off about halfway, just letting the paint roll in the barrel. And to top it off, if you are playing and swing around a bunker, you will hit that humongous barrel on anything and everything. Waste of space and money, AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Let me give you a rundown on the different styles of paintball play.

• Speedball. Regulated, closed off field where paint is always flying and the action is intense. Many times you will play speedball behind large inflatable bunkers. This is what every major tournaments such as the PSP and NXXL play in. What you will need for this is a 'faster' marker and fast legs.
• Woodsball/Recreational Play. Huge, open woodland play. Trees and natural hill mounds will protect you in this game. What you will need for this is patience, endurance to walk everywhere, and any marker you have available.
• Scenario. Usually played in several acres of land. You will need to be energetic, fast, and prepared to play this massive 100(0) versus 100(0) person play style. Any marker will do here as well.

Well, you have just heard the basics from an official player with his own team, and has vast knowledge of every single thing paintball. I am the most trustworthy guy you could get information from - paintball is my life. I eat, sleep and dream paintball every single day, every moment of the day.

Thank you for reading my guide. I hope it has helped you in joining the fast, action-paced sport of Paintball.