Paintball Courses and Paintball Places

Perhaps you only just recently made the decision to try this widely popular extreme sport called "paintball" or "paintballing". At this point you may be wondering about paintball places or paintball courses. Just where in the heck do people play this game? There are various types of paintballing locations or settings that offer a challenge and excitement to players. This variety in paintball courses adds to the overall enjoyment of the sport.

Woods Paintball Course

Traditionally the most common paintball places were outdoors, generally in forests or woodlands, where there was lots of natural cover for hiding. "Woodsball" as it is referred to by a lot of paintball players, is thought by many veteran players to be the "purest" type of setting where paintball is played.  On this type of field, players get the feel of the real war game and "yes" you can wear army "camo" and look very serious! Basically, the field is a secluded area in the woods which has an open area.  Players must learn how to stealth or how to quietly and quickly move in a very sneaky manner to avoid getting shot by members of the opposing team.

Concept Paintball Course

The concept field is a paintball course often created outdoors, with many objects that have been set up for players to take refuge in or seek protection from.  Usually concept fields have a theme, the most common of which is the urban city setting with cars, buildings and many other city elements. So these types of fields generally include both natural and man-made objects to enhance game play. Now there are some commercially operated concept fields that are very creative with their themes, such as medieval themes with castles which have towers, wagons and cutouts of people.  Probably the most famous of these is called "Tippman Castle" that can play host to hundreds of participants per game. Concept fields are interesting and fun to play on.

Scenario Paintball Course

Scenario paintball is becoming very popular. These paintball places actually re-create an historical event for the participants to take part in.  Obviously these involve some famous battle such as the D-Day Landings, Battle for Stalingrad, etc. and the paintball players are immersed in a very similar situation as faced during the actual battle; having to capture objectives and seize enemy territory.  Instead of a handful of participants, scenario paintball may involve hundreds of players divided into two or more "armies" that were key combatants in the actual battle. So a scenario field would be set up to represent the actual field of battles as realistic as possible and could cover a very wide area of play.  Such battles often run for entire weekends or longer depending on the battle that is being recreated and are generally held in specific paintball locations around the hosting country.

Airball/Speedball Paintball Course

Speedball or Airball is the new breed of paintball that is very popular with both players and spectators. According to paintball fanatics the most exciting and challenging of all paintball courses are the airball fields. They are made up of equally spaced and equally sized barriers. The challenge here is that a player can not see past the huge barriers and can bump into or encounter anyone at any time.  With the smaller barriers a player can be concealed one way, yet revealed to another player who has a different line of sight on the barrier. Due to the small playing area and limited cover, airball or speedball games are generally very short in duration, often ending within minutes.

Indoor Paintball Course or Paintball Arenas

These paintball locations offer a much different approach and encounter from an outdoor field. The first and major thing that new players encounter is that here paintball guns are very loud: some find that the sound hurts their ears so they wear earplugs; but this is not necessary most of the time. Indoor fields are generally found in cities where there is a lack of open areas to play the game. Similar to outdoor paintball courses, indoor paintball arenas also offer a variety of themes and set ups. The range is considered to be the major difference.  Most often if you happen to watch a televised paintball game, it will be held at an indoor paintball arena and is most often used to showcase professional paintball matches and tournaments. Instead of natural cover, most indoor paintball courses (and some outdoor ones as well) are now using inflatable bunkers to provide protection to players during the game.

A team with great team effort is the key to the game of paintball regardless of where you play - the basic paintball idea remains the same. The option is up to you to select paintball courses which fit your interests and your performance level the best.  Paintball places and paintball locations can be as diverse as you want them to be, ranging from just a nearby vacant lot or rural wooded areas to the major urban areas which host very expensive indoor paintball arenas used by the professional paintball leagues.

Now that you have a good idea of the variety in the paintball courses and paintball places where you can go paintballing, the next step is to look at basic paintball gear and accessories.

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