PAINTBALL GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Part 3

Ramp

Firing mode included on practically all electronic paintball guns, ramping allows the first several trigger pulls in semi-automatic mode and, should the user continue to pull the trigger consistently, kicks the paintball gun into a rapid fire mode that shoots consistently at a pre-determined rate of fire (such as 10.5 paintballs per second) as long as the trigger continues to be pulled. This type of firing mode is programmable for capped rates of fire to conform to rules of paintball fields, paintball tournaments and other paintball events that limit rate of fire for fair play and safety.

Remote 

Device consisting of a long, often coiled air hose and adapter to attach it at one end to a paintball air bottle and to a paintball gun at the other, allowing the user to carry their paintball air tank in a pouch on their back rather than attached to the paintball gun. Significantly lightens a paintball gun setup on which a remote line is used, and allows for increased maneuverability in close quarters. A paintball remote line is extremely useful for players who wish to use a large paintball air tank that would be long or uncomfortably heavy if threaded into their paintball gun and used as a stock.

Rotor 

One of the most popular paintball loaders of the modern era, the Dye Rotor paintball loader exploded onto the scene in the mid-2000’s and has remained popular for its mix of style, durability and reliable, consistent feeding of paintballs. The Dye Rotor is currently used by such successful professional paintball teams as the Ironmen and San Antonio X-Factor to win paintball tournaments in the NXL.

Russian Legion

One of the greatest international professional paintball teams of all time, the Russian Legion stormed into paintball at the end of the ten-man era and quickly became a force to be reckoned-with in the early days of National XBall League XBall competition. The dreaded Russian Legion combined extreme athletic ability with surgical movement and devastating accuracy to become the team nobody wanted to play, and the team continues to play, and win, professional paintball tournaments today as one of Dye paintball’s flagship sponsored teams. As such, the Russian Legion currently shoots Dye M3+ paintball guns and wears Dye goggles.

Scenario

Type of paintball game pioneered by Wayne Dollack, a scenario paintball game combines playing paintball with role-playing, espionage and capturing locations and props for points over 12 or even 24 hours to determine a game winner. Paintball scenario games have been based on subjects from Star Wars to World War 2-based games like Oklahoma D-Day and the Skirmish Invasion of Normandy. Paintball scenario games continue to be extremely popular today, drawing hundreds and even thousands of paintball players to large paintball fields around the country and the world!

Shocker

One of the very first electronic paintball guns to reach the market in the 1990’s, the Pneu Ventures, and then the Smart Parts, Shocker was originally a large, low-pressure paintball gun used by teams like the All Americans to great effect in the NPPL. Later, the Shocker was redesigned as technology progressed and became a light, fast and accurate spool valve paintball gun. The Shocker was used by the Philadelphia Americans to win the 2003 and 2004 National XBall League World Championships. The Shocker continues to be manufactured today and is offered as the electronic Shocker XLS used by teams like Seattle Thunder in professional paintball competition, and in mechanical competition, teams like the Saberwolves shoot the single-trigger, mechanical Shocker CVO.

Skirmish

One of the largest and longest-running paintball game fields in the United States and the World, Skirmish, located in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania sprawls across hundreds of acres of the Poconos and hosts hundreds and even thousands of paintball players. Skirmish has hosted paintball tournaments, paintball scenario games and big games including the first 36-hour paintball game and even the largest paintball game in the United States, the Skirmish ION (Invasion of Normandy). Skirmish features large wooded playing fields, urban structures, villages, forts and even castles.

Snake

1. Paintball code for the long, low, curvy bunker that generally sprawls down one side of a tournament paintball field that allows fast, small players to lay down and crawl past mid-field and onto the opposing team’s side of the field. Designed and intended to keep the concept of sneaky crawling in the game of paintball as it moved out of the woods. 2. Long, potentially venomous reptile you never want to come across in the woods while playing paintball.

Sniper 

With the advent of First Strike fin-stabilized paintball projectiles, the concept of the paintball sniper has returned in a big way and found new life in the modern game. Modern paintball snipers, equipped with bolt action rifles with long barrels and rifle scopes, often wearing serious camouflage or even Ghillie Suits like modern military snipers, can disappear into the woods far away from the front lines and send single, well-aimed shots to pick off individual players well out of range of regular, round paintballs.

Speedball 

paintball game envisioned and designed to bring paintball out of the woods and into a more spectator-friendly, fast-paced environment created in the eighties that grew into modern tournament paintball formats like Hyperball, Airball and XBall in the following decades and into the modern day. Speedball is played on non-wooded paintball fields often featuring brightly colored bunkers behind which players take cover, while the players themselves often wear brightly colored team uniforms with names and numbers much akin to other sports.

Speed Feed

Replacement for a paintball hopper or loader’s flip lid that allows a player to quickly and easily reload with a pod by simply dumping the pod into the hopper through the Speed Feed’s one-way “fingers” that bend to allow paintballs to fall in, but will not allow paintballs to fall back out again. Drastically reduces reloading time and the distraction of doing so during fast-paced tournament paintball games to the point that almost every serious tournament paintball player now uses a Speed Feed on their loader rather than a lid.

Spire

Popular paintball loader line developed and sold by Virtue. The Virtue Spire paintball loader is used by numerous top professional paintball teams, popular for its quiet operation, ease of maintenance and resistance to feed jams.

Splatmaster

1. Paintball pistol designed and manufactured by National Survival Game, one of the earliest paintball guns ever produced specifically for the game of paintball in the early 1980’s, then called The Survival Game. The Splatmaster was green in color, was fed by 10-round paintball tubes and powered by 12gram CO2 cartridges. Cocking was achieved by pushing in a plunger at the rear of the receiver before firing.
2. Low-impact paintball brand from JT. JT Splatmaster paintball guns are spring-powered and shoot at very low velocity, allowing younger and newer players to enjoy the game of paintball with lower impact energy.

Splatter

Liquid paintball fill and fragments of paintball shell that have broken on something other than a person, then sprayed onto a player, that does not constitute an elimination. Paintballs that break on trees, bunkers or other cover and then splatter onto a player do not eliminate that player, as to be eliminated from a game of paintball a player must be physically struck by a paintball that then breaks, leaving a quarter-sized mark, or splat.

Squeegee

Cleaning device designed to remove broken paintball shells and liquid fill from the barrel of a paintball gun to restore accuracy. These include pull-through squeegees that pull paint from paintball gun barrels and barrel swabs that absorb and remove paintball fill.

Swab

See also: squeegee. An absorbent device, often coupled with a small rubber o-ring, designed to be pushed into a paintball gun barrel to swab out broken paintball shell and liquid fill to restore accuracy after a paintball break within a paintball gun.

Tank

1. Shortened term describing a paintball air tank, either a paintball CO2 tank or a paintball HPA tank.
2. An armored vehicle used in paintball scenario games like the armored tanks used by world militaries combat, paintball tanks often feature large air-powered cannons that fire Nerf rockets at one-another, and that can be used to eliminate a large bunker, building or structure on a paintball scenario game field. Paintball tanks can generally only be eliminated by other paintball tanks, or by paintball players carrying specialized, air-powered rocket launchers that also shoot Nerf Rockets.

Thermal 

Term used to describe paintball goggles and goggle lenses that feature dual-pane designs with an air space between the two lenses, designed to dissipate hot, humid air to prevent fogged goggle lenses. Thermal lenses are the paintball industry standard for mid to high-level paintball goggles and are available from practically every paintball goggle company.

Tippmann 

One of the most famous paintball brands in the world, Tippmann burst onto the paintball scene in the mid-1980’s with the world’s first semi and fully-automatic paintball gun, the Tippmann SMG60. Tippmann also produced several rugged, reliable paintball guns made in America, like the Tippmann 68 Special, Tippmann Pro-Am, Tippmann Pro-Lite and Tippmann Model 98. Currently owned and operated by G.I. Sportz, Tippmann continues as a popular paintball brand today with a product line including the Tippmann 98 series and Tippmann Cronus.

Tournament 

Paintball tournaments have been played since the early Air Pistol Open events that were promoted not long after the creation of paintball in the early 1980’s. Paintball tournaments grew to become large events and eventually a professional paintball league took root in the United States in the early 90’s as the National Professional Paintball League. Paintball tournaments have, over the years, featured prizes including cash, Ford Mustang and Mitsubishi Eclipse automobiles, trips to Aruba and more! Paintball tournaments are currently promoted locally, regionally and on the international level.

Valken

Paintball company founded and created in the mid-2000’s by paintball industry pioneer Gino Postorivo. Based in New Jersey, Valken Paintball manufactures and sells everything from paintballs to paintball guns and paintball clothing, with locations in the United States and Europe! Popular Valken products include Valken Graffiti paintballs, the Valken M17 mag-fed paintball gun and the Valken Blackhawk paintball gun.

VForce

Paintball goggle brand under the G.I. Sportz umbrella that produces such popular paintball goggles as the VForce Profiler and VForce Grill, along with popular accessories like the VForce HDR goggle lens. The VForce Profiler rose to popularity soon after its release thanks to its quick-change lenses and unique look, along with its use by top teams in the National XBall League in the early 2000’s. Teams wearing VForce goggles like the Profiler won the National XBall League World Championships in 2003, 2004 (The Philadelphia Americans) and 2005 (Baltimore Trauma).

Virtue

Popular paintball equipment manufacturer whose products include the Virtue Spire paintball loader, the Virtue Vio and Ascend paintball goggles and the Virtue Crown speed feed. Recently, the Virtue portfolio has grown to include the popular brand Bunkerkings, that now utilizes Virtue technology to produce impressive products like the Bunkerkings CTRL loader and the Bunkerkings CMD paintball goggle.

 
Woodsball

Paintball was first played in the woods in 1981, when twelve players participated in what would become “The Survival Game”, the first game of paintball. Paintball games played in the woods today, whether recreational, scenario games or paintball tournament competitions, are all known as woodsball.

World Cup

The paintball World Cup, created by Jerry Braun and initially hosted in New York, moved to Florida and became the final event of the National Professional Paintball League in the 1990’s and eventually grew to become the largest paintball tournament ever produced. Currently the crown jewel of the National XBall League professional paintball circuit, the Paintball World Cup remains the largest paintball tournament in the world drawing hundreds of teams to Kissimmee, Florida’s Gaylord Palms Resort.

XBall

Format of paintball designed and created to make the game of paintball attractive to television producers and audiences, XBall rapidly become the most popular style of tournament paintball in the world by the mid-2000’s. Featuring a game time clock, pits for competing teams to stage in during games and designed to be action-packed and more easily filmed by television cameras, XBall games are scored by points, with each team scoring a point every time they hang the center flag in their opponent’s flag station.

X-Factor

San Antonio X-Factor, a long-running and successful professional paintball team out of Texas, currently sponsored by JT and shooting Planet Eclipse paintball guns. Featuring top players including Archie Montemayor and Colt Roberts, X-Factor climbed through the ranks to become an extremely successful pro paintball team who won several National XBall League events and the professional paintball series title in 2019.