New Paintball Game Types
SplatMaster vs. Low Impact vs. Traditional Paintball
Paintball vs LowImpact vs SplatMaster
Always wanted to play paintball or maybe it’s been suggested and you just aren’t sure it’s a good fit? Let’s talk - ok let’s read - about it!
At Boston Paintball we now offer 3 different versions of the game:
- Traditional .68 caliber Paintball (ages 10+)
- Low Impact .50 caliber Paintball (ages 10+) and
- SplatMaster .50 caliber (ages 8+)
Boston Paintball started it’s business almost 25 years ago with traditional .68 caliber paintball. Since there are now a few new options to help just about anyone enjoy the game, we've started to refer to it as exactly that - Traditional Paintball to help distinguish from the other options we offer.
Traditional paintballs are about the size of a dime and travel at approx 280 feet per second (just shy of 200 miles an hour) and that translates into it packing a little bit of a punch. You will certainly feel the pinch a tad more easily with traditional paintball if you don’t layer up appropriately but remember “Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.” Nah it’s not that bad but it is usually the best type of play for players over 13, players that have played paintball before or for those who measure higher on the dare devil scale.
Maybe you have a smaller, quieter, less daring Dare Devil and when you hear paintball you start imagining Rambo, camouflage and face paint and are thinking “Ummmm…. No. Pass. ” Now not so fast! Low Impact Paintball is the PERFECT fit!
Low Impact paintballs are smaller and weigh in at .50cal (fifty caliber) so, what that means is that they are 40% the size and weight of a .68cal ball. Think marble size (.68) and half a marble size :) Low Impact paintballs travel at slower speed which if you like math means approximately 225 fps. There is much less 'force' on the ball and the paintball hurts a lot less when it makes contact.
Another great side effect of low impact is that the paintball markers are able to be made much smaller and lighter because the equipment needs to do less work. This makes the .50cal set-ups much easier for smaller players to manage.
And lastly, our Splatmaster equipment uses a spring driven system to shoot a .50caliber paintball at a small portion of the speed of the first two examples. If your player has ever played with a Nerf gun, the Splatmaster gun will be very familiar. The idea is that reduced flight speed and lighter ball (again only 40% the size and weight of a traditional .68 caliber paintball, but now with less than 50% of the travel speed) will further reduce impact, leaving you with little to no 'ouch' factor at all. It is a great introducion to paintball for young players and easy on the mature kids too!
When trying to decide which is best consider there three things:
- The age of the players - different requirements for different versions
- The experience of the players:
If your players have already played regular .68 cal paintball, they may not want to do Low Impact and most players over 13 crave the “all in” version, to them it makes for better stories!
3. Composition of the group:
If all of the players are 10 yrs old+ and played a few times, but some of the players are just 10 and/or never played at all, then Low Impact would be a great place to get started because it is so visually similar to traditional paintball.
Paintball has been a fun, safe and all inclusive game for decades and the new versions only make it even more so! More girls are playing paintball because of SplatMaster and Low Impact, more offices are getting in on the game and more families are having the time of their lives running around burning off some calories and energy and making memories that will be brought up time and time again. Call your local field with questions, read all the info and check it out some weekend you are running errands. We love our game and we want you to love it just as much #playpaintball !!