Paintball NewSplat: Fundamental Elements of an Exciting Game and Questions to Ask

Taking the fear out of paintball, a game played with CO2-powered guns that fire hard paint-splattering balls at a speed of 300 feet per second." This sales pitch for a new paintball-like game was way off the mark describing paintball. Continuing on, they dug an even deeper hole: "Paintball play wars are largely the province of adults and older teens. Most commercial paintball-playing facilities, which feature targets, hiding places, and even leagues, have restrictions against pre-teenagers." Wow! Whatever marketing department came up with these statements has taken a huge step away from paintball reality. Describing paintball as a game played by adults and older teens with "guns" that fire hard balls is neither a professional statement, nor is it accurate. The statement that "most commercial playing fields have restrictions against pre-teenagers," indicates complete ignorance of the paintball world. The minimum age of 10 years old for paintball players was established more than a decade ago, and is common practice at almost every playing field today.

These misconceptions are being propagated by the proponents of a new industry. While we must work to correct the misinformation about paintball, we should also learn more about this new game from this new industry, because our industry is presently declining and, if we are careful, marker-ball may bring new players into paintball. Youngsters who, in today's world, might otherwise be destined to hole up at home in a rapidly growing sedentary lifestyle.

At a recent Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association annual convention in Orlando, to nobody's surprise, it was reported that participation in sports and fitness activities is down, while sales of TV and computer games are soaring. The $52-billion sporting goods market is flat. More than 40,000 industry professionals attended the largest sporting goods association event in the world, and they saw many booths and displays devoted to making something out of nothing...the easy way. According to an industry report distributed at the SGMA convention, "one in nine US adults weighs more than 250 pounds, while one in six women is tipping the scales at 200 pounds or more."

Recognizing this trend to flab, some sporting goods manufacturers are modifying their products and marketing, to facilitate easier participation or a fast track to "excellence." This assault on classic measures and requirements for athletic proficiency even spilled into baseline American sports such as baseball and football. Paintball sports, however, apparently remain directed toward a higher degree of participant athleticism, and actually kicked off a new offshoot directed at younger players. Paintball fields and stores should take notice, as a new opportunity may bring targeted youth away from computers and onto the playing field. Understanding the differences between paintball sports and paintball games is important, however, as the chasm between these paintball forms is widening, and each attracts its own unique personalities.

Marker-ball was introduced to the world at the 2005 SGMA convention, and the entire paintball industry received a minor bashing in the hype supporting this new offshoot. But is this adaptation of paintball to be more of a sport, or is it to be a game? According to one manufacturer, marker-ball is designed to "replicate the paintball experience," and is aimed at lowering the acceptable playing age to millions of youngsters. They further refer to paintball as an "addictive game," but lament that so many potential players are excluded by its danger. Hmm. I don't like the sounds of such advertising claims, but marker-ball may well offer the ultimate low-impact option for younger players who aspire to excel in a paintball sport, and it may also offer an early entry in some game forms that could potentially compliment the rising popularity of computer war games. Either way, on a high-energy airball field or in the woods, new paintball players are certainly welcome.

Early designs of marker-ball "low-impact guns" (more ill-conceived terminology from marketers) will probably be offered at a price point around $100. They appear clunky and shoot their plump foamball projectiles at very low velocities. Perhaps a better name for this new industry might be "foamball." It is likely that most of the projectiles will not actually be "paint"-laden anyhow. I would anticipate a quick drop in price and rise in performance for these products, as seasoned paintball marker manufacturers take a hard look at this new opportunity.

The crossover potential from marker-ball to paintball could be wonderful for our industry, and offers potential benefits not only in the form of additional paintball sport and game participants (new blood), but may also encourage development of new and needed products for paintball. Because of marker-ball developments, small persons may soon have better and safer options for goggle systems and other gear. And there are all types of cool new bunkers, sized for smaller participants. Some will resemble tournament airball bunkers, while others will cater to the scenario flavor, from castles to pillboxes. Information from one manufacturer indicates a typical cost of around $200 to fit out a backyard with inflatable bunkers. That's about 10 percent of the cash required for a medium-size airball field! Although I saw no mention of indoor home games in the materials from the SGMA convention, it is important to note that there was discussion of "basement games" when ASTM paintball subcommittee members entertained the initial marker-ball presentations for standards consideration.

I envision small portable marker-ball fields popping up everywhere. Trucked by professionals to formal bookings, carried in a car trunk to family picnics, appearing in basements on Christmas morning, a multitude of quick and easy setups with little mess to worry about. This field should fit wherever a volleyball net might be set up, and could be very popular... if we can keep this fledgling industry from self-destructing with safety problems. The real challenge will be in structuring a general marker-ball safety program that is embraced by the paintball industry, insurance companies, and federal consumer protection interests. And the real opportunity will be to harness the energy of all these small game sites and young participants, in order to attract as many of the new players as possible to commercial playing fields. Sound familiar? Whatever solutions work for marker-ball should spill over to paintball, and I would expect one recipe might entail low-impact woodsball milsim games that correlate to certain new popular military computer games. I would also expect that marker-ball might afford an easier opportunity for paintball to win over the parents of enthusiastic youngsters.

Paintball is changing in wild and mysterious ways. I never would have guessed in early 2004 that the industry was about to plunge into a significant downturn. When some really big companies swallowed up paintball cornerstones like Tippmann, Brass Eagle, Diablo, JT, Worr Games, and Viewloader, I really believed we were on track for continued double-digit growth. The PMI-NPS shuffle also appeared to be right in line with the takeover trend. It has been interesting to watch major paintball interests decline, to the point we even threatened the profitability of some behemoths that bought into our industry. Some top old-time paintball chiefs disappeared, and we probably haven't seen the end of it yet.

One thing I have noticed recently is an awareness, by the big manufacturers, of the importance of scenario and woodsball. Look through the pages of APG at the new product introductions for 2006, and you may see an important future trend. Look also at some high-end markers that are suddenly dying for lack of support. Although certain top marker lines will continue to do well with all levels of tournament players and wannabes, there are many new milsim products designed to bring out the "war games" segment, with an accurate semblance of reality.

The Paintball Training Institute (PTI) is responding to these industry trends, as they dropped at least one high-end tournament marker due to parts support problems with the manufacturer. PTI has also included some additional lines directed at the new milsim market. The new Smart Parts SP-8 marker looks like a modern military submachine gun, and has the performance of an Ion tournament marker. Also new to PTI will be the RAP-4 line of markers, perhaps the closest paintball replicas to real military firearms. These new-generation products represent a clear departure from the stuff PTI usually teaches, and may bring some old graduates back for updates. Old and new students can see what's up in 2006 by visiting the PTI Web site at www.paint ball.com. Even the PTI marketing class is pointing toward a paintball movement back into the woods.

At the same time rec-ball newbies are heading for the woods, the tournament types are landing solidly on television. Although, in general, I loath the TV influence on youngsters, this could be very good for paintball, especially if some of the TV advertisers pitch woodsball as an alternative paintball activity. There are two new paintball TV shows that will air on major national distributions in 2006. I was impressed that both of these were deals where the airtime was not bought, and paintball will be aired on its own merits. A 26-week series on WGN's national distribution started on January 7, and an eight-show deal on ESPN airing Monday nights at 10 p.m. starts in April. Both shows may probably receive multiple airings during the week, so check for additional time slots.

The new shows feature mainly tournament programming, but if the advertisers show only the aggressive, high-firepower sport form of paintball in their commercials, it may not appeal to persons who would enjoy some of the games and recreational forms of paintball, such as scenario or rec-ball in the woods. With the market introduction of more milsim and scenario products, perhaps a marker manufacturer will step forward and write some big checks for major TV commercials that promote the low-impact forms of paintball. Once again, I believe we need to go back to the game form of paintball, in order to get some youngsters away from their computers.

Bottom line, TV is good for paintball, and major coverage such as we are now experiencing will certainly aid in the growth of the sport. However, I would welcome a magazine format show that includes the low-impact milsim gaming. An ideal show would appeal to a major segment of our industry that appears to be drifting away to couch potato rendezvous with a computer and a bag of chips.