What about returning to the sport?

[Phez]

I played a ton as a kid and teen and fell off around 2005. Randomly saw something on YouTube last week and have been tumbling down the train of nostalgia since. Getting a couple of old friends together to plan our first day out again in 15 years. Seems like a lot has changed industry wise and figured maybe this could be a place to fill in the blanks. I’m not new in the traditional sense, but coverage and pro media has severely fallen off including all the old school paintball mags (magazines in general I suppose).

Off the top of my head:

- WGP and Angel are gone, CCI is in limbo?
- NPPL and PSP are no more?
- When did .50 come out and is it used frequently at fields?
- And back blocks on cockers are cool now? I guess turtle cockers are extinct or disliked from what I’ve briefly seen about the Empire Resurrection.

[Cyberpyr8]

CCI is still running and was taken over by another company as Mike retired from it. They seem stable as a company and are producing parts and guns. WGP and Angel are gone.
NXL (and a host of others smaller localized tournaments) are the main leagues now. 50 cal is considered low impact and mostly marketed to younger kids and families. It's not huge and 68 still is the main size paintballs at a lot of fields. I know a few that are almost all 50 cal but I think that is a rarity. FIeld limits are now 10.2 or 10.5 at most fields. A big switch from 2005 and unlimited fire rates.

The funny thing is a lot of stuff from the 2005 era is popular still. People still show up with old equipment every weekend at our field. There seems to be a resurgence from that time frame and players that quit playing are looking at coming back.

If you are looking to buy a new gun Planet Eclipse is the big company these days. All of their guns are top notch. You can still get Smart Parts but now they are split up into Gog, Freak, SP Shocker and Luxe. Tippmann is still around. Dye is still making guns as well. HK Army is the new soft goods and private label gun company these days. Exalt makes a bunch of good soft goods as well.

That will pretty much give you a crash course on Paintball in 2020. Welcome back.

[ElectricBullshark]

I am one of those 2005 era peeps. Just got all my gear gathered up to start again too. I remember when smart parts folded, and heard about nppl folding after 2008ish when the economy crapped out. Whats this about bps being 10 now?

[punkncat]

- WGP and Angel are gone, CCI is in limbo?
Angel is gone. WGP is gone, but "custom" overpriced autocockers are everywhere.
CCI is back but ramping back to stock as I understand it. Not my bag.

- NPPL and PSP are no more?
The tournament scene is mostly a smoldering wreckage. There are lots of things going on around the scene, some of it really good and honestly straight forwards and some...not.

- When did .50 come out and is it used frequently at fields?
I am not sure exactly when, but it's been a minute. From what I can tell it's come and gone in this area, if it ever really came at all. I only heard about it in reference to kids parties and such.

- And back blocks on cockers are cool now? I guess turtle cockers are extinct or disliked from what I’ve briefly seen about the Empire Resurrectio
I would not base any modern cocker opinion on the Ressy. They have quirks their own. I try to stick to WGP spec when dealing with autococker but that is getting harder and more expensive to do, as above.

[Lawn]

Same boat here, stopped playing for pretty much a decade and then started coming back and reading everything over these last months..

Welcome back! :P

[russc]

The whole industry is more focused on casual recreational play now, and I think we are seeing a resurgence in interest because of it.

[Phez]

FIeld limits are now 10.2 or 10.5 at most fields. A big switch from 2005 and unlimited fire rates.

The funny thing is a lot of stuff from the 2005 era is popular still. People still show up with old equipment every weekend at our field. There seems to be a resurgence from that time frame and players that quit playing are looking at coming back.

That will pretty much give you a crash course on Paintball in 2020. Welcome back.

The 10.5 limit is such a cool development, I’m stoked to see if that’s how it is at my local field. Back in the day (I shoot a cocker And play stock class) I admittedly got sort of disgruntled with the unlimited ramping trend. It was sort of telling at the time, but I remember one of my last times out, a lot of the rec ballers and renters were refusing to play with the tourney players because it was just such a mismatch between rental pro carbines and other entry levels vs. the raging electros that were slinging upwards of half a case of paint a round. It wasn’t about fun or skill, it became about who would spend more in paint to win. Anyway enough reminiscing, super pumped to try it again with the new refinements. Thanks for all the info.

[Cyberpyr8]

Honestly, I loved the 30bps days but as I am now much older and slower, I am grateful for the lower speeds. Like RSSC mentioned the whole industry is more for casual players than anything these days. I feel like the outcast a lot of times now when I go to the field with newer equipment and my own gear. I do only play semi regardless who I am playing with and I am now finding myself being the back player letting rental players get to their spots and coaching them if I can to let them get better and enjoy their time on the field. More of an ambassador now than a competitor. But I have always enjoyed the talk between games and getting to know people a a little and now more so than ever. It's different than it was but I am enjoying my time on the field way more than I did years ago.

[Phez]

More of an ambassador now than a competitor.

This right here is so refreshing and I think it’s the crux of what I want to do now that I’m playing again. The sport won’t see any resurgence on ego and bravado, but with humility and inclusion from the OG’s.

[Cunha]

The whole industry is more focused on casual recreational play now, and I think we are seeing a resurgence in interest because of it.

Yeah kinda exciting

[Jonnydread]

I love reading about how different everyone's experiences are. I actually play more aggressively now than I did back in the day, I just shoot 1/10 the paint and have 300% more fun.

[russc]

Just speaking for myself, but it took me many years to figure out that I have way more fun at random walk-on days than I do at big events and tournaments. Bonus: you also spend about 1/4 the money.

[Cunha]

I think a lot of people burnt out on big games and for a while they were the main kinda events.

Last year I went to the spring pump event west and bacci's game. These were perfect events that were better than a walk in situation and not a crazy pile of wackadoo like big games can often be.

Really even if you don't like pump, the pump events kinda collect the more experienced recreational type players in one place more consistently. I don't have enough spare weekends in my life to roll the dice on a regular walk on day. If I did, I would.

[OpusX]

There is something heartening about it all right now. I hadn't played anything competitive in 15 plus years, and getting back at a mech tourney was actually fun. The amazing part was two teams were kids 12-14 max, both had basically STBBs from craigslist, and one guy ran an Azodan KP3. They seemed to have a great time, and it was fun to play with them.

Walk on games locally have gone to no-batteries, with a separate field for "open" play. It has helped with retaining and converting renters in my opinion.

[shadow191]

I got back in this year after a 20 year hiatus so I missed the entire upswing and crash of the industry. Angels were barely a thing when I was playing in 2000 - recall getting stitched by one during a full sprint and being amazed at the ROF.

Now that I'm back, electros are totally new to me and I personally think they're great. I'm still fascinated by the ROF and smoothness of modern guns. I started off playing in early '90s with a PMI Tracer and then moved to Pro-Lite which could do maybe 3-4 bps with the heavy single trigger. Enjoying the current technology right now. Also enjoying the pricing of things - everything seems cheaper than it was back then. I don't love ramping but don't play tournaments so have no need for it. Every time I test it out, feels like I'm just wasting paint.

And I do think that back blocks are cool again. I picked up an old cocker to try out and that gun gets a ton of attention at the field, everyone wants to see it. And for some reason, people think Halos are cool - last 4 trips to the field someone has asked about it.

.50 cal is called "low impact" at my local field. Think minimum age for regular paintball is 10 and they'll do .50 cal for younger. They have a weekday low impact day during summer and private parties. But nothing .50 cal during weekend open play.

[Cyberpyr8]

Off topic but... I really wonder if 50 cal is helping the industry or hurting it. Sure it helps local fields have 8 year old birthday parties but I wonder if any of those younger kids will transition to 68 cal. From what I see you have half of the kids enjoying it but still scared to death of 68 cal and the other half of the group crying from getting shot with 50 cals. I also don't think you see those kids coming back much. The idea is to hook them on paintball and want to keep progressing. I don't think 50 cal is really doing that. My kids all started playing around 10 with 68 cal and 2 out of the 4 still play whenever they can.

I follow Tennessee Mountain Paintball (and have played there a few times myself) and I am amazed of the amount of adult groups playing 50 cal. Groups with no kids all shooting low impact. Maybe they transition to 68 cal but I don't think it is really reaching kids.

#Randomthoughts

[Chuck E Ducky]

My local field has seen a huge up tick in players using 50cal they also market these markers that shoot these lil gell balls that you soak in water. Many of those kids have transitioned into regular players. 50 cal gets them off the cell phones.