Coming back after 15 years, and then some.. I'm so lost.

[romeoecho84]

Coming back to the sport after a long time, and boy do I have a lot to catch up on. Some context and maybe you fine folks can help point me in the right direction for which rabbit hole to go back down. Not looking to get back into competition hardcore, but certainly doing local state-wide speedball / local 1-off tournaments.

I played from 96-2003, highlight being World Cup 99'. My marker was a plain black Angel LED, and I loved every shot with it. Fast forward to 2010; I decided to pick up the sport again, but sadly my Angel was sent off for repair/full service in 2010 and never returned (shop closed down/business went dark shortly after - Claims went nowhere).

Determined to "Get back in", I picked up an Ego (unsure of model, but I remember it was Champagne color) to replace said Angel, and it wasn't 'too much' of an adjustment, but the playtime only lasted about 6 months before having to give up the sport again (Met the now Mrs, kids, etc). In that short 6 months, things still felt as 'connected' as a few years prior.

So, now in 2025 with my Wife's colleagues getting into the sport for the first time, she volunteered me to go out and have some fun and help the guys feel not so 'new'. Guys.. it was a whole different world. I felt so foreign and out of place. I asked for a rental package and if they had an all-day Aircard, and if it was for CO2, Nitro or Compressed air... I got looked at like I had three heads. "What the F is an Aircard?" I got back as a reply. I wasn't offended at all, but luckily the Head Ref (who was about ~10 years younger) pulled me aside to bring me up to speed. When I asked "How do I clear a jammed bolt, there is no bolt-pin", I was told "They don't work like that anymore". I'm still processing that one...

Best I can gather from 3 hours on with a 30 man group of mixed pickups and skilled players and some dated Youtubing:

• Spool Valves markers reign supreme
• Poppet Valve markers are damn near extinct
• Hard to identify what brands are on top nowadays, who survived/bought out
• Tank Regulators are no longer common / tanks are all just screw in now?
• Timers (on heads or built into markers) are also a missing thing
• Theres now 'Mechanical' play and Electronic play (still getting up to speed on this)?
• Talking about props in yardlines and shapes was like speaking Greek to the pick up speed ballers (they had enough modern equipment > "they looked the part")
• Almost no communication, let alone friendly trash talk/after game banter

The game felt different. The random woodsball felt the same, but speedball and airball felt "empty & different". I'm not sure what all I was expecting, but the individualism of the game and play really struck me as stark.

I'm glad to be getting back into the sport, and seeing the change, but I feel like I've got some shell-shock. I know I've got a lot to catch up on, but I feel like I have to learn everything all over again. I know what I used to know, but not how to translate it to 2025.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Been playing since 2012. So not to far off from 2010. Besides prices going up. Game has stayed the same. For sure less people are playing post covid though. Play like it's 2010 again I guess. Buy a planet eclipse setup and hit the field. Shoot them, while not getting shot yourself. Simplicity man. Other people can answer your other questions better.

Wear a watch?

[Sherwoodsghost]

Just use what you like and have fun. Possibly find another angel and teach the kids that ask about it.
As for speed ball, that sounded more like rec ball, you'll have to find a team to communicate with or have to do a crash course before starting the pick up game.

[Hellion360]

Good news is you can get a sweet angel for not a lot of money.
And the current boards take 9v and can be adjusted via bluetooth.

Angels still shoot aces, great guns. I use mine from time to time.

[romeoecho84]

Wear a watch.. man ya got me there. It never dawned on me to "just look down at my wrist". I do see some PE setups, but still trying to navigate the Spool vs Poppet markers before brand. I did manage to only take a hopper hit and 1 graze on the arm. Felt good not getting instantly peppered. The guys I was playing with were doing some recball in and out of our group on the speedball field, but they were claimed they were practicing for an upcoming tourney, which is why I thought I could 'talk' to them on the field.. whiffed on that I guess.

I never thought to 'teach' about the Angel, but that does sound like a great time. If I do end up getting one (I'm trying in another thread), I wonder how much of a conversation piece it would be? Are they rare to see these days?

[Sneak Miester]

Well my take on it is
- any newer marker uses only compressed air, which is usually free with field registration fees
- most markers are more air efficient now a days
- you should find a used marker $400- 600 that will work great for you
- planet eclipse, MacDev, luxe, field one
- check out trademygun web site for ideas ( I don’t support Dye, CEO was accused of child molesting Dave Youngblood)
- get a good mask
- it won’t take you long to get back into the groove
just have fun and welcome back

[Ramfaux]

Hell yea grab a LCD and a rotor and go play. I haven't found one yet that all it took was a new battery to get it going. If you don't want to get a new board and don't care to have/need ramping and have even a modicum of soldering experience, it's easy enough to put some AA terminals on the stock battery harness and run it on a pair of 14500 lithium batteries in the stock tube position with a little shimming.

[Axel]

Welcome home

[Socalpumpballer]

All day air is implied now. No fields charge per fill anymore.
modern speedball bunker callouts are more coded than just yardage and shape. Modern x ball format has made down time more about quick turnarounds like air fills and reloading pods more than chatting about each individual game even in casual walk on games. All compressed air tanks have regulators. They are just screw in instead of hard mounted to the gun, and most guns have internal secondary high pressure regulators instead of screw in. Turn out for fields is so small these days it’s not practical to separate players by experience or gun style anymore

[SignOfZeta]

You may confusing time with space, as far as changes go.

The play may be fine at other fields, for example, or at that field a week later.

Also, I’ve never heard of an Aircard either. That may have just been your time and place. HPA has been free and unlimited for the majority of its existence.

I also have no idea what the difference is between a spool valve gun and a poppet valve gun because the invention of semi auto DIDN’T FOOL ME ONE BIT. I avoid them all.

All the cool companies are gone. Thats one of the bigger changes.

[romeoecho84]

Hell yea grab a LCD and a rotor and go play. I haven't found one yet that all it took was a new battery to get it going. If you don't want to get a new board and don't care to have/need ramping and have even a modicum of soldering experience, it's easy enough to put some AA terminals on the stock battery harness and run it on a pair of 14500 lithium batteries in the stock tube position with a little shimming.

I never got into the ramping, even when it was a new thing. I'm definitely not afraid to solder if I had to, but getting creative to run on AA's sounds like fun way to both tinker/update things.

[Sneak Miester]

. When I asked "How do I clear a jammed bolt, there is no bolt-pin", I was told "They don't work like that anymore". I'm still processing that one...

• Spool Valves markers reign supreme JUST ABOUT EVER COMPANY OFFERS A SPOOL VALUE ( usually has lots/more o-rings, bolt is moved by air in a “can” air rushes through the bolt to shot the paintball
• Poppet Valve markers are damn near extinct ONLY COMPANY I CAN THINK OF OFF HAND IS PLANET ECLIPSE , MacDev is supposed to release a new Cyborg soon but $$$. ( ram is attached to a bolt via a removable pin, ram is moved by air- hits a value pin, opens and lets air up the value through the bolt shoots paintball. Less o-ring , easy to maintain
• Hard to identify what brands are on top nowadays, who survived/bought out
• Tank Regulators are no longer common / tanks are all just screw in now?
• Timers (on heads or built into markers) are also a missing thing
• Theres now 'Mechanical' play and Electronic play (still getting up to speed on this)? ELECTRONIC TAKE A BATTERY , HAS COMPUTER CHIP, Mechanical has no batteries, works off a sear like the old Spyder paintball markers
• Talking about props in yardlines and shapes was like speaking Greek to the pick up speed ballers (they had enough modern equipment > "they looked the part")
• Almost no communication, let alone friendly trash talk/after game banter YOU WILL FINE SOME GOOD PEOPLE maybe just not the day you played

The game felt different. The random woodsball felt the same, but speedball and airball felt "empty & different". I'm not sure what all I was expecting, but the individualism of the game and play really struck me as stark.

I'm glad to be getting back into the sport, and seeing the change, but I feel like I've got some shell-shock. I know I've got a lot to catch up on, but I feel like I have to learn everything all over again. I know what I used to know, but not how to translate it to 2025.

[romeoecho84]

All day air is implied now. No fields charge per fill anymore.
modern speedball bunker callouts are more coded than just yardage and shape. Modern x ball format has made down time more about quick turnarounds like air fills and reloading pods more than chatting about each individual game even in casual walk on games. All compressed air tanks have regulators. They are just screw in instead of hard mounted to the gun, and most guns have internal secondary high pressure regulators instead of screw in. Turn out for fields is so small these days it’s not practical to separate players by experience or gun style anymore

Hmm, I'll go do some homework for updated bunker callouts and Xball format; This never occurred to me. Screw in regs seems really nice to have (Why didn't we have this "back then"), but I do remember still having a drop forward and hard mount even in 2010 on my Ego, though I guess that was maybe just me "using what I already had" if I think back on it. Having a rental with a screw in CF tank and then receiving instructions on how to fill your own tank (from a general recball perspective) seemed surreal. Like SignOfZeta said, time and place I guess; In Florida, filling was always a "hand over" event with the marker to field personnel. Tournaments, being the exception, but it was still a monitored table.. here it was just "walk up, hook up and fill" to people just picking up the marker for the first time.

I definitely can imagine the turnout being reduced as time goes on, but we had 32 players of all flavors packed into our field(s).. it was wild (with our group of 5 being totally new).

Lots of old habits & knowledge to let go to make room for new things! I'll get to learn (again) with "totally new to the sport" players.. so that makes me a re-newbie?

[boomersruckus]

Heres a good one for ya. Morons paying between 400 and 600 bucks for headbands.

[Socalpumpballer]

Sandana collecting was thing in 2010 though.

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

Definitely check out the different styles of today Speed, mech, pump, and even stock class if you have the scene where you live. Stock class has the best camaraderie bar none and it makes you way better at snap shooting. Pump open class to dip a toe. Mech for the 10 man and to keep your trigger finger quick. Just fun to mix it up. Welcome back! I just got out of my 3rd paintball hiatus a few years ago