When were you happiest with paintball

[Tinybear]

With paintball companies seemingly withering away and most hobbies for that matter suffering crushing shrinkage (many simply can’t afford luxuries) I got to thinking.

What time period were you most happy with the game when did paintball Peak for YOU. What do you most look back most fondly of and is there anything you think that’s bettered the game since then.

I Started in 1998 and was immediately hooked. I only played Rec ball and never competed. But in 1999 I bought my first Automag(still have it). I played with it a JT Spectra mask, an eggy 2 or revy and 72ci3000psi Steely tank, and LOVED IT. Played nothing but rec hopper ball . I Played in jeans and a tank top. Was still in my mid teens back then and loved the game, I couldn’t at the time afford fancy gear and paintball was only just a fun pass-time at this point not a main hobby. I garnered more guns and things to try but nothing ever replaced that simple mag.

But as fun as that was I think for me anyways 2010-2015 or so was my peak. I still shot that same mag but it had spawned many more mags over the years. This was the time I truly started trying new fields and got started and addicted to playing big games and got some actual gear for a change. Most 2012 and 2013 I spent off badly injured but returned in 2014 bringing my sister into the game. Some of the best paintball I ever played.

I look forward to continuing to play as I’m able (them injuries take there toll) and in a couple years allowing my children to join (8 and 5 currently).

[Trbo323]

Late 2000s when you could just be in any town of a decent size and know there was a paintball shop. You walk in, the walls were covered with markers and not just entry level stuff, they had everything. There was also a lot more back woods ball played because CO2 was still everywhere. There was even a few indoor fields around me (now, as far as I know there's only one on the West Coast)

It was nice to see paintball everywhere and be so commonplace

Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk

[Reflex0283]

For me it peaked in 2025 because I just started playing

[redsquirrel]

Paintball is continuing to peak for me. Past few years I’ve made the drive to some events and met some really great people. I’ve got a reliable collection of markers that I love and know how to maintain. My local field changed ownership in the past few years and has steadily been making well thought out improvements. Each time I visit the field I’m surprised by the amount of new players and faces I recognize from months back.

Give me paint that doesn’t roll out at .675 and I’d have nothing to complain about.

[Painthappy]

It's when ever I play. The older I've gotten the more I've come to realize it's the people I play with that matters more than the game, same team or not. Going to events where a lot of like minded folks are at (mcbers, etc) just makes the game more fun than it would have been otherwise. There is no pressure, you know the people will be stand up honest players, and best of all I don't need to run.

Years ago I played with the regulars at Adventure Games every Saturday. We would of course play with the walk-ons, and they would try to split up the regulars evenly. We would then find out which side of the field we would be on, so we could play each other and win or lose the game fairly. It's not that we were all that... just against new rental players, we were. So we taunted and played against each other until one side fell and then we would assist the rentals on our side to win the game. I stopped playing against the rentals because you can only do that for so long before you do get bored. So I seek out the large events and any games were I can play with you lot.

So yeah, the game is still fun. A good team will always be better than just a good player. I do miss the NPPL days when I played in that, but that also brought out the jerk players who's ego's were a bit too big for their playing style, so I guess I don't miss it that much.

[Shan1Fat]

2005. X-Ball was out for divisional teams. 7 man was still alive and had killer venues. Timmy's, Shockers, Angels, DMs, Protos, Egos, Ebladed Cockers, Private Label guns galore. So much variety and style. 7 Man was uncapped semi auto. Xball was capped but was 15 BPS. Paint was awesome.

[Blackmagic71]

Oklahoma D-day 2006 was peak paintball for me.

A friend and I absolutely packed my cheap compact car to the gills, printed out Mapquest directions, and drove down from MN on our first big road trip.

We had played at a few local fields in MN, but going from a few dozen players for a day to 4,000+ players for an event that was multiple days long was downright wild.

Add in the massive field, intricate buildings/bunkers, smoke grenades, trenches, tanks, multiple speedball fields in the middle of camp that ran late into the night, a MASSIVE vendor area, and the whole thing was pretty mind blowing for a teenager.

I used a black WGP Nightkast with TRV’s on the ram, and I remember thinking it was the coolest marker on the planet.

[Chappy]

I have to echo Painthappy here. My last game was Click Clack bloop. You cant beat a game like that for pure fun. The game before that was a campout at my place with people I’ve been playing with for years. Before that was stockstravaga and super game east. All completely different events, all made excellent by the people I was with. And any event where Justin or Wade cook us up some vittles is peak paintball.

[Jackson]

My wife thought I was nuts for driving 3 1/2 hrs each way to go play with 20 people at Click Clack Bloop. But that was peak paintball. It's the people.

[autococker04]

I recently played a big game with my old Spyder and that stands out to me as the most fun time I’ve had playing in recent memory. Like a lot of people have said, it’s more about the guys you’re playing with than the game itself.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Going back to early 2000s to the old Bigshots field which was classic woodsball. Stalking around in the bushes, not spaying paint everywhere. Simple and fiun. Running around in original profilers and a Tippmann A5.

That said recently play a big “scenario” game at g to d local field and has a lot of fun as well. Met a bunch of great people, had done intense battles, smoke grenades etc. Was a last minute decision to go, but glad I did.

[Jonnydread]

I think my joy with paintball has ebbed and flowed a lot throughout the years.

Like Tinybear I started playing in the woods with school friends in 1998, using Walmart paint and BE Talons and at that time it was such a barely-obtainable magical thing. Tag in the woods with GUNS? What could be more exciting?

Once I got my first "real" marker (a mint green Spyder Xtra) I was drunk with it. Spent all the little money I had on paintball and snake oil upgrades. Honestly a vertical-feed blowback didn't play well with the gravity feed hoppers of the day so while I loved playing I chopped so much paint the magic dropped a bit for me. It's not fun to play when your equipment doesn't work right and everyone else's does.

In late HS I got my hands on a BKO and a Halo and dove headfirst into local tournaments. Loved that early 00's Lasoya style airball for a while. Once I got into college I ended up as captain of our college team, but the team was made up of folks who either joined for the lolz or wanted to be seen as a cool girl/guy that does extreme sports and it showed. By early 2006 I was fed up and stopped playing altogether.

When I got back into playing around 2009 was when I feel like I had my peak paintball. I was playing regularly, mostly outlaw, and I was only playing for fun. My competitive experience in college burned me out more than I realized, but as soon as the game was purely recreational again I was having so much fun with it. I have been playing very regularly since 2009, and while I have dipped my toes back into competitive play it's with a crew that is tight-knit, but huge on the fun aspect and that's where I like to be. I have a more fully fleshed out life now, so I can't always dedicate the time that I want to paintball, but when I play my top priority is having a good time, and that has made all the difference in the world to me.

I'm gonna keep doing this stupid bullshit till I'm in the grave, and buried with at least one of my snipers.

[Grendel]

Pure raw enjoyment in playing paintball, I would have to go back to the late 80s when the game was entirely fresh for me. Nothing will beat my first day of play with friends when it was all new to me. I would get excited like a kid on Christmas Eve, the night before going to play, but that eventually faded with familiarity and regularity of play

That being said, the most enjoyable time I had over the decades was the late 90s through mid to late 2000s when South Carolina Roadkill was in its heyday. We were travelling almost monthly to some big game or scenario game as a large "organized team. We had a blast playing and hanging out together, camping on site, and I miss those days.

[JonM]

For me, it's been in the years since 2013. I started playing about thirty years ago and I have some great memories of the early years, but I never really found a close group of people until then (at the time, it was mostly just me and a couple work buddies) . Once I got involved with Hansbury's Horde (now The Expandables) and by extension Carter's Commando, paintball really clicked for me. I found that while I sometimes enjoy playing solo, it's really the people who make this game what it is.

[iamthelazerviking]

Probably when I got hooked, 2001ish. It was so fresh and exciting, so much to learn about. The original Paintball Online was very close, so going there and drooling over all the cool stuff I couldn't afford was fun. I did buy my own first setup from there as well.

But, as a middle schooler without my own money and parents who couldn't really afford to fund such a hobby, I didn't really get into playing often until years later when I had money of my own. After moving to Idaho from Oregon in 2005, I got back into it a little over the 7 years I would live there. Then in 2011 I would move to Utah on my own and within a few years was able to go as much as I wanted, granted it was at two mediocre indoor fields, but I would get out to other interesting games and locations when I could. As messy and expensive as those indoor fields were, I found my love for pump during this time, using a Phantom frequently then eventually snipers and then finally finding other pump lovers.

Moved from Utah in 2022 to Virginia, and paintball is much further away than I was used to but met great people and got to play a pump event which is definitely one of the peak highlights.

[scottieb]

Paintball has been fun, and still is fun, but for me the most fun playing paintball and being a part of the paintball world happened pre 2000.