Unpacking the Game: What Is Speedball Paintball?
Since the first game of paintball came out, the game has grown and evolved. Speedball is an evolution of the paintball sport. So what is speedball paintball?
Speedball is a fast-paced game and is played in smaller fields. In fields, artificial bunkers are placed where players hide and target opponents. The speedball game grew rapidly and became a popular form of competitive tournament paintball. In most tournaments, players play speedball to win cash prizes, medals, and trophies.
In speedball, there are two teams with few players in each team, i.e. 5 members in each group, but it can be 7 to 10 players. The field is small, so fewer players are required in speedball. It is not a strategic game. Players have to plan fast and attack quickly on their opponents; if they take more time to fire, the enemy can easily hit them and win the game. The primary positions for speedball paintball players are fronts or frontman, mid-players, floaters, back-players and inserts.
The frontman is in the front position. The frontman’s responsibility is to push forward and eliminate the opponents. Frontman shoots more but uses fewer paintballs because he has good angles to shoot opponents. He should be an agile and quick player because he is closer to the enemies than any other player.
Mid-players work in between the frontman and back-players. If a player is eliminated, the mid-player takes his place, so he must be in good condition for running, hiding behind bunkers and shooting.
The back player’s role is to defend the team’s flag while staying in the back and defending other team players. The back player shoots more paintballs than the other team members.
Floaters and inserts cover different areas in a field and take place when any player goes down.
Main Types of Speedball:
There are two types of speedball.
First is the Two Flag paintball format, also known as Traditional Speedball. It resembles the Capture the Flag game. Each flag belonging to each team is placed at the end of each field. In this game, each team tries to capture the opposing team’s flag and, at the same time, defends its flag. To win, players not only try to capture the flag of their opposing squad but also try to bring it to their base and for this, a team has to eliminate its opposing team.
There is a variant of Two Flag paintball: Single Flag or Centre Flag speedball. In this game, only one flag is in the centre of the field. The objective of each team is to capture that flag and bring it into their field. If a person is hit by a paintball while holding the flag, he has to drop the flag.
The other type of speedball is X Ball. It resembles the Centre Flag speedball. X Ball involves a very large team, more than the number of players allowed to be on the field at one time. The task of each field is to capture a single flag from the centre of the field and bring it back to their base to win.
When a team succeeds in bringing the flag to their base, the clock is stopped, and each group makes a fresh set of players to the starting line. For this, they have a short time. If any player breaks a rule, he is kicked out as a punishment, and the team has to play without him, and no new player can play in that player’s place.
While playing speedball, protection should be their priority; for protection, players must wear a paintball face mask, knee pads, elbow pads, chin straps and goggles.
There is a variety of paintball leagues in which two main leagues sponsor tournaments under speedball. The leagues are NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) and PSP (Paintball Sports Promotions), each with slightly different rules.
People of all ages and genders can play paintball either for entertaining or professionally.
The paintball game is different from other sports for some reasons
- Paintball game is one of the few sports in which physical fitness is not very important. The most essential skills this sport requires are communication, staying calm under pressure and hand-eye coordination.
- Both men and women can play this game. There is no issue of gender discrimination in this game.
- Players are not allowed to contact opponents while on the field physically.
