Paintball Masks
It is essential to wear a paintball mask for the safety of the players. This is a sport where each player has to eliminate the rivals by hitting them with pellets. These pellets may contain different kinds of paints; which are also referred to as a "paintball". The paintball marker is an essential part of the game and it is the powered paintball gun. Ensuring the safety of the player is vital and hence, with time new kinds of masks have been produced, with enhanced quality and additional safety features.
About the game
It has been estimated that about 5.4 million individuals have played the game in the United States alone, for the year 2007. Approximately more than 1.5 million have played this game at least 15 times. The game of Paintball has the option to be played both indoors; as well as outdoors and takes various forms. There are so many different forms of Paintball available today, and these are basically divided between woods-ball and speed ball.
Woods-ball is played in natural or wooded terrain; while speedball is played on open or level fields, where there may be artificial or natural obstacles. The Paintball markers ensure that the players are able to get their opponents.
Varying rules of Paintball
The rules of paintball can vary widely and basic norms include two rival teams, who seek to capture their opponent's flag and then return to their starting position with it. However, there may be other kinds of objectives involved, and these include eliminating other players from the opposite team or even getting rid of a particular player. Sometimes these objectives may be related to defending or attacking a particular point or area.
These days, most of the Paintball games require players to wear masks. Some players have to deal with goals like trying to find objects of interest, hidden in the playing area. Thus the time taken for these games vary on the technique of paintball played with some games, going up to a few hours.
History of Paintball masks
The earliest games of paintball had been very different from modern paintball games. During those periods there were no masks available and hence players were at very high risks of injuries; since they often threw the paintballs at each other. The Paintball markers available at that time were the Nelspot pistols. These consisted of 12-gram CO2 cartridges; which would hold at most 10 rounds and would require being tilted for putting the ball in to the chamber. There was a lack of dedicated paintball masks during this period and these had not yet been created.
Hence players usually wore shop glasses; which left the rest of their faces exposed. The use of Paintball markers and other equipment also differs and that depends on the type of game that is played. This also varied on the skill levels of the players and among the basic requirements of players were the paintball mask.
The paintball mask was required for the players' protection in paintball; since the ball left the barrel at almost 200 mph. If it would hit the players on their cheeks then it would leave a scar and if it got near the eye then it could knock out that eye completely. The complete Paintball marker was compulsory because it would need some kind of loader or hopper to work the nitrogen, CO2 and compressed air.
Risks of not wearing a mask
The game of Paintball is really enthralling. However, it is vital for all players to wear their paintball masks the right way or else it can cause permanent damage to their face, especially the eyes. Apart from this, the lack of safety protocols, varying rules and instructions and other related problems result in vast majority of injuries incurring in these games.
