Editing Paintball (section)

=== Enforcement of game rules ===
Regulated games are overseen by [[referees]] or [[marshals]], who patrol the course to ensure enforcement of the rules and the safety of the players.<ref>{{cite web|title=Paintball Risk Assessement{{sic|nolink=yes}}|work=Mayhem Paintball |url=http://www.mayhem-paintball.co.uk/about/Risk%20Assessement%20for%20Mayhem%20Paintballing%20London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517101828/http://www.mayhem-paintball.co.uk/about/Risk%20Assessement%20for%20Mayhem%20Paintballing%20London |archive-date=May 17, 2019}}</ref> If a player is marked with paint, they will call them out, but competitors may also be expected to follow the [[code of conduct|honor code]]; a broken ball means elimination. Field operators may specify variations to this rule, such as requiring a tag to certain body locations only – such as the head and torso only.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=140&article=27733|title=Paintball warriors embrace fast and furious version known as 'speedball'|access-date=March 20, 2010 |author=Zimmerman, Fred|publisher=Stars and Stripes|date=March 13, 2005}}</ref> There are game rules that can be enforced depending on the venue, to ensure safety, balance the fairness of the game or eliminate cheating.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 4, 2022 |title=How to play Paintball: 100% Easy Guide - IOP |work=IOP |url=https://itsonlypaintball.com/how-to-play-paintball-easy-guide/ |access-date=September 19, 2022 |language=en-US |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920171617/https://itsonlypaintball.com/how-to-play-paintball-easy-guide/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* '''Masks On''' Even when a game is not in progress, virtually all venues enforce a ''masks-on'' rule while players are within the playing area. More generally, within any given area of the park, either all players'/spectators'/officials' masks must be on, or all players' markers must either have a barrel block in place or be disconnected from their gas source, to ensure that a paintball cannot be fired from any nearby marker and cause eye injury. Some fields encourage players to aim away from opponents' heads during play if possible; splatter from mask hits can penetrate ventilation holes in the goggles and cause eye irritation, close-range hits to the mask can cause improperly maintained lenses to fail, and hits to unprotected areas of the face, head and neck are especially painful and can cause more serious injury.<ref>Paintball Shooting Tactics at ExtremeSports101 - ''Getting a head shot looks cool and because there's so much hard surface, there's a good chance that the paint will break. However, there are definite downsides to going for an opponent's head. There's also a good chance that the player will end up eating some paint or - worse yet - get hit in the neck, which is quite painful. If players do not change their lenses as often as they should (and few players do!), a hit to the lenses may cause them to break.''</ref>
* '''Minimum distance''' – When being tagged, depending on the distance from where the shot was fired, a direct paintball impact commonly causes bruises. In certain areas and at close range, these impacts may leave welts, or even break the skin and cause bleeding. To decrease these risks and the severity of associated injuries, commercial venues may enforce a minimum distance, such as {{convert|4.5|m|ft}}, within which players cannot shoot an opponent.<ref name="roanoke">{{cite news|url=http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/sports\wb/83060|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201085529/http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/sports%5Cwb/83060|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 1, 2013|title=Paintball: There's a little pain, but it's a ball|author=Fowler, Hart|access-date=September 18, 2009|newspaper=The Roanoke Times|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref> Many fields enforce a modified minimum distance ''surrender rule''; a player who advances to within minimum range must offer his opponent the chance to surrender before shooting. This generally prevents injury and discord at recreational games, however it is seldom used in tournaments as it confers a real disadvantage to the attacking player; he must hesitate while his opponent is free to shoot immediately. The act of shooting a player at close range is colloquially called "bunkering"; it happens most often when a player uses covering fire to force his opponent behind the cover of a bunker, then advances on that bunker while still shooting to eliminate the opponent point-blank.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.directpaintball.com/article_bunkering101.html |title=Bunkering 101 - Tactics and the Surrender Rule |publisher=Directpaintball.com |access-date=September 13, 2010 |archive-date=July 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710131916/http://www.directpaintball.com/article_bunkering101.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> A tap of the targeted player with the barrel of a marker, sometimes called a "barrel tag", "Murphy" or "tap-out", is generally considered equivalent to marking them with a paintball and is sometimes used in situations where one player is able to sneak up on an opponent to point-blank range.
* '''Hits''' - A player is hit if a paintball leaves a solid mark of a specified minimum size (often nickel- or quarter-sized) anywhere on the player's body or equipment. Some variations of paintball don't count hits to the gun or the pod pack, or require multiple hits on the arms or legs. Most professional fields and tournaments, though, count any hit on a person, the equipment on their person, or even objects picked up at random from the field. A grey area of "splatter" often occurs when a paintball breaks on a nearby surface and that paint deflects onto the player; this usually does not count as a hit but it can be difficult to tell the difference between significant splatter and a genuine direct hit.
* '''Overshooting''' – Fields may discourage players from ''overshooting'' (also regarded as ''bonus balling'', "ramping", "overkill", or ''lighting up''), which is to repeatedly shoot an opposing player after he is eliminated from the game.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://dailyuw.com/2001/4/18/ready-aim-paint/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711000718/http://dailyuw.com/2001/4/18/ready-aim-paint/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 11, 2012|title=Ready, Aim, Paint!|author=Santschi, Mark|date=April 18, 2001|access-date=September 21, 2009|newspaper=The Daily of the University of Washington}}</ref> It is also considered overshooting if a player knew the opponent was eliminated but continued to shoot, disregarding the safety of the opposing player and risking dangerous injury to others.
* '''Ramping''' – Ramping is a feature of many electronic markers, where after a certain number of rapid shots or upon a threshold rate-of-fire being achieved by the player, the gun will begin firing faster than the trigger is being pulled. Ramping of rate of fire is prohibited or sharply limited at most paintball fields, however it is allowed in various tournament formats with specific rules governing when and how the marker may ramp.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warpig.com/paintball/newbie/dictionary/index3.shtml|title=Warpig.com Paintball Dictionary|date=January 2006|publisher=Warpig.com via Corinthian Media Services|access-date=April 7, 2010|archive-date=July 9, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709001526/http://www.warpig.com/paintball/newbie/dictionary/index3.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
* '''Wiping''' – Players may attempt to cheat by ''wiping'' paint from themselves, to pretend they were not hit and stay in the game.<ref name="voicepaly">{{cite web|url=http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=3647|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070528195140/http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=3647|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 28, 2007|title=Ready, Aim ... Paint?|access-date=September 16, 2009|date=January 3, 2005|author=Kousnetz, Zack|publisher=The Paly Voice}}</ref> If caught, "wipers" are generally called out of the game, and in recreational paintball may be ejected from the field for multiple instances of wiping. Various tournament rules state additional penalties for players or teams caught wiping, such as "3-for-1" (calling the wiping player and the nearest three players out) in PSP capture-the-flag, or a prescribed number of "penalty minutes" in XBall.
* '''Non-contact''' - While paintball does involve tagging players with paintball projectiles, this is generally considered the sole point of physical contact between members of opposing teams. Players are generally prohibited from physically contacting other players, such as colliding with them, physically restraining them, and especially using fists, feet, protective gear or the markers themselves to hit other players. Fisticuffs in particular are dangerous not only to the participants but to all players on or off the field, and referees are generally trained to respond immediately and aggressively to stop the fight, and to eject and ban instigators of these fights.
* '''Velocity''' - Though most paintball markers are capable of firing at muzzle velocities of around 300 feet per second (fps), the players' paintball marker is generally limited to a muzzle velocity of 280 fps for safety reasons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liveabout.com/mph-paintball-gun-shoot-2565741|title=Exactly How Fast Does a Paintball Gun Fire?|website=LiveAbout|access-date=May 28, 2020|archive-date=November 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111221353/https://www.liveabout.com/mph-paintball-gun-shoot-2565741|url-status=live}}</ref>