Paintball is always growing and evolving but for decades there have been two main ways to experience the sport that haven’t changed. That is the indoor vs outdoor paintball experience. These are very different games and some people love one while hating the other. They each have special characteristics that are pretty straightforward and, upon reading them may give you an idea up front of which might be more to your personal liking. Both are excellent and many people enjoy playing either one but they have different “feels” from each other. One might say they can even be mood dependent, meaning that depending on your emotional state you might be predisposed to one or the other. Here is the lowdown:
OUTDOOR PAINTBALL
This is the original form of paintball, which is why it’s being discussed here first. Paintball was designed to be a sport of war and wars are generally not fought in warehouses. They’re fought in forests and jungles and open fields. They’re also fought in urban terrain, which is another possibility and is actually sort of a hybrid pump paintball experience. Not many places offer an outdoor urban terrain, probably because not many places have a complex of abandoned buildings to play paintball in. Still, if you can find that, it might just be the ultimate experience. Standard outdoor paintball offers wide open areas, opportunities to see the enemy coming and is much more slow paced. It allows the use of strategies to pay off in a bigger way.
INDOOR PAINTBALL
This is basically a thrill ride. Strategies break down when you’re in close quarters with tons of cover all over the place. An enemy playuer could pop around a corner at any moment and be three feet from you before either of you realizes the other is there. This is a fast paced adrenalin rush, but it does leave a lot more of the game to luck. Still, it’s a very visceral experience and worth trying at least once, even if you prefer the old school, outdoor pump paintball gear games. Indoor paintball games also tend to be easier to find since they can be located in buildings in urban or suburban areas. Outdoor paintball requires open fields and that can often mean long drives for many people.
No comments yet.