Tell us your paintball journey.

1985 - Stationed in the UK at the time and played with rental equipment (Splatmaster and shop goggles) - I remember going on the field once with 4 10 round tubes and being accused of being a "trigger-happy yank."  (Because nobody needed more than one extra tube of paint.)

Played with rentals on and off for years then took some time away from the game.  Got back in and finally started buying some of my own equipment around 2000.

I won't go through all the markers I've owned because it would take a while.  The one marker I regret getting rid of was an F4 Illustrator.  (This is the reason I won't part with my original model Stingray, original SL68-II, Kingmann Hammer A, Kingmann Hammer II or Tippmann F/A even though I don't play with any of them anymore.)
 

Probably around 2000-01

I started in 2000 or 2001 with a Stingray II I got for Christmas.  I had one friend who played and we would play 1 on 1s during the weekends in that winter.  We soon got a group of people together and I upgraded to... you guessed it... a pro-carbine.  I loved that thing.  My dad ended up trying to help me out and put some firearm solvent through it and ruined all the o-rings.  I replaced them, got it back up and running, but I replaced it with an A-5, and sent the p/c to Enos.  

Played my first real game right around '91-'92. This was back when fields had age limits and they had just lowered it to 12 at the local field so my buddy took 3 of us out for his birthday. Scary Creek Paintball (it's still there) in Teays Valley, WV. Options were either the "Basic" package of a Nelson-valved pump of questionable origin, or "New!" Tippmann Pro-Lite semi-auto. We got the Pro-Lites and 100 rounds each and a 12oz CO2 bottle for something like $35. Masks were JT Whipper-Snappers with the added foam protectors zip-tied to the frame. The field was an old farm, so old barns, houses, trailers, etc. were the playing field. You could even get the real explosive paint grenades at that time before the BATFE said "no-no!"

Prior to that, I had played a couple of "renegade" games in the woods with original Splatmasters and oil-based paint. But that was more of the "stalk your prey" kind of game. A buddy of mine bought the Splatmasters and paint at Montgomery Ward to give you an idea of how long ago that was!

Anyway, from the game at Scary Creek onward, I was hooked. Played there a few more times in Jr. High and High School and really got into it in college. I had an old Stingray I in High School, but mainly used it for shooting in the back yard. When I got to college, a couple of buddies and I rented some Tippmann 98's for a day from The Dragon's Den and played a night game on our school's campus in the woods. I think most of us didn't even see each other that whole night, but that was enough to get me interested in playing up there. I eventually scratched together enough cash to buy a used Pro-Lite with J&J ceramic barrel and a 12oz Chromemoly tank, a used JT Elite Crossfire w/ thermal lenses, and a basic APP hopper. I'd cash in meal tickets at the school's student cafe to buy paint. I played enough, and well enough, that the store took notice and eventually hired me on as a sales guy. From there, I learned to tech, and the rest was history. Played NCPA my Sr. year. Loved every minute of it.

Arsenal:
Stingray I
Tippmann Pro-Lite
Tippmann Pro-AM
2k Autococker
ZAP IAO Custom Black Magic 'Cocker (limited run milling and color)
Tippmann 98 OG (w/ e-bolt)*
DYE Matrix LCD (DMLCD/DM3)
Sandridge F5 Autococker (Sold to DeTrevni eventually?)
Invert Mini*
OG Black Magic 'Cocker*
Tippmann FT-12*
Tippmann C3*
Nelson Nelspot 007
Tons of others I can't remember off the top of my head. I did a lot of horse-trading in the mid 2000's

(* = still own)

Last Played 2 years ago. Been meaning to get back out there, just haven't had time.

What gun/gear in your opinion changed paintball for the worst/better? For the worse, I'd say the Smart Parts Ion. Suddenly every snot-nosed brat could shoot ropes with the aid of a cheater board. That killed it for a lot of people and simply made paintball too expensive in an arms-race kind of way. A lot of fields didn't survive because they had to choose between saying "no electros" and losing out on the easy paint money from those kids, or saying "anything goes" and having new players get so beat down that they wouldn't play again. As for "For the better" I'd say the Tippmann 98 Custom. While it wasn't the first truly upgradeable marker (the Autococker beat it to the punch) it took that customization ability and put it in the hands of the masses. I sold more 98Cs the Christmas of 2000 than I could have ever imagined. We could barely keep them in stock.

As for other stuff, paintball gave me a LOT of enjoyment in college that I otherwise wouldn't have had. Met my college girlfriend through that job (she worked in the geekier side of the store) learned all about sales, integrity, honesty, and fair competition through work and tournaments with both the store team and my NCPA team. It kept me in shape and kept me out of trouble. I'm glad to see it making a comeback in my area, and in the old-school field kind of way.

I wonder how many of you guys I've bought guns off of. Tallen and PCF, Yomillio... There were some more, but......

My first exposure to paintball.... Mid 80's my friend and I were in the woods at a local huge park in NC. We got off the main trails and were deep in the woods following an old worn trail when a bunch of military guys swept pass us in full gear with face paint and everything. They had googles on but no facemasks and were carrying pump paintball guns. 

     I bought a Stingray in 97 or 98. I had 20 acres behind my house, and friends would come over and play. I decided to upgrade, so I came here to ask if I should get a Procarbine or 98. I ended up with the 98. I played from about 97 or 98 until 2003 or so. A couple of my friends started playing again around 2010, but my friend that had the land got divorced and we lost our place to play. A field has opened up close by, and I still got all the stuff (even 16-18 year old CO2 tanks) sitting around, so I might get up and play one day. I go through simunition training at work on occasion, so I still "play paintball" a little bit but I can't get too wild with it.

I met up on 2 different ocassions with people from a TFC server that we all admired on.  People from all over Canada and two from the states, it was a blast. 

I started around 2002, give or take a year. I share a birthday with two younger siblings(twins) and my dad let me and the boy twin pick out our presents that year and we grabbed paintball guns. Mine was one of the early Spyder electros, we drove around all day looking for a CO2 fill, went home and out into the woods and it was all over from there.

Edited by usafpilot07 - 09 December 2016 at 9:47pm