Paintball is an exciting sport that involves teams with 2 or more players that is played year round. There are many different types of games played including elimination, capture the flag, and attack and defend. The most basic game, “Capture the Flag”, has an obvious objective. Capture the other team’s flag and return it to your team’s home base for the win, while defending your own flag from the other team!

Players work with their teammates and strategize what moves they make to capture the flag. Each player uses a paintball marker powered by CO2 or compressed air which shoots the paintballs. The paintballs are colorful gelatin capsules filled with a brightly colored, washable liquid. Upon contact, the paintballs split open, leaving a splat of color that marks the player out of the game. The more opponents that are eliminated, the easier it is to capture the flag.

Most games are less than 10 minutes, so a marked player, while eliminated from the previous game, simply wipes off the splat and jumps into the next new game. Between games, players take a break to check their equipment, reload paintballs and have a snack or a soda while they share stories about the thrills of victory and the usually-funny agonies of defeat. Win or lose, everyone has a good time and there's always the next game waiting for you!

Paintball is an intense adrenaline rush that everyone should experience at least once. It is a combination of the childhood games "tag" and "hide & seek," but is much more challenging and sophisticated. Paintball is a sport played by people from all professions and life styles. It is a sport where women and men compete equally, and where age is not dominated by youth. Physical size and strength are not as important as intelligence and determination. Like a game of chess, being able to think quickly and decisively is what makes you a star. Paintball also is a character-building sport. Players learn the importance of teamwork and gain self-confidence while developing leadership abilities. Paintball is an exciting sport, and above all paintball is fun! It's a chance to shake off your day-to-day responsibilities and rekindle your spirit of adventure. Once the adrenaline starts pumping, you can't help but love the thrill of the game!

Paintball is very safe in a controlled environment, and is even ranked safer than hobbies like bowling and tennis by many insurance research firms. It is not a contact sport. Each player must attend a safety and rules orientation prior to playing. Players are expected to follow the rules at all times.

Like all action sports, paintball requires a moderate amount of physical exertion. Players will run, crawl, jump and roll to escape being hit by the opponent’s paintball. There are a few simple rules to follow and paintball can be a very safe and fun sport. Paintball markers must always be check with a chronograph prior to a player participating in a game. This checks the speed of which the paintballs are being fired from the paintball marker. The legal limit is not to go over 285 feet per second. Always wear your protective goggles while on the field. Always use a barrel plug on your paintball marker at all times until you enter the field and the referee instructs you to remove it. Never fire your paintball marker while off of the playing field. For everyone’s safety, there are no exceptions to these rules.

Referees on the field start and stop games, enforce the rules of fair play, and control the sport's safety. Central Florida Paintball has an experienced referee staff and may run several games at the same time on different parts of the paintball field. Each playing field has a marked boundary. A player who goes out of bounds is eliminated from that game.

The paintball breaks open upon impact, and generally cause very little pain. What pain is experienced is more of a stinging sensation from the impact through clothing. The feeling has been described as being 'popped' with a towel, and it's gone in a matter of seconds. In general, you can count on coming off the field with a few welts from paintball impacts.

Although most hits occur on the paintball marker, your hopper or goggles it is recommended that you wear long sleeve clothing as well as long pants for additional protection. Many players who regularly play the sport of paintball have often times said they cannot even feel being shot. They claim that with the adrenaline pumping, you cannot feel the paintballs making contact, especially if they break.

Paintball Marker, Paintball Mask (goggles), Barrel Blocking Device: (barrel cover or sleeve), Air Supply (CO2 or High Pressure Air), Hopper (Paintball Loader) and of course, paintballs. A regular 200 round hopper will serve your marker’s rate of fire. For faster markers you need an electric hopper. Common items that are recommended include: paintball marker oil, a squeegee, extra o-rings, body protective gear such as shin guards, elbow pads, knee pads, slider shorts and gloves.

No, Central Florida Paintball has everything you need including the freshest paintballs from all of the top manufacturers.

All players are required to wear close toed shoes. It is recommended that you wear baggy fitting clothes including pants and long sleeves.

A paintball is a round, thin-skinned gelatin capsule with colored liquid inside. Paintballs are similar to large vitamin capsules. The fill inside a paintball is nontoxic, water-soluble and biodegradable. It rinses out of clothing and off your skin with mild soap and water.

The most common paintball size is .68" in diameter. Paintballs come in a rainbow of colors, such as blue, pink, white, orange, red, yellow, green, and other bright hues. The outer shell of a paintball may be a color swirl, or two-toned. The inner fill may be a different color from the color of the outer shell. When a paintball tags a player, the thin outer layer of the paintball splits open, and the liquid fill inside leaves a bright "paint" mark. A player who is marked is eliminated from the game. Usually the mark must be the size of a U.S. quarter to be considered big enough to eliminate the player. Smaller amounts of fill that marks a player is called splatter and usually do not eliminate the player.

The Central Florida Paintball field and store is located just outside the city of Tampa in Lakeland, Florida on US Highway 98 near the I-4 exit 32.

We proudly boast 6 Airball fields for speedball and tournament play and 6 Woodsball fields used for scenario and recreational paintball games.

No, we understand that paintball players come from all walks of life and experience levels. Mixing the most experienced players with beginners is never good for anyone unless it is an actual clinic. We will always separate players into games based on experience levels to make it fair and fun for everyone. No one will be mixed players on a different skill level unless you specifically ask to be.

Yes, Central Florida Paintball features a fully stocked Paintball Store and Pro Shop on site with gear from all the top manufacturers in the industry.