The largest paintball game of the year is fast approaching, so now is the time to make plans to attend. A reenactment of D-Day takes place every year near Wyandotte, Oklahoma - three hours south of Kansas City in the Northeast corner of Oklahoma. D-Day Adventure Park is composed of over 700 acres devoted to paintball and it's ready to support the expected 10,000 people that will converge for the game on June 15. While there are activities throughout the week (starting June 9), Saturday's big game is expected to have 4,000 participants.

To learn more, go to ddayadventurepark.com. Early registration ends May 30th.

I recently played paintball and the weather was perfect - sunny and 65 or 70 degrees all day long. The night before, though, it had rained and the ground was still pretty soggy. After a couple of games where I caught myself slipping before a run, I decided it was time to switch to my cleats - I didn't slip the rest of the day and never even thought about the wetness of the terrain except when I slid into a mud hole.

If you're looking for something to add to your paintball arsenal, consider a pair of cleats. They don't work very well on rocky terrain or on Astro Turf, but if you play on grass, dirt or in the woods, they work wonders. I personally use soccer cleats with molded bottoms, but other people use football, baseball or even track cleats - they all can give you an edge.
_{(Photo Courtesy of PriceGrabber)}

One of the most frustrating times in paintball is when you've started a game, believing you have enough air, only to run out midway through the game. I'm sure most paintball players have heard the rata-tat-tat of a blowback gun that just doesn't have quite enough air left to recock or you've been firing your electro only to watch your paintballs start to plop only about twenty feet out of the barrel. To avoid this problem I long ago grew accustomed to using big tanks - usually a hulking 88cu 4500psi compressed air tank. I used a remote for a while, but I generally just screw a big tank onto my gun and head to the field. The added weight really isn't very noticeable, but the increased size definitely is felt every time I need to make a tight shot. It's not desirable, but at least I'm not leaving the field in the middle of a game.

Recently, though, I've started to develop a fetish for compactness. I'm much more at risk to run out of air during a game, but, depending on what I'm playing, the smaller size is worth that risk.

There are two ways to achieve a smaller size which I find quite appealing - use a 45cu compressed air tank or return to using CO2. As you can see from the picture, a 45cu tank is dwarfed by an 88cu, but it can still provide up to a thousand shots with an efficient gun. Alternatively, if you really want to go small and light, a basic blowback gun with a small CO2 tank and a simple hopper can't be beat. Before I snapped it in half, I used to put a 9oz tank and a gravity hopper on a Spyder Sport - it wasn't very accurate, but it hardly weighed a thing.

If you've never tried to go small, you just might want to consider a downsizing. You may not ever want to go back.
_{(Photo © 2008 David Muhlestein licensed to About.com, Inc.)}

Everyone has their preferences when it comes to paintball guns. Some like a decked out A-5 for scenario games while others prefer a customized Ion for the speedball course. Some like an Ego that needs no upgrades and others prefer an autococker that needs no batteries. Whatever you shoot, it almost always boils down to the most important thing - whatever that may be. Some players are fanatical when it comes to durability. Others focus completely on weight. Still others want something that they can customize and truly make unique.

Whatever that most important thing is, it seems to make all the difference when it comes to deciding between comparably priced guns. Sure, all sorts of things factor in, but never as much as the most important thing.

For me, the most important thing is how a gun feels to hold. How a gun shoots is going to matter, but whether the gun is a mil-sim woodsball gun or a light and tight speedball gun, I want it to feel like it was designed for my hands before I ever pull the trigger. Can I express in words exactly what this means? No. But I can tell you that it means I prefer my old Spyder TL to a new Spyder Victor. It means I prefer an SP-8 to an e-gripped A-5 and I prefer an Angel 1 to a Shocker. There are probably other reasons that I could give to justify my preferences, but the truth is that the guns I prefer just feel better to hold.

So, what's your most important thing? Leave a comment and let the manufacturers know what, after everything else, really matters.

Everyone remembers their first time playing paintball. My first trip, while memorable for being my first, really wasn't that great.

In the mid '90s I went with my dad and brothers to the local indoor paintball field - a converted skating rink. We rented our pump guns and soon entered a game with almost no preparation other than a warning not to shoot the refs. I played in a number of games over the next few hours in a poorly-lit, muggy environment coated with aging paint. I'm not sure how many kills I got, but I know I got shot many more times than I got someone else. Was it fun? Sure. Was I super excited to go again? Not really, but I still went there again during the next few years if the occasion presented itself.

Fast forward a few years. As a sophomore in high school I went with a group of people who had their own equipment, taught me how to use it and actually employed tactics and strategy. Plus, I played for the first time outside. My introduction to woodsball changed my perception of the sport. Not only was the game everything I had imagined, but to this day, I can still remember the exact sequence of some games we played. From that moment onward, I was hooked.

Needless to say, every time I take a new person out to play for their first time (and I've taken dozens), I try to convey the experience of my first "real" time playing the sport. Spending a few hours hiding in the dark behind oily-plywood won't bring them back for more.

Most players have, at one time or another, used a basic, blowback paintball gun such as a Tippmann, Spyder, Piranha or any of the dozens of other guns that rely on the same basic principles to operate. These semi-automatic shooters are what changed the sport from a pump-centered survival game to the broad, accessible sport paintball is today. While few advanced players continue to rely solely on their basic blowback, they are an integral part of how many of us found the sport. We either upgrade our basic gun with e-grips and high-efficiency bolts or buy fancier electro-pneumatic guns, but we never forget our first Spyder or our original Model 98. With the dozens of paintball guns that I own, I still never go to the field without at least one basic blowback tucked into my bag as a battery-free backup.

In this age where advanced paintball guns can be purchased by the masses, I'd like to take a minute and salute the basic, semi-automatic paintball gun. If it weren't for my first Spyder, I never would have adopted the sport, and I'm sure countless other paintballers feel the same way. So when you're tired of ramping to 20 balls per second or just sick of replacing the batteries on your Halo, take a minute and dig out a basic gun, screw on a CO2 tank, fill up a gravity-fed hopper and hit the field. Such a great gun deserves at least as much.

_{(Photo Courtesy of PriceGrabber)}

I don't like it, but I do it anyway. Do I regret it while I'm doing it? No. Do I regret it later? Almost always.

Paintball in the rain can be fun. Just like a night game of football, outdoor basketball or tennis on grass, changes in environment can be exciting. As much as I prefer to play paintball in the sun, I've played many games in the rain and I'm sure I'll play many more. Of course, the reason I end up playing in the rain is because I started when it wasn't raining and I just wanted to get one more game in before calling it a day. And besides, it can be a blast to lob paint across a field with water streaming down your goggles and puffs of vapor accompanying every shot. Trying to run through the mud can be a pain, but if it's the last game of the day, who cares?

The problem is not playing in the rain. The problem is cleaning up afterwards. As much fun as a rainy game can be, it's never much fun to throw your gear into a wet bag and head to the cars because you know what you're going to find when you get home. Many people don't care - they simply believe that their gun didn't really get wet or they mistakenly believe that their aluminum gun is impervious to water. Just wait until you try to remove a steel screw that rusted into an aluminum body - I'll give you a hint, it's not coming out without a fight. And you might not think that a rusty sear will make a difference, but you'd be wrong. No matter what kind of paintball gun you have, rain can wreak havoc. If you're playing with an electro, just pray that nothing gets short circuited.

The problem with rainy day paintball is that it can cost you way more time and effort than you ever dreamed possible before hand. Does this mean I won't be heading out to play if it's already raining? Probably. Does this mean that when the first drops fall I'll be ready to call it a day? Most certainly not.

Necromancer is a simple twist on the classic game of elimination. Two teams square off on opposite sides of the field, but there's one important artifact in the center of the field - an air horn. Blowing it will raise all your teammates from the dead. Careful, though, you can only blow it once. To keep you on your toes, be sure to try out more fun game variations.

Many people who have quit playing paintball tell me it's partly because the cost just becomes prohibitive. Unfortunately, cost is a part of the sport that we just have to live with. You can play economically, but no matter what, it will still cost you something.

One area where you seem to get what you pay for is field fees. Typically, if you have to pay $20 to get in somewhere and then pay another $50-$60 for field paint, it's going to be a pretty nice setup with multiple fields to cater to all types of player. If you pay $10 and bring your own paint, you're typically going to get a smaller, less improved field. If you're really cheap, you play on someone's land and don't pay anything for the privilege. The quality, though, is usually greatly inferior to a professional field.

I realize that field owners want to turn a profit (or at least break even) and to do that they need to charge what they do to cover the costs of field improvements, insurance and refs. I don't hold anything against them for that. But, sometimes I wonder if the improved quality really leads to an improved experience. I've had some pretty exciting games on a professional field, but some of my most memorable paintball experiences have happened out in the woods.

For the beginner who wants to rent equipment and try out a field, there's nothing better than a professional field with a trained staff, a variety of playing choices and competent refs. For the more advanced player, it can be pretty frustrating to spend hundreds of dollars over the course of a season just for the chance to play with the same people each week. I know that sponsorships, friendships and season passes can minimize this cost, but it's usually still a significant financial investment.

Ideally, well-designed paintball fields would exist where you can play for free. I've played at a few of them. Unfortunately, there just aren't as many as I'd like.

Last year, Special Ops Paintball hosted the inaugural Elite Weekend - three days devoted to everything woodsball. This year, they're at it again from June 20th to 22nd. Sure, the price tag is high, but the promise of $750 worth of gear included in the price might soften the blow. If this is the first time you've heard of the Elite Weekend, check it out - it might just become your next dream vacation.