What is Woodsball?

The original form of the game of paintball, woodsball is back and more popular than ever!

If you’ve been around the game of paintball lately, you’ve heard the term plenty! Woodsball is back! Woodsball is popular and it’s trending upwards! But what exactly IS woodsball? The most commonly known part of the game of paintball that’s been played since the very first time people gathered together to shoot at one-another with paintballs, woodsball is the backbone of the entire sport and while it has more recently been joined by other styles of play on different types of fields, woodsball paintball is more popular now than ever!

Paintball, or what would become paintball, was first officially played in 1981 in New Hampshire. About a dozen people gathered together to stalk and attempt to eliminate one-another across a large portion of New Hampshire woods using bolt action pistols in a game that was first called “The Survival Game.” This early form of paintball was played in the woods, allowing players to creep, crawl, sneak and stalk one-another while attempting to capture flags and be the last player standing to win! About a decade later, a new form of paintball joined the game, known as “speedball.” This game brought paintball out of the woods and into arenas where spectators could watch and see all the action. More recently, mag-fed tactical paintball and air ball have joined the ranks, giving paintball players new and experienced the opportunity to enjoy the game of paintball in many exciting ways, but woodsball has always remained.

The modern game of “woodsball” paintball is, obviously, played in the woods. Today in most games of woodsball, two teams square off at opposite ends of a wooded piece of land with flag stations at each end. When the game begins, the two teams have around fifteen minutes to work together to capture key points on the field, get the angles, eliminate opponents and capture the opposing team’s flag and return it to their base to win! Woodsball players use large trees, brush piles, dips and valleys in the land, creeks and rocks and even man-made structures to hide behind and shoot it out, finding ways to sneak paintballs between trees and underbrush to eliminate their opponents, all while wearing camouflage and doing their best not to be seen! Modern paintball tournaments utilize this style of play and it’s enjoyed every weekend at paintball fields around the world! It’s likely that when most people think the word “paintball” the mental picture that runs through their head, of players creeping, crawling and stalking through the woods to shoot at one another with paintballs, is woodsball!

Modern woodsball is played on the recreational level at local paintball fields, at tournaments drawing hundreds of players competing for cash and prizes, and even on a grand scale when major scenario paintball games draw thousands of players together to enjoy camaraderie and the game of paintball in a festival atmosphere! Woodsball is the backbone of the game and sport of paintball, as it’s how most current paintball players, and most members of the paintball industry, first fell in love with the game! Woodsball is safe, woodsball is fun and woodsball is challenging, encouraging players to hone their skills to sneak, snipe and out-think their opponents from a distance and defeat them in a game of chess played at 300 feet per second, one paintball at a time!