Paintball Lingo

By  Jamie Innes
July 8th 2006


This is a guide for ballers, mostly at beginner level, busting and breaking down some of the confusing paintball jargon out there. This article covers all the basic terms, and even a few politically in-correct ones that I'm sure some people do not want listed here. Nevertheless, freedom of speech dictates I am allowed to tell you, and you are allowed to know. Everything has been broken into 4 categories, Air & Gas, Equipment, Guns, Gameplay. Be sure to also read the Comms Lingo article, which would technically be part of the Gameplay cetegory.


Air & Gas

Remote: The hose that goes from the tank to the gun
Nipple: Connection point for a remote
Fill Nipple: Same device as a nipple, except used on an air tank for filling
Valve: The top of a CO2 or air tank, where the gas exists the tank
On/Off valve: A valve with an on/off lever
Burst disc: Safety device on a tank, bursts and vents gas, if interior pressure gets too high
Regulator: Device used for regulating air pressure
Expansion Chamber: Device used to aid liquid CO2 in expanding into gas CO2, before the CO2 enters the gun
ASA: Air Source Adapter. Where the air tank screws into the marker
CO2: Carbon dioxide, what most cheaper guns use as a propellant.
Bottomline/Unimount: ASA mounted at the bottom of the trigger grip
Drop Forward: Angled piece of metal which mounts the bottomline dowan, and forward of the trigger grip
Nitro/Nitrogen/HPA: Compressed air
Tank/Bottle/Cannister: Cylindrical container used to store CO2 or HPA
12 Gram: Small cartridge of CO2 used for pistols, stock class, bb guns, paint mines etc.
Braided hose: The tough stanless steel hose used on some guns
Macroline: The (usually black) plastic hose used on guns that usually run HPA
Microline: Slimmer version of macroline
PSI: Punds per square inch, used to measure air pressure
CI: Cubic Inch (Also known as CU: Cubic Unit)
Oz: Ounce, ie: "A 20oz CO2 tank"
Anti syphon tube: Device used in CO2 tanks, helps stop liquid CO2 exiting the tank



Equipment

Chrono/Chronograph: Device that checks the speed of a paintball as it leaves the barrel of the gun
Fogged/Goggle Fog: When the inside of your goggles fogs up with condensation
Sup' Air: Super air, the nickname for inflatable barricades used for speedball
Bouncy castles: Derogatory term for sup' air
Clown suit: Derogatory term for speedball attire
Thermal lense: Used to prevent/minimise goggle fog
Flatline barrel: Further shooting used on tippmanns, and the flatline autococker
Apex barrel: Further shooting barrel used on tippmanns and spyders
Squeegee: Device used to clean out the barrel when you get a break/chop
Ramping: A feature on some electronic guns, allowing BPS or FPS to rise as the gun is fired
Hopper: Attaches atop the marker, and holds paintballs
Armband: Device sometimes used to identify team allocation
Cyclone: Used on some tippmann guns, a rotating ball feed device
Barrel plug/sock/condom: Safety device used to block the end of a barrel
Barrel: The cylyndrical tubing tyhe paintball travels through as the gun is fired
Q-Loader: Device that feeds into the gun directly from a pod, mounted on the gun
Warp feed: Usually used on automags, sits underneath a hopper, and feed ball into the gun via a feeding hose
Reball: Rubber, reusable paintball
Tactical Vest: Made for paintball, or military style paintball vest
Chest Rig: Simpler version of a tactical vest
Pod/Tube/Guppy: Cylindrical plastic container, holds extra paintballs to be used for a reload during a game.
Pack/Harness/Pod Pack: Usually a waist mounted device, used to hold pods.
Grenade: Paint filled, usually non explosive device, thrown at the enemy like a real grenade
Mine: Paint or paintball filled device, activated via pressure or a tripwire, usually powered by a 12 gram
Tank: (1) A CO2 or HPA tank
              (2) Vehicle sometimes used in a scenario game



Guns

Tippy: Short for Tippmann
Spyder: A brand of gun made by KIngman
Cocker: Shortform of "Autococker", which is a closed bolt paintball marker
Eye/Eyes/ACE: Anti Chop Eyes, device used in electros to prevent ball chops
Raygun/Spacegun: Derogatory term for an expensive electro
Mag: (1) Automag (A blow forward gun)
           (2) Magazine, used in mainly RAM style of guns
RAM/RAP4: Realistic style of gun, uses .43 cal paintballs, fed via a magazine or clip
Calibre: The size of a paintball. Most guns use .68 cal, RAM uses .43 or .40, some older guns use .50
Stock: Used to shoulder the marker, same or similar to a rifle stock
Stock Class: Pump marker, uses 12 grams, holds ten rounds
Marker: The politically correct term for a paintball gun
Electro: Electronic gun
Open Bolt/Closed Bolt/Blow Back/Blow Foward: Different methods of firing a paintball used by different bolts in various guns



Gameplay

Gogged:To get shot in the goggles
Hit/Tagged/Killed/Eliminated/Marked: A paintball breaks on you, eliminating you
Tape: The edge of the field (if marked by some kind of tape)
Boundary: The edge of the field you cannot cross, often marked by a road or fence
Bounce: (1) To get hit with a paintball, but it doesn't break
                  (2) Nickname given to 'trigger bounce', a feature of certain electronic triggers
                  (3) When you drop your gun on the ground and it bounces
Barrel tag: To touch someone with your barrel at point blank range, eliminating them. A compulsary surrender.
Paint check: When you hit someone or you get hit with a paintball, but are unsure if it broke
Bonus ball: To shoot, or be hit by, paintballs while you are eliminated, and leaving, or about to leave the field
Wiper/Wiping:Cheating, when you get hit with a paintball you wipe off the hit
Bunker/Barricade: An item of hard cover you can use to prevent yourself from being hit
Playing on: To keep playing even though you are hit
Lit up: A player hit several time in quick sucession, not necessarily the same as bonus balling
Chop: When a paintball is broken in the chamber of a marker
Ref: Referee
Barrel Break: When a paintball breaks in the barrel
Speedball: Faster/Shorter game, played on a smaller field, with mostly (or all) manmade barricades
Woodsball/Bushball: Slower/Longer game, played on a larger field, with mostly (or all) natural barricades (trees, bushes etc)
Recball: Lazy man's word for Woodsball. In reality, it simply means 'paintball', since all paintball is 'recreational'.
Tourney: Tournament
MILSIM: Military simulation, used as an approximate term for anybody who wears camo, and shoots a realistic style of gun
Snake: A feature of a speedball field, a long, low piece of cover, often in the shape of a snake
Scenario: A style of gameplay, ie- "attack and defend" "capture the fort" "hostage rescue"
Scenario Game: A big game centered around a scenario or scenarios, often has a central theme or story
CTF: (1) Capture the flag
          (2) Capture the fort
FPS: Feet per second, how the speed of a paintball is measured.
BPS: Balls per second, measures how fast a gun can fire.
RPM: Rounds per minute, measure how fast a gun can fire.
CPS: Cycles per second, measures how fast a marker can cycle, not the same as BPS