30 Must-Know Paintball Terms, Phrases and Slang

64 paintball terms explained, from marker, hopper and chrono to bunkering, dorito and wipe, plus the slang players use on the field.

Walk onto a field for the first time and the paintball terminology arrives faster than the paint does. Some of it is gear, some of it is field layout, and the rest is shouted mid-game. The words related to paintball below cover the marker and everything bolted to it, and the words associated with paintball tactics explain what your team is actually asking you to do. The paintball glossary below is the version you can read before your first walk-on session.

New to the game? Our guide to paintball rules explains how a game works from start to finish, which makes most of the terms below fall into place.

👉 Think you know paintball? Test yourself with our Paintball Quiz.

Must-Know Paintball Terms, Phrases and Slang:

Paintball Glossary: Every Term A to Z

Terms A to C

Term	What It Means
Airball	A field laid out with inflatable bunkers that can be moved and reconfigured. Fast, symmetrical and the standard for tournaments.
Back player	The player in the rear bunkers who covers the field and supports the front players.
Barrel plug	A plug pushed into the barrel off the field so nothing can leave it accidentally. Modern fields more often use a barrel sock.
Barrel sock	A fabric cover over the end of the barrel, the standard safety device off the field. Also called a barrel cover.
Bonus ball	Shooting a player who is already eliminated and walking off. It is against the rules everywhere and a fast way to be sent home.
Bounce	A paintball that hits without breaking, so no mark is left and the player stays in the game.
BPS	Balls per second, the measure of a marker’s rate of fire.
Break	What a paintball does on impact. A ball that breaks and leaves a solid mark counts as a hit.
Breakout	The opening sprint of a point, when both teams run from their start positions to the bunkers they want.
Bunker	Any object used for cover, from a fallen log in the woods to an inflatable shape on a tournament field.
Bunkering	Running up to an opponent’s bunker and shooting them at close range. Effective, and the reason surrender rules exist.
Camouflage	Clothing patterned to blend into the surroundings. Genuinely useful in woodsball, useless on an airball field.
Chop	A paintball that breaks inside the marker because the bolt closes on it before it fully drops into the breech.
Chrono	Short for chronograph, the device that measures how fast a marker shoots. Fields cap velocity, typically around 280 to 300 feet per second.
CO2	Liquid carbon dioxide used to power mechanical markers. Cheap and common, but pressure swings with temperature.

Terms D to G

Term	What It Means
Dead box	The area where eliminated players wait out the rest of the round.
Dorito	A triangular inflatable bunker, named for the shape. Doritos usually line the outside lanes of an airball field.
Dorito side	The side of a speedball field lined with small triangular bunkers, opposite the snake side.
Elimination	Being hit by a paintball that breaks and marks you, which takes you out of the round.
Feed neck	The collar on top of the marker that the hopper clamps into.
Fifty	The center line of a speedball field. Bunkers near it are said to be on the 50.
First Strike round	A fin-stabilized paintball fired from magazine markers that flies farther and straighter than a round ball.
Flag station	The base each team starts from in capture the flag formats, where the flag hangs and has to be returned.
Flank	Moving wide around the side of the field to attack an opponent from an angle they are not covering.
Force-fed loader	An electronic hopper that pushes paint into the marker so it keeps up with high rates of fire.
FPS	Feet per second, the unit used to measure paintball velocity on the chrono.
Front player	A player who plays the forward bunkers and makes most of the aggressive moves.
Gilly suit	A shaggy suit built to imitate foliage, worn by players who plan to stay still and unseen in woodsball.
Goggles	The mandatory eye and face protection. They stay on for as long as you are anywhere near live play, with no exceptions.

Terms H to P

Term	What It Means
Home	The starting bunker or station of a team, at the back of its half of the field.
Hopper	The container on top of the marker that holds paintballs and feeds them down into it.
HPA	High pressure air, the compressed air system that has largely replaced CO2 in competitive play because it is far more consistent.
Lane	A line of fire held across a gap in the field. Laning the break means filling that line with paint as opponents run through it.
Loader	Another word for the hopper, particularly the powered kind that pushes paint into the marker at a set rate.
Mag-fed	Markers that load from magazines instead of a hopper, popular for military simulation games.
Marker	The paintball gun. The word came from its agricultural origin as a tool for marking trees and livestock.
Mask	The goggle system covering eyes, face and ears. Mask and goggles are used interchangeably.
Mercy rule	A rule ending a game once one team’s lead is beyond reach, so nobody is kept on the field just to be shot at.
Overshoot	Continuing to fire at a player who is already clearly hit. Poor sportsmanship and normally a penalty.
Paint check	A call for a referee to come and check whether a player is marked and therefore out.
Pod	A hard tube of spare paintballs carried on a harness, used to reload the hopper without leaving cover.
Pump	A marker that has to be cocked by hand before each shot, played for the challenge of a slow rate of fire.

Terms R to S

Term	What It Means
Ramp	The general name for that mode, where the marker ramps up to a higher rate of fire after a set number of fast trigger pulls.
Rampage	A firing mode on some electronic markers that keeps a high rate of fire going once the trigger has been pulled quickly a few times.
Rec ball	Recreational paintball at public fields, as opposed to tournament play.
Ref	The field official who calls hits, checks paint and enforces the rules. Their decision on the field is final.
Regulator	The component that steps tank pressure down to the working pressure the marker needs, keeping velocity steady shot to shot.
Reload	Filling the hopper back up from a pod, usually done crouched behind a bunker while a teammate covers the lane.
Run-through	Sprinting straight through an opponent’s position while firing, rather than stopping to trade shots.
Scenario game	A big woodsball event, sometimes lasting a whole weekend, built around a storyline and missions.
Snake	The long, low bunker running down one side of an airball field, played crouched or crawling.
Snake side	The side of a speedball field with the long, low snake bunker.
Sniper	A player who works at distance with a longer barrel and a patient, hidden style. Effective in woodsball, out of place in speedball.
Speedball	The fast tournament format played on a small symmetrical field with inflatable bunkers and short points.
Splat	The mark a broken paintball leaves. A solid splat is the evidence a referee looks for.
Squeegee	The tool used to swab a broken ball out of the barrel so the marker shoots straight again.
Suppression fire	Shooting steadily at a position to pin the player there while teammates move.
Surrender	Offering an opponent at very close range the chance to give up rather than taking the shot. A courtesy rule that prevents injuries.

Terms T to X

Term	What It Means
Tape	The boundary tape or netting that marks the edge of the field. A player who goes out of the tape is eliminated.
Tournament	An organized competition, running from small local series up to professional leagues, each with its own rules and formats.
Walk-on	A player who turns up alone rather than with a booked group, and gets mixed into teams on the day.
Wipe	Rubbing paint off to pretend you were never hit. It is straightforward cheating and gets players ejected.
Woodsball	Paintball played in natural terrain, with bigger fields, longer games and scenario-style objectives.
X-ball	A competitive format played in timed points on a symmetrical field, with teams racking up points across a match rather than a single winner-takes-all game.

What Is It Called When…? Paintball Terms by Situation

Know what happened but not the word for it? Find the situation on the left and the paintball term on the right.

When…	It Is Called
A paintball hits a player but does not break	Bounce
A ball breaks inside the marker	Chop
A player rubs paint off to stay in the game	Wipe
A player shoots an opponent who is already out	Overshoot
A player runs up and shoots an opponent behind their own bunker	Bunkering
A player close to an opponent offers them the chance to give up	Surrender
The teams run to their first bunkers at the start	Breakout
A player shoots across the field to hit players running at the start	Shooting lanes
A player asks the ref to check an opponent for a hit	Paint check
The marker fires faster than the trigger is pulled	Ramp
The speed of the paintball is measured	Chrono
Eliminated players wait for the game to end	Dead box
A team takes the flag to the opponents’ station	Hanging the flag
A player gets around the side of the opponents	Flank
A game ends early because one team is far ahead	Mercy rule
A player keeps shooting at a bunker to keep the opponent’s head down	Suppression fire
A player charges through the opponents firing on the move	Run-through
A player steps outside the field boundary	Out of tape
Extra shots hit a player after they called hit	Bonus balls

#1 Bunker

Any obstacle a player hides behind, from a tree or a stack of tires in the woods to an inflatable shape on a speedball field. Bunkers are placed so that every position can be shot at from somewhere else. Where a player goes on the breakout decides which bunker they play from.

In a sentence: “Get to the can bunker on the breakout and hold that lane.”

#2 Chrono

Short for chronograph, the device that measures how fast a paintball leaves the barrel. Fields check every marker before play and cap velocity, commonly at around 300 feet per second, and markers that shoot hot are turned down. Refs may chrono again during the day.

In a sentence: “Everybody chrono before the first game, line up by the table.”

#3 Dead Box

The marked area where eliminated players go and wait until the game ends. Players walk there with their marker raised or the barrel covered so they are not shot again. In tournaments, coaches and eliminated players may not call information from it.

In a sentence: “I got hit in the first ten seconds and spent the game in the dead box.”

#4 Elimination

Being put out of the game by a hit that breaks and leaves a mark. In most formats a hit anywhere on the body or gear counts, though some recreational fields ignore marks on the marker or the hopper. An eliminated player calls “hit” and leaves the field.

In a sentence: “Two eliminations on the breakout and they were down to three.”

#5 Flag Station

The spot where a flag hangs, either at each team’s base or in the center of the field. In center flag formats a team wins a point by taking the flag and hanging it at the opponents’ station. Many recreational games end only when the flag is hung.

In a sentence: “Grab the flag and run it to their flag station.”

#6 Goggles

The face and eye protection every player wears, usually called a mask. Paintball goggles have to meet the ASTM safety standard for paintball eye protection, and they must stay on at all times on the field and in any area where markers are uncovered. A thermal lens resists fogging.

In a sentence: “Goggles on before you walk through that gate.”

#7 Hopper

The container on top of the marker that holds the paintballs and feeds them into the breech. Simple gravity hoppers jam at high rates of fire, so competitive players use electronic loaders that agitate the balls or force-feed them. A hopper typically holds around 200 balls.

In a sentence: “My hopper’s almost empty, cover me while I reload.”

#8 Marker

The paintball gun. The name comes from its original use: in the 1960s and 1970s the guns marked trees for loggers and livestock for ranchers. The first paintball game, in New Hampshire in 1981, was played with these marking pistols.

In a sentence: “Barrel sock on your marker before you leave the field.”

#9 Paint Check

A request to a ref to see whether a player has been hit and the ball has broken. The ref walks over, checks the player and either sends them off or calls them clean. During the check, play in that area is paused or the player is protected.

In a sentence: “Paint check on the guy behind the snake, I’m sure I got him.”

#10 Snake

A long, low inflatable bunker on one side of a speedball field, which players crawl along. The side of the field with the snake is the snake side, the other is usually the dorito side. A player who gets deep up the snake can shoot into the opponents’ back bunkers.

In a sentence: “He slid into the snake and crawled all the way to the 50.”

#11 Sniper

A player who hangs back and picks off opponents from long range, mostly in woodsball and scenario games. Paintballs are not accurate at long distance, so patience, camouflage and a good position matter more than a long barrel.

In a sentence: “Watch the tree line, there’s a sniper in the ghillie suit.”

#12 Surrender

A rule at many recreational fields: a player who gets very close to an opponent has to offer them a chance to surrender instead of shooting at point-blank range. The distance is set by each field. A player who refuses can then be shot.

In a sentence: “I had him from five feet, so I called surrender and he gave up.”

#13 Bunkering

Running straight up to an opponent’s bunker and eliminating them from close range behind it. It works when the opponent is distracted or out of paint and is the most spectacular move in speedball. At recreational fields the surrender rule usually applies.

In a sentence: “He bunkered two guys on the snake side in the last ten seconds.”

#14 Walk-on

A player who shows up alone or with a few friends and joins open play rather than booking a private group. Fields mix walk-ons into teams for each game. Walk-on days are where most players learn the game.

In a sentence: “Sunday is walk-on day, just bring your own mask.”

#15 X-ball

A tournament format introduced in the early 2000s, played as a series of short points between two teams of five, with a game clock. It replaced single long games with fast, repeated points and shaped how modern speedball is played.

In a sentence: “In X-ball, if you lose a guy early you have to reset fast for the next point.”

#16 Airball

Paintball played on a field of inflatable bunkers, a common name for speedball outside the United States. The bunkers are light, quick to set up and soft to run into, so fields can change the layout for every event.

In a sentence: “The field switched to airball last season.”

#17 Barrel plug

A plug pushed into the end of the barrel so that no ball can come out if the marker fires by accident. Most fields now prefer the barrel sock or barrel cover, which slips over the end and is clipped in place. Off the field, the barrel must be covered at all times.

In a sentence: “Where’s your barrel plug? You’re in the safe zone.”

#18 Breakout

The first seconds of a game, when players run from the start to their first bunkers. Opponents shoot lanes across the field to catch players running, so the breakout is where many points are won or lost.

In a sentence: “Two of ours got shot on the breakout.”

#19 Camouflage

Clothing printed to blend into the terrain, mostly worn in woodsball. In speedball players wear bright team jerseys instead, because there is nowhere to hide on an open field. Hits also show up less on camo, which some players count on.

In a sentence: “In full camouflage he was invisible in the bushes.”

#20 Dorito

A small triangular inflatable bunker named after the tortilla chip. Players usually lie behind a dorito or stay low and shoot around its edges. The side of the field with most doritos is called the dorito side.

In a sentence: “Go to the dorito and lay down a few shots on their snake.”

#21 Flank

Moving around the side of the field to shoot opponents from an angle they are not covering. A good flank forces the opponent to turn, which exposes them to the players in front.

In a sentence: “Keep them busy, I’ll take the flank on the left.”

#22 Gilly suit

A camouflage suit covered in strips of fabric or netting that look like leaves and grass, properly spelled ghillie suit. The name comes from Scottish gamekeepers, called ghillies. Paintball snipers use them in woodsball and scenario games.

In a sentence: “You couldn’t see the guy in the gilly suit until he shot you.”

#23 Mercy rule

A rule that ends a game or a match early when one side has an overwhelming lead, such as being up by a set number of points in a tournament or eliminating most of the other team. It saves time and spares the losing side.

In a sentence: “Ten points up at halftime, the mercy rule kicked in.”

#24 Pod

A plastic tube with a lid that holds extra paintballs, usually 100 to 150. Players carry pods in a harness and pour them into the hopper during a game. Good players can reload without looking.

In a sentence: “Bring three pods, it’s a long game.”

#25 Ramp

A firing mode on electronic markers that raises the rate of fire beyond the pull rate once the player is pulling fast enough. Leagues write exact ramping limits into their rules, and fields often cap it. It is the reason pros can put out a wall of paint.

In a sentence: “Turn the ramp off, it’s not allowed on rental day.”

#26 Reload

Filling the hopper from a pod during play. A player who reloads at the wrong moment is exposed, so teammates cover them. Running out of paint at the end of a point is a classic way to get bunkered.

In a sentence: “Reloading! Cover the left side.”

#27 Splat

The mark a paintball leaves when it breaks. A splat on a player means elimination, while a ball that bounces without breaking does not count. Paint is water-soluble and washes out of most clothing.

In a sentence: “There’s a splat on your shoulder, you’re out.”

#28 Suppression fire

Shooting steadily at an opponent’s bunker to keep them pinned down, even without a clear shot. It lets teammates move up or flank while the opponent cannot look out.

In a sentence: “Give me suppression fire on that bunker while I move up.”

#29 Tournament

An organized competition with teams, brackets and referees. The NXL in the United States and the Millennium Series in Europe are the best known pro and amateur series. Tournament paintball is almost always speedball on inflatable fields.

In a sentence: “We’re entered in the local tournament in the novice bracket.”

#30 Woodsball

Paintball in natural terrain, with trees, bushes and buildings as cover. Games last longer than in speedball and often have objectives like capturing a flag or holding a building. Scenario games are large woodsball events with hundreds of players.

In a sentence: “I prefer woodsball, there’s more sneaking and less spraying.”

Paintball Slang Players and Fans Actually Use

Slang	What It Means
Lit up	Hit many times at once, usually after being caught in the open.
Hosed	Shot with a long stream of paint. Also used for being sprayed at from a bunker.
Zombie	A player who keeps playing after being hit, hoping nobody noticed.
Wiper	A player who wipes off hits to stay in the game. One of the worst things to be called at a field.
Rental	A beginner in field rental gear. “Rental day” means a field full of first-timers.
Goggle shot	A hit on the mask, the most painful and most obvious hit in the game.
Paint	Paintballs in general, as in “how much paint did you shoot today?”
Ropes	A string of balls shot in a fast, straight line.
Bunkered	Eliminated by an opponent who ran right up to your bunker.
Gun up	Call that an opponent is aiming and ready to shoot, warning a teammate not to look out.
Count	The number of opponents still in the game, called out loud, as in “count three”.
Bonus balls	Extra shots fired at a player who is already hit, often on purpose.
Rec baller	A player who mostly plays recreational paintball at public fields.

Paintball Expressions and Sayings in Everyday English

Paint check!: The call for a ref to check whether a player has been hit and the ball has broken. Heard at every field.
Hit!: What a player shouts when they are eliminated, while raising the marker or a hand so no one keeps shooting at them.
Masks on!: The field safety call before play starts. From that moment, nobody in the playing area may take their goggles off.
Barrel socks on!: The call at the end of a game, telling everyone to cover their barrels before leaving the field.

FAQ

What is a paintball gun called?

A marker. The word goes back to the original use of the device, marking trees and livestock, and it stuck once the game grew out of that.

What do you call a player who runs up and shoots an opponent at close range?

That is bunkering, running an opponent out of the bunker they are hiding behind. Because it happens at very short range, most recreational fields have a surrender rule that lets you offer the player a chance to give up first.

What are paintball players called?

Players, or paintballers. Someone who shows up alone rather than with a booked group is a walk-on, and the official who calls hits is a ref.

What is it called when a paintball hits but does not break?

A bounce. Because no mark is left, the player stays in the game. If nobody is sure, a paint check settles it.

What is the difference between speedball and woodsball?

Speedball is played on a small symmetrical field of inflatable bunkers with short, fast points. Woodsball is played in natural terrain, with larger fields, longer games and objective-based scenarios.

What does it mean to wipe in paintball?

Wiping means rubbing paint off yourself to stay in the game after being hit. It counts as cheating and normally ends a player’s day.

What are some words related to paintball?

They group into gear (marker, hopper, pod, mask, chrono), field features (bunker, snake, dorito, dead box) and tactics (breakout, flank, bunkering, suppression fire). The paintball glossary above lists all of them.

What are some paintball terms for beginners?

Marker, hopper, pod and goggles cover the gear, chrono and barrel sock the safety rules, and bunker, breakout, elimination and paint check what happens in a game. Those words cover a first day at a field.

What are some paintball slang terms?

Lit up for being hit many times, zombie and wiper for players who cheat on hits, rental for a first-timer in field gear and bunkered for being eliminated at point-blank range. The slang table above has more.

What is a famous paintball phrase?

“Paint check!” is the best known, the call for a ref to confirm a hit. The other one every player learns on day one is “Hit!”, shouted with a raised marker when you are out.