Product Description

Paintball is fast becoming the hottest sport in the world. International competitions with prizes of $100,000 and more, televised events on ESPN, and paintball fields sprouting in every corner of the U.S., mean there's never been a better time for The Complete Guide to Paintball. The Complete Guide to Paintball captures the excitement and energy of this dynamic game and provides the reader with a wealth of information for both beginning and advanced play. Paintball combines the skill and patience of a chess game with the fast and furious pace of capture the flag. Both teens and adults are avid fanatics of the game. Includes sections on: How to choose your paintball gun or "marker"; care and maintenance of your gun; the right ammo; safety equipment; beginner to advanced play; tactics; techniques; game rules; a listing of paintball fields in the USA; plus many other important resources and information.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #327871 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-18
• Released on: 2004-05-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

Ryan, age 15, paintball enthusiast
[T]his book is a must-have. It covers every aspect of the game including drills to sharpen your skills.

Ryan, age 15, paintball enthusiast
This book is a must-have. It covers every aspect of the game including drills to sharpen your skills.

Ingram
Capturing the excitement and energy of paintball, this dynamic handbook provides a wealth of information for both beginning and advanced players.

Customer Reviews

Fourth edition.Fact?or Fiction??
I havent read the first or second edition of Complete Guide To Paintball so,for new comers to the sport,the Third edition is a good and certainly informative read.However,I'd placed an order with Amazon in late May for the Forth edition (with DVD)and had to cancel.Got in touch with Harleigh Press and nothing doing there which leaves me wondering(and others waiting for this ghost of a book and DVD package)..DOES IT EXIST??
Or,is this a case for the X-Files??

A virtual encyclopedia of expert advice
Now in an updated, expanded, and illustrated third edition, The Complete Guide To Paintball can justifiably be considered as the "bible" of one of the country's most popular personal competition sporting activities. This is a virtual encyclopedia of expert advice and information on the rules, equipment, clothing, safety, tactics, fields, and every other aspect of the game. If you are a participant (or soon to be one) in this exciting and challenging game where you shoot (and get shot at with) a paint-filled gelatin capsule from an air-powered "marker" gun at a velocity of 300 feet per second, then you will need your very own copy of The Complete Guide To Paintball!

Useful, but a vague disappointing rehash of older editions
Short version: This book has a lot of good information, especially for beginners, and its attempt to portray paintball history is admirable (and rare). However, it is often extremely vague, possibly in an attempt to avoid offending manufacturers by actually endorsing particular products (or better yet, by pointing out the lemons). There was also clearly no attempt to update the older sections of the book: 90% of this is straight out of the 1999 edition, with the remainder split between reprinted 2nd edition material and actual new stuff. The new 3rd edition section is mostly a gloss on what is newly available in paintball gear. In the end, if you've read or you own the 1st or 2nd edition, save your money. If you don't, and you are new to the game, read this and enjoy: it is worth the cash, largely because there is so little competition. A truly outstanding overall guide to paintball has yet to be published.

Long Version: Don't get me wrong: I liked the 1999 edition, and I like this one too. It's just that compared to what they could have and should have done, this is frustratingly disappointing. This book is written for people with VERY short attention spans. Even within articles that only run 1 or 2 pages, there are sidebars, lots of LARGE headers in multiple bright colors, which break up those two pages into three or four ADHD-sized bites of text. The editing is good, with only the occasional embarrassing spelling error left in, and the writing is on the whole decent. Because the writers are often working with very tight word count limits though, and because most of them are not good at being economical with word choice, many articles are underdeveloped. Often, I get the sense that I know what the author means, but the words just aren't there on the page. Instead, there is a quick description that makes sense if you already know the subject, but which wouldn't work for the uninitiated. In most cases, just a bit more explanation would make it work.

This is a shame, since much of the older, dated material could have been cut or at least edited to be shorter, giving the newer authors room to expand. Of course, since 282 pages out of 342 (not counting appendices) are straight out of 1999, most of what is here was underdeveloped five years ago in the original edition. Speaking of appendices, both the glossary and list of suppliers/fields are useful, but woefully incomplete. The glossary is missing key terms like "pod," and is not cross-indexed. This, the entry for "suppressor" very helpfully tells you that this is the same as silencer, but there's no entry for "silencer." Sure, you can find it by browsing, if you know enough to look under suppressor, but this glossary is more for reading through end to end than for quick reference on an unfamiliar term: the function of a glossary. Likewise, the supplier/field index is woefully lacking. It seems to have been tacked on as an afterthought with very little basic research.

And that sums up the 3rd edition on many levels. The 1st and 2nd edition text (320 pages out of 342, or 94%) was simply reprinted without even the slightest attempt to edit or shorten it. Thus, you have five year old news (like the 1999 announcement that manufacturers had agreed to limit ROF to 13bps: ha!ha!) being presented in huge, colored type as if it were new. That is lazy, sloppy, and completely unprofessional. It is explainable only by a desire to quickly and cheaply crank out a new edition and make a fast buck. It is forgivable only because most of the competition is so lame that even this rehash looks like a jewel next to them. Case in point: The "Ultimate Guide to Paintball" (also available on Amazon) is so poorly done that it isn't even worth borrowing from the library, yet it is the only serious competition in the "comprehensive guide" market.

So, in a nutshell, this is the best I've seen, but mostly outdated and unwilling to shoot straight and name which products are good (and why) and which are junk. If you are a new player, buy it, read it, and learn from it, keeping in mind that most of it is older stuff that is reprinted. (To be fair, the editors make this clear in their table of contents.) If you are an experienced player, borrow it from a friend or from the library: the stretching routine is well worth reading, and some of the writing is funny and worthwhile. If you've ever read a previous edition, don't bother: there simply isn't enough new here to merit spending your hard-earned cash. I'll keep looking for a really excellent overall guide to paintball.