The Pump Epiphany

An article by John "Thumper" Edens
December 24, 2007

I guess if you look back into the Paintball history books you see a bunch of guys running around the woods trying to pop each other in the butt with a plastic paintball pistol or some odd converted brass thing that used to be used for marking cattle and trees. -- Paint was real expensive ( $3/tube of 10 ) and they had a lot of fun. They spoke of the big adrenaline rush they got when playing. Technology stepped in, things speeded up, and paint prices fell -- The game also moved from the woods out onto these large balloon filled playing fields that were designed to help make paintball spectator and camera friendly - likely driven by industry leaders who want paintball to become viewed as a mainstream sport.

Your first game : the fear was real, the huge adrenaline rush came with it was real - and old and young player alike felt very much alive. You were hooked. Every day after your first is a quest to recapture the rush you got on that first day.

Spraying down the place with 1000s of rounds of paint is a lot of fun - but the fun wears off pretty quick when you want to play regularly and have to pay your own way (or for yourself and your kids). After a while you start to wonder where the rush went - or where the challenge went -- or worst yet, where the fun went. You get bored with the game.

If this is you - please read on.

Enter the Pump Epiphany.

And one day, like a light bulb going off, you discover you can have more fun aiming, shooting and moving as you do when spraying and praying. Maybe a friend loaned you a pump -- maybe a stranger. You (like many others) discover the challenge of doing more with less can spark a bit of old adrenaline. There is not much reward to be found when getting an elimination having spent $3-$5 in paint; but when you sneak in close to your friend and put one on his left butt cheek and scare him out of his socks -- or hit him on the run with ONE long ball (and a 10ft lead) and you meant to do it, then once again, you are hooked. And its fun again.... You are not alone.

Veteran players the nation over are picking up pump play -- and looking at their semi's with a yawn and a tinge of guilt.

The Pump Culture

One day walking out to your local field to play your pump in a bit of open class, you see someone you have never seen pull a classic old pump marker out of their gear bag -- and you walk over.

FULL STOP : think about that for a second. You walk over. Why : because you have something in common - a shared understanding, perhaps a shared new love for the game, an appreciation for the old school ways, an appreciation for the game as it was meant to be played, an appreciation for the craftsmanship involved in trying to make a goo filled sphere fly long, straight and consistant.

Later that same day you see your new friend playing his pump - and you recognize a bit of yourself in his style of play. Odds are you learn (the hard way) you better show some respect for his first shot.

Days later you go online and there you find websites like StockClassPaintball, McarterBrown, CustomCockers, PbJunkie.com where many pumpballers hangout, swap stories, trade gear, and generally try and help the paintball public understand why on earth we play with our outdated antiques.