By Mazhun Idris
A war of paint splatters has broken out in Nigeria's main cities where enthusiasm for the game of paintball has been spreading as more people gear up in protective clothing for the game.
Paintball is gradually taking prominence as an active recreational pastime of Nigerian urbanites, from the capital city Abuja, to major cities like Lagos and Kano.
“I can’t tell when paintball first came to Nigeria,” says Aliyu Abubakar, the Vice President of the Paintball Professional Players Association of Nigeria (PPPAN), “but I can say the game became visible in Abuja from the 2000s. Today Abuja boasts of half a dozen professional arenas.”
Micah Sunday Joshua, an Abuja paintball junkie tells TRT Afrika that: “Paintball is one game where family and friends can have fun all at once. In the past few years, paintball got a ton of popularity even if people may have little idea what paintball is.”
Paintball in Abuja
Paintball is a team sport where players are armed with special semi-automatic air rifle called paintball gun, which shoots a .68 caliber gelatin capsule ammo filled with bright coloured paint. The shots leave blobs of paint on the target.
Aliyu Abubakar is a paintball coach and the founder of Shooters Paintball Arena, a paintball centre in Wuse, Abuja. “Paintball is a dynamic sport that dwells on strategy. It’s an exhilarating way to sharpen your survival instincts through unlimited fun,” he tells TRT Afrika.
Ade Abike, the manager of Rabby Recreation Park in Abuja’s Life Camp area, which has an old paintball field believes “Abuja residents love paintball and even organize team clubs and championships”.
“Paintball helps Abuja urbanites in boosting fitness, bonding and networking. People of different backgrounds unite to play together in a game warfront”, agrees Aliyu.
A paintball playfield varies in size, could be indoors or outdoors, natural or artificial. To mimic a war zone, the field could have natural terrain like trees, hills, trenches, bunkers; or artificial prop obstacles like old tires, old cars, and empty oil drums.
How to play paintball
In a paintball game, two or more teams dressed in masks and camouflage uniform try to eliminate each other by shooting at the opponent in a form of military-like adventure.
The game, also called paintball war, is a high-spirited game where players are technically knocked out by one rival shot, for which they are required to raise up their hand indicating they are hit and exit the field.
“The shot is felt but not painful and it only leaves a paint stain”, Aliyu tells TRT Afrika.
“The average speed of a paintball bullet is around 300 km/h, or 90 meters per second, far slower than the slowest gun.”
The rules of the game may depend on the play style or scenario, but it is played under strict safety rules for players’ engagement and equipment handling.
Under the command of an instructor, the game’s mission could be about attacking, elimination or capturing enemy base or hidden objects like flags using terrain maps and colourful smoke grenades; or defending designated spots.
Playtime could last according to game type, which ranges from minutes to hours, or in rare cases of wide forest settlements or intricate sewers, a game could last days.
Safety rules
Because paintball guns and kits may look like firearms, Ade Abike tells TRT Afrika that: “When setting up a paintball arena, the local security authorities conduct inspections for security clearance.”
“Paintball is a safe sport as long as you obey the rules and use the right equipment,” says Aliyu. “Our paintball field has a specialised game area, and for safety, the game zone is fully secured from the viewing public,” he adds.
“Paintball game could be expensive to the common man,” an ardent paintball player, Micah Joshua tells TRT Afrika.
“Paintball kits and gadgets are mostly imported. No wonder paintball appears to be a game for the elites,” Ade concludes.
