What is Speedball?
Jan 06, 2020
What is Speedball?
Question: What is Speedball in Paintball?
Answer: Speedball is the generic term given to tournament-style paintball play. A speedball field is typically flat and marked off as a square or rectangle with definite boundaries.
The field is built with strategically placed cover, such as tires, barrels and large inflated bunkers. They are placed the same on either side of the field so one team does not have an advantage. Speedball games are fast and furious, emphasizing quick movement, communication and gun fighting skills to win.
Speedball equipment tends to be built for compact size and fast rates of fire and rather bright and flashy for that professional sport’s look and feel.
Two Popular Speedball Games
Two flag – or traditional Speedball
Two flag has a flag at each end of the field. The teams start at the middle of their back line next to the flag and shoot their way to the other end, grab the other team’s flag and run it back. Typically one team will need to be completely eliminated for this to happen, though.
In single or center flag games a single flag is hung in the middle of the field. At the starting horn the players try to move up the field, grab the flag and then run it through to the other side. If the flag carrier is hit they typically have to drop the flag on the spot and leave the field.
X Ball
X Ball is a popular tournament format. In X Ball the teams are larger than the maximum number allowed on the field at one time and the matches are timed much like a football or soccer game. A flag is hung in the center and when the starting horn blows the clock starts.
Teams battle their way forward to grab the flag and hang at the other end, which then stops the clock. After a flag hang the teams have a very short amount of time to get the next squad of players on the starting line before the horn blows again. Players receiving penalties for various rules infractions go in the penalty box and their team has to play short. X Ball was designed for spectator viewing and is very exciting to watch as well as play.