You may or may not possess familiarity with paintball, but you’re sure about one thing: you want to figure out how much it costs to rent paintball gear. You would just love it if you could figure out its total cost breakdown and see if renting is better than purchasing your own equipment.
You can expect to spend $30 to rent paintball gear. This typically includes a full face mask with goggles, vest, chest protector, compressed air tank, and a semi-auto paintball gun. It excludes jumpsuits, sniper barrels, ammo belts, and other upgrades you may wish to obtain, those will cost you more.
This article will break down the cost of renting paintball gear for you. It will also discuss other related things, such as how much buying equipment will cost compared to renting and if it’s better to purchase than to rent. Similarly, you’ll learn about paintball gears and how to save on paintball.
How Much Does a Paintball Game Cost?
If you have yet to enter a paintball match, you may possess no idea about how much a match may cost. The cost of one paintball game varies on whether you rent equipment or not and on the amount of paintball you purchase.
If you enter a paintball field with your own gear, you can expect to spend about $10 to $25 or even as high as $60 for your entrance fee. Some fields offer simple layouts, while others offer a more complex playing ground, so you will generally pay for the field’s continued maintenance, presentation, and quality.
Meanwhile, if you decide to play a paintball game without any gear with you, including old clothes usable for paintball, you may spend approximately $75 or more. This fee includes a jumpsuit, vest, full mask, ammo belt, paintball gun, and the field entrance.
On the other hand, you may already possess old clothes that you can use in paintball. If so, expect to pay about $55 for a paintball game. This excludes the paintball belt or harness, vest, and jumpsuit.
However, note that this breakdown of expenses for a paintball match excludes paintballs from the calculation. Similarly, you should know that each company prices their rentals differently, so this should simply serve as a rough estimate for you. The actual cost of your paintball game may reach more or less this amount, depending on where you play and even when you play.
If you decide on upgrades, such as picking a better paintball gun or air tank and maybe even adding some attachments to your weapon, you may spend $80 to $100 or more. Paintball companies often sell paint grenades, too, which may cost $15 to $20. This may bring your total to $90 to $115 or more, excluding the paintballs themselves.
How Much Does Renting Paintball Gear Cost?
As mentioned above, renting paintball equipment may cost you as little as $50 to as high as $75 or more. Your expense significantly relies on the gears you rent, your paintball gun type, and attachment preferences. We’ll break down the cost in the subsequent paragraphs.
If you decide you wanted to enter a paintball field and rent all gears, including clothes, it may cost you:
- $5 to $15 for a jumpsuit or coverall that’s usually in a camo shade
- $8 to $15 for a protective simple or tactical vest
- $3 to $5 for a pod harness or a paintball belt
- $5 to $15 for a full face mask possessing goggles and ample face coverage
- $5 to $20 for a compressed air tank with a varied material make
- $5 to $20 for a basic or advanced paintball gun
This totals to $31 at the cheapest, and $95 or more as the most expensive. Of course, note that the field entrance and paintballs aren’t included in this calculation. If you want to consider the entrance, add about $10 to $30 and $10 or $30 for a starter paintball pack.
Meanwhile, if you’re entering a paintball park with suitable clothes and a mask, you may spend around:
- $3 to $5 for a paintball harness or belt
- $8 to $15 for a protective simple or tactical vest
- $5 to $20 for a compressed air tank
- $5 to $20 for a basic or advanced weapon
Hence, renting paintball equipment at that rate may cost you just $21 to $60. Again, note that the paintballs themselves and the field entrance aren’t included when considering this total. Additionally, expect to spend $5 to $10 more if you wish to upgrade your paintball gun or add attachments to it.
How Much Does Purchasing Paintball Gear Cost?
If you think renting paintball equipment will cost you more over time than actually buying them, you can choose to purchase paintball gear instead. You may find that some items are cheaper when owned than rented while some aren’t.
Jumpsuit or Coveralls
When deciding on paintball clothes, you can just wear old clothes. However, note that you need clothes that cover as much of your body as they can because you will receive plenty of paint splotches as you play. This is why some people prefer jumpsuits, rent them, or purchase one for themselves so they can play without worry. You may also wear long-sleeved shirts and pants.
If you’re thinking of purchasing a coverall outfit for paintball, check out Red Cap’s Coverall Coat or Maddog’s Tactical Paintball Jumpsuit. Red Cap comes as more affordable with a lower starting price than Maddog, but your final price depends on the size you order. Additionally, note that Maddog offers a fuller coverage than Red Cap.
Protective Vest
Meanwhile, if you’re thinking of getting a protective vest for yourself, expect to spend at least $25 to more than $40. Browse these great finds from Amazon if you want to get a vest: Maddog’s Elastic and Soft Chest Protector, Tactical Mesh Vest, Padded Chest and Neck Protector Combo, or Paintball Harness Vest.
Paintball Belt or Pod Harness
You may also wish to purchase a paintball belt and pod harness if you think you will get a better deal by buying instead of renting them. Some excellent and sturdy paintball belt sets come from Maddog. You can see them on Amazon: Entry Level Paintball Harness or 4-Pod Harness. They may cost you anywhere from $20 to $50, depending on your model and brand choice.
Face Mask and Goggles
On the other hand, if you feel concerned about wearing a mask other people already wore before, you may opt to buy one for yourself. You can expect to spend $20 to $60 for this. If you’re looking for recommendations, check out Senmortar Mask and Aoutacc Skull Mask for different-colored protective masks or JT Mask for a camo mask on Amazon. Some people prefer separate goggles and a mask, but it’s often best to pick a full mask instead.
If you want to know more about the best paintball masks and which are real anti-fog, then you can read about them in this article.
Compressed Air Tank
It’s not quite recommended to purchase a compressed air tank for paintball if you’re simply occasionally playing paintball because it can get pricey. If you buy an air tank for paintball, it could cost you about $55 to $140 or even more. You can browse Amazon for ideas, such as Tippman Paintball Tank, Maddog Aluminum Tank, HK Army Tank, and Empire Basics Carbon Fiber Tank.
Paintball Gun
Similarly, it’s best not to invest in a paintball gun until you realize that paintball is a hobby. You can expect to spend between $70 to $200 and most likely even more for just the gun itself. This doesn’t include the attachments you may want to possess.
Check out these highly-rated paintball guns in Amazon if you’re interested: Mercury Rise .50 Marker, JT Splatmaster .50, Spyder Semi-Auto Marker, Tippman Stormer .68, and DPMS Full Auto Rifle. Ideally, semi-auto paintball guns suit everyone seeking to save paintball bullet consumption. It’s fun to shoot plenty of paintballs at a time, but it may cost quite a lot to purchase field paint.
I also have an article with a list of the best full auto paintball guns, on this link.
Cost of Buying Paintball Equipment
From the items listed above, purchasing paintball gear may cost you:
- $18 to $60 for a jumpsuit if you opt for one
- $25 to $40 for a simple or tactical protective vest
- $20 to $50 for a sturdy harness that may or may not come as a set
- $20 to $60 for a full-cover face mask
- $55 to $140 for a basic or high-quality compressed air tank
- $70 to $200 for a paintball weapon
So, expect to spend at least $208 as an initial expense when you purchase paintball gear. Your expense may also reach $550 or more if you opt for more costly equipment.
How Much Does Field Paint Cost?
Plenty of paintball fields observe a field paint only rule, but if you’re playing on a field that allows you to bring your own paint, you can save quite a lot for purchasing the paintballs. The price for 500 paintball rounds in a field may cost you $30 or more, but it goes down to about $15 if you buy some for yourself instead.
For example, check out this find from Amazon: Loader Basic Paintballs. You may also buy 2,000 rounds of paintball instead, which may cost $40 to $60 or more, depending on your color choice and paintball brand. For ideas, see Valken Pink Paintballs or Valken Graffiti Paintballs.
Of course, if you’re buying paintballs, Make sure they fit the gun you intend to use. You can buy your own paintball weapon or rent it, but you need to know the right ammo size. On top of that, it depends a lot on what kind of paintballs you want. There are 3 types of paintballs that you can get, and each fits its own purpose.
Now, if the paintball park prohibits bringing your own paintballs, expect to spend at least $30 to $40 for 500 rounds of paint. You may also come across fields offering 140 rounds for $10 or free paintballs when you obtain a rental package from them.
If you cannot bring your own paint, you may find that purchasing more field paint is more cost-efficient. For example, 1,000 rounds, in general, may simply cost $50 to $55, which is cheaper than purchasing two 500 paintballs. Likewise, buying 2,000 field paint ammo may reach just $70 to $100, depending on where you play.
Paint Add-Ons Like Grenades
While we are talking about numbers, you can expect fun add-ons like paint and smoke grenades to tempt you into spending more on your paintball game. Exploding paint grenades typically cost $9, while smoke grenades cost $8, and a paint-smoke grenade combo costs $16.
Tip: You can make paintball grenades at home. Read more about it in my article where I let you know everything you need to know about using paintball grenades.
Why Does Playing Paintball Cost That Much?
By now, you may think paintball costs quite a lot of money without regard to renting or purchasing its required equipment. If you turn into an avid paintball player and enter the field plenty of times, you’ll spend plenty as you rent. Meanwhile, if you purchase the gears, you may eventually spend plenty on maintenance or just the initial purchase. So, why does paintball cost that much?
Paintball can turn into an expensive sport if you’re bent on ensuring you use good-quality equipment and enter a high-quality field. If you do the math on that, you’ll see that the gears don’t even quite provide companies with high interest. So, paintball is expensive mainly because it needs to guarantee that it’s fun and safe at the same time, and the only way to ensure that is to possess good gear.
Similarly, the paint used in paintball isn’t simple, cheap paint as well. You need thick, colorful paintballs to play this game. This ensures anyone who gets hit by paint can’t wipe the paint off and will clearly show the marks of the paint.
You can read more about why is paintball so expensive to play in this detailed article, including how to save some money.
Should I Rent or Buy Paintball Equipment?
You now possess a better insight into the cost of renting paintball gear. You also possess an understanding of how much purchasing paintball equipment may reach. So, you’re wondering, should you buy or rent paintball gear?
It’s best to rent paintball gear if you plan on playing paintball only on some occasions. Meanwhile, it’s wise to purchase paintball equipment if paintballing is your hobby and you see yourself doing it for a long time.
However, note that while you may save money to some degree when you buy gears, you may also end up spending plenty on maintaining your paintball gears. It is really important to know how to properly take care of your equipment, and I have a perfect article for you, where you can read all about it.
To help you out more, this section will tackle the other factors to consider when renting or buying paintball equipment.
Do You Want a Specific Paintball Gun?
If you don’t want the basic gun provided by most paintball field companies, you may buy your own weapon. However, note that some companies provide upgraded weapons at a higher cost, so if you can find your preferred gun, you may stick to renting it instead. Some people recommend renting rather than purchasing a paintball gun because these weapons require quite some maintenance at times.
On the other hand, if you are completely alright with maintaining your paintball weapon, it’s wise to purchase instead of rent it. This ensures that you will gain proficiency on your paintball gun and that nobody else touches it.
Are You Alright Wearing Things Other People Already Wore?
Some people don’t mind wearing clothes and gears others already wore, but others may find it uncomfortable. In general, it’s best to possess your own wearables rather than rent them unless you only rent them every once in a while. On the other hand, it’s always good practice to possess your own paintball mask rather than wear a rented one.
Do You Have a Place To Store Paintball Equipment?
Of course, you don’t want to purchase paintball gear only to realize you can’t store them anywhere within your house. It’s a waste of money, which ruins the point of why you bought the equipment in the first place. Hence, ensure you can properly store your paintball gears. If you can’t, it’s best to rent them instead.
How Many Times Do You Expect Yourself To Play Paintball Yearly?
You should also have a rough estimate of how many times you expect yourself to play paintball in a year. If you’re planning on playing once a month or more, for example, it’s best to purchase your own gear. Meanwhile, if you’re only playing once every three months or year, renting will save you more money.
How To Lower Paintball Game Cost
If you find that renting paintball gear is rather expensive, you can save up by:
- Looking around for affordable paintball fields in your area.
- Checking out companies that offer discounted packages online and offline.
- Comparing different paintball field companies near you.
- Keeping an eye out for deals and discounts by following paintball forums, companies, or websites that post about paintball.
Final Thoughts
You are the sole determinant of how much renting paintball equipment costs. However, you should prepare to spend at least $30 to $50 as a minimum. For a better result and estimation, you may also reach out to your local paintball field company and inquire about their rental costs. Alternatively, you may look for independent lending businesses and ask for their rates.