How Many Paintballs Do I Need for 2 Hours Game?

Finding the right amount of paintballs for your next big game can be tricky. Do you buy too few and end up running out halfway through the match? Or do you buy too many and have to lug around a heavy bag all day? This guide will help you figure out how many paintballs you need to get the most bang for your buck.

How Many Paintballs Do I Need for a 2 Hours Game?

You and 2 friends are playing a casual or rec-level game for two hours. The weather is great and you’re wearing standard clothing (t-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes). Your marker will fire an average of 10 times per minute. You have a 200 round pod and a 50 round loader.

The first step is to determine how many paintballs you’ll need for two hours of play.

You’re going to want your marker loaded with as many paintballs as possible during those two hours. You’ll run out eventually, but those 200 rounds give you an effective rate of fire of 20 balls per second.

At 20 balls per second, you’ll need to fire 2,400 paintballs in two hours! If you’re not going to be firing that fast though, don’t worry. You can use a little trick called “the rule of thumb” that will take out some of the guesswork in determining the size of your paintball load.

Rule of Thumb:

Use the rule of thumb to find how much paint you need for two hours:

Step 1: Divide the number 2,400 by your marker’s rate of fire in balls per second (20 in this case).

Step 2: Take that number and multiply it by 60 minutes (one hour is equal to 60 minutes). If we divide 2,400 by 20 and multiply that number by 60 we end up with 120.

Step 3: Divide the number 120 (the number of paintballs you’ll need in an hour) by 4 (there are four minutes of a game round). This gives us 30. Multiply the number 30 by the number of players on your team (3) and you’ll end up with 90.

Step 4: The number of paintballs you need per player is 30 (90 divided by 3). Multiply that number (30) by the number of rounds in an average 200 round pod (200) to find your total. You’ll need 6,000 paintballs for two hours of play (90 multiplied by 20).

That’s it! You don’t have to break out a calculator for this. All you need is the rule of thumb and an average market rate of fire.

Here are some examples:

You’re playing with 3 friends for two hours. Your marker will fire about 8 balls per second. You have a 200 round pod and a 50 round loader.

2,400 divided by 8 = 300. 300 multiplied by 60 equals 18,000 paintballs needed for two hours of play!

You want to battle against 4 friends in a rec-level game for two hours. Your marker will fire about 10 balls per second. You have a 200 round pod and a 50 round loader.

2,400 divided by 10 = 240. 240 multiplied by 60 equals 14,400 paintballs needed for two hours of play!

Just remember the rule of thumb and you’ll always have enough paint. Good luck out there!

Note: These calculations are based on a conservative estimate in order to err on the side of safety. The amount of paint needed may be higher if you play in excessively hot or cold weather.