There are two things that should be repeated often when playing paintball. Put your barrel plug in your paintball gun when you're not actively playing and never take your goggles off if you're in the vicinity of other paintball guns.Paintball is a very fun and very safe game. One of the reasons this game is so safe is the large majority of players practice what they preach with respect to safety.

Even though the game of paintball is played with soft balls that are encased in gelatin, when they travel from a paintball gun barrel they are traveling at a high rate of speed and if they hit your unprotected face, especially your eye, they can cause damage.

The most recent statistics show that over 9.5 million people played paintball in 2004 and there were less than 1% injuries that required medical care. However the injuries that occurred were due to lack of safety equipment being worn, horsing around with paintball guns and putting other objects other than paintballs into a gun. Remember, anything you put in will be shot out of your paintball gun at better than a 100-miles per hour, never use anything but paintballs in your paintball gun.

A good rule of thumb is to immediately put your barrel plug in and put your gun down when you're between games or have played your last game of the day. Because you can't rely on everyone else to do the same thing, keep your mask and/or goggles on until you leave the paintball field or area you are playing. This will ensure your eyes stay safe above all.

Use these few tips to keep your paintball game safe and fun!