DARKSIDE PAINTBALL
OFFICIAL RULES & REGULATIONS

Last updated: February 6th, 2005

Section 1: Safety Rules

· Players must observe all firearms safety rules at all times.

· Barrel plug/cover and safety must be used when not on playing field during a game, or when in a non-playing area.

· Players are required to wear shatter resistant goggles designed and tested for paintball during game play. Other face/head protective gear is recommended, but not required.

· Protective eyewear may not be removed at anytime when on the playing field.

· Markers (guns) may not be set at a velocity higher than 315 fps (215 mph).

· When engaging an opponent within 10 feet, players must make every effort to give an opponent the opportunity to surrender, if opponent refuses, player may then fire at the least "damaging" area exposed.

· No player may shoot at any player showing sign of elimination, any non-player, judge/referee, spectator, animal, or anything outside the designated playing area.

· No player shall intentionally cause unnecessary injury or other bodily harm to anyone.

· No one may participate in any Darkside Paintball event if they are under the influence of any illegal drug.

Section 2: Equipment

· Land mines, mortars, paint grenades, etc. are prohibited.

· Only GMRS/FRS band radios are permitted (see communications section).

· No player shall wear any baggy or thickly padded clothing that would cause a paintball not to break on impact.

· Players are prohibited from wearing brightly colored clothing that would mask a potential paintball hit.

· Smoke grenades, flash grenades, or other explosive/incendiary/flammable devices are prohibited.

· Shields are prohibited.

· Trip wires are prohibited

Section 3: Elimination

· Any obvious hit constitutes elimination.

· Any unobvious hit (equipment hit) not known at the time of impact, but later discovered by player, teammate, or judge/referee constitutes immediate elimination at the time it is discovered.

· When eliminated a player must call out "HIT" or "OUT" to signify to other players they have been eliminated from the game so they are not shot unnecessarily.

· When eliminated player must return to campsite, parking lot, or other designated staging area holding their gun over their head.

· When eliminated players must leave with all equipment they were carrying at the time of elimination.

· A paintball must hit, break and mark anything being worn or carried by a player to constitute elimination (marker hits will be discussed at game time).

· Any paintball that hits a player and does not break does not count as elimination.

· Once a player has called "HIT" or "OUT" they are no longer allowed to participate in that round regardless of whether the ball burst.

· If a player is shot by their own teammate whether intentional, or accidental and paintball breaks, player is out.

· Players may not knowingly and intentionally shoot someone they know to be on their team.

· A player eliminated is prohibited from speaking with any other player still in the game.

     o Exceptions: Notification via radio only to notify team that player is "HIT" or "OUT", and inter-team communication by captains that a round has ended.

· Any player who steps outside designated boundary during game play, whether accidental or intentional is eliminated and must call "OUT" .

Section 4: Communication

· Players may only monitor/communicate on their team's radio channel and/or a designated emergency channel.

     o Exception: A team captain may communicate on opposing teams channel to other captain.

· Team Captains may only communicate to other team via radio to notify of specific functions of the game, such as game start, game end, prisoner notification, etc.

· Players using a radio equipped with VOX must have the VOX option turned off during game play.

Section 5: Captains Responsibilities

· Captains are responsible for appointing a 2nd, 3rd, etc. in charge of their team.

· Captains are responsible for picking teams.

· Captains are responsible for reading all rules to their teammates.

· Captains are responsible for inter-team communication via radio.

· Captains are responsible for assigning radio call signs, or radio numbers.

· Captains are responsible for prisoner negotiations.

Section 6: General game play rules:

· All judges, referee's, officials decisions are final during that game and may not be argued. Any dispute may only be handled by a Team Darkside member.

· Any argument, dispute, or other problem may only be addressed with an attending member of Team Darkside who will then handle any action at their discretion. All decisions are final.

· At no time may any "alive" player act as though they have been eliminated (No dead man walking).

· If any player calls "PAINT CHECK" all players in that engagement shall cease fire. The nearest team member shall check the person who made the call for any valid paintball bursts.

     o If ball burst, player shall call hit and the remaining team members must be allowed enough time to return to the position they held prior to the call.

     o If ball did not burst, player should call "clear" and be allowed enough time to get back to the position held before the call.

     o At no time shall any player be physically in any position at the end of the call other than the position held at the beginning of the call. Players who have traveled should make every effort to return to their original position before continuing the game. Players may not reload during a paint check call.

· No player shall wipe off any paint when they have been hit until they are back at the campsite. Any player violating this rule will be removed from the game, mailing list and will be banned from future events.

· All "alive" players must stay inside playing boundaries at all times.

· Upon winning, winning players are to loudly announce so all players in the field are aware. They must then notify their captain. All players are to then respond back to camp to retrieve players that were eliminated. Team captains are to notify other team captain immediately.

· Each player will wear an arm band, clearly designating their team. Red bands must be worn on right arm. Yellow bands must be worn on the left arm.

· No player may mask or remove their armband during game play.

· Team flags (if applicable) will correspond with that teams armband.

· Players may not touch the flag they are defending.

· When playing capture the flag you must be able to capture the other teams flag and return it to your start point without being hit. If you are hit, you must leave the flag where you were shot and return to the campsite.

· Players may not stay stationary in a position for longer than 120 seconds, and must move at least 10 feet after such time has passed.

     o Exceptions: If player is engaged in an active gunfight, or if player is at least 6 feet off the ground in a tree or on a rock formation.

· Any alive player may exchange equipment with any other alive player on their team.

· Re-spawn is only allowed if pre-approved by both team captains.

· Game play rules may be modified if agreed upon by both team captains.

· Any violation of rules will cause immediate eliimination of player violating and one additional player from violators team to be eliminated, and cause both players to sit out for one round immediately following.

· Any ejection or banning of a player from a Darkside Paintball event, must be to a gross violation of rules, or conduct, or reckless behavior and must be approved at least 3 Team Darkside members, at which time notification will attempted to be made to notify member of such decision.

Section 7: Prisoner taking

· Opponent must be given the opportunity to surrender and be taken prisoner, or be given option to be shot if Player is attempting to take such opponent prisoner.

· The player giving an opponent the opportunity to surrender has option to have player surrender and be out of the game, or be taken prisoner, and that decision is up to the player capturing the opponent.

· If opponent is taken prisoner, they immediately surrender ability to fire weapon in any capacity.

· At no time may a prisoners weapon, ammunition or air source be taken from them.

· Player must escort a prisoner back to their start point, at which point prisoner is out for the remainder of the current game, and the following game. If player is unsuccessful returning prisoner to players start area (is shot by another opponent), prisoner is then released to their original team, however must return to the location of a teammate before being allowed to participate in current game.

· A prisoner may be given the option to play for their captor's team rather than sit out the round. This is at sole discretion of the prisoner, but must be approved by the capturing team's captain.

· Prisoners may not be physically restrained, however are restricted to the camp site if they sit out during a round.

· Prisoner exchange and negotiation may only occur between team captains, or next in command if Captain or higher command is captured.

· A player taken prisoner may only notify their team, or team captain that they are "OUT" and not that they have been taken prisoner, but may only make such notification via radio after they have been returned to captor's start point, and then arrive back at the campsite.

· If a prisoner is shot by a prisoner's teammate prior to being taken to captor's start point, prisoner is out, but is allowed to return to their team in the following game.

Section 8: Waivers

·Anyone playing, participating, observing, officiating, watching, attending, etc a Darkside Paintball organized event, acknowledges the inherent risk of participating in the sport of paintball, and waives Darkside Paintball, its members, founders, organizers, sponsors, employees, or any other associates from any and all liability from any loss, injury or death that may occur during, before or after a Darkside Paintball event.

·Anyone playing, participating, observing, officiating, watching, attending, etc a Darkside Paintball organized event waives & agrees to have their picture or likeness displayed on Darkside Paintball's website without any compensation required.

·Anyone playing, participating, observing, officiating, watching, attending, etc a Darkside Paintball organized event acknowledges that they have read, understand, and agree to abide by all terms set by Darkside Paintball and all terms in the Rules and Regulations section, which may be changed at anytime, and current rules will be posted online.