Stuff you will need:

1. Marker

2. A hopper, the container that goes on top of the gun that holds the paint. A Barrel plug. The barrel plug should come with the marker. Shops will not allow you to bring your marker into store without one of these.

3. Paint containers and belt containers. The containers are necessary for infield reloads, and the belts are for holding them when not in use. Most hoppers hold up to 200 rounds, and with high rate of fire guns, your ammo can disappear quickly. That's why you need the containers. We suggest spinloader paintball gear.

4. Face mask. All fields WILL NOT let any player onto the field without proper facial protection, any field that does is a bad field. Here is the secret: Do not use the field rental stuff. I get squeamish when I think about how many people before me have donned this mask. You want to buy your own mask. Masks you buy on your own look cooler, but this is important: You need a mask that is fog free. The specific technology varies by name from manufacturer to manufacturer, but what it does is reduce/eliminate fogging that builds up on the inside of the face mask. Browse the specifications of the mask to look for this specific feature. If you can't see on the field, it's not going to be pretty what's going to happen to you.

5. Knee-pads/Elbow-pads. Obviously these protect the joints, but many people forget about protection from other than being shot. In paintball, you will drop to your knees frequently, and sometimes take a full body dive onto your knees/elbows. You get the point. The debated point is whether the pads should be soft or hard. Soft pads increase the chance that when struck with a paintball, the ball will not break, but rather bounce. That's good. Unfortunately, soft pads damage easily, twigs, etc. and you will be buying new pads every other trip. You can buy hard pads, and cover them with cloth, but making the cloth stay over the hard pads with all the constant motion is difficult.

6. Jock-strap/Cup. Pretty elementary. On the full body dives, you might land on a rock or a twig, or worse.

7. Proper clothing. Depending on the field, clothing can make a difference. In encounters less than 60 yards square, sparse vegetation, clothing has little significance, as people can spot you at these close distances. In larger fields, or fields with denser vegetation, camouflage, or even dark colors, mostly black/green/brown, can help to conceal yourself. Stealth is sometimes more important than high rates of fire. Also you want heavy duty clothing, like heavy canvas. This adds to the durability of the clothing, and reduces paint impact.

You also want good boots. You can go to your local army surplus store and buy a good pair of army boots. The army uses them for a reason. If you don't, any good work/hiking boots will do fine. Nothing says newbie like sneakers. Nothing says "idiot" like sandals.

Note: Equip your gear to where you are comfortable. If you aren't comfortable, you're wearing it wrong, or you have too much gear on. The extra paint containers should be located on your back, not to the side. The reason for this is when you lay prone, it will get in the way, if it's someplace besides your back.

8. Good paint. There are many different types of paint. I can't comment on the quality of the paint here, but there are many newsgroups and forums dedicated to paintball who can answer your questions. Buying the paint from the fields is the last thing you want to do, as many overcharge you for it. I'm not saying all do, but that's how they make money.

When you store your paint, you have to keep them in a cool and dry area. Heat and moisture will warp and weaken your paint, which leads to breakage. You might want to keep your paint in the refrigerator, but put it in a drawer that doesn't have a lot of moisture. Do not freeze your paint. Doing so will make you many enemies, and may get you banned from the field. Also, when you freeze your paint, the liquid inside will expand, breaking the shell.

9. Barrel squeegee, and if your gun's barrel can come of quickly, ex: unscrewing it, another barrel. You want these when you're playing and eventually you break paint. Your gun can still fire, but your accuracy goes to hell. With these items, you can do some infield, or between game maintenance to clean/replace your barrel, restoring your accuracy. Paint in the barrel makes your accuracy go down, but it leads to even more paint breakage.

10. Good upgrades. They don't sell upgrades just cause they look pretty, well, actually they do. Many upgrades actually improve the performance of your paintball marker. Here are some you probably want off the bat:

1. A fenistrated barrel. You have to pick a good one. These barrels usually have holes towards the end of them. Some are arranged in a spiral pattern, and some are arranged in straight lines. Do not be fooled. The holes arranged in a spiral pattern DO NOT spin the paintball like a football or bullet. In theory, spinning the paint like the before two would increase the accuracy, but these barrels do not do that. What the holes are supposed to do is decrease the resistance of the ball as it leaves the barrel, that way there isn't resistance to push the ball off course in the initial exit.

2. If you live or play in a particularly cold climate, and you are using CO2, you may notice that the CO2 turns to liquid. In some particular brands of markers, when liquid passes through the valve, it forces it open and causes a leak, until you manually close it. An expansion chamber will filter the CO2 and remove the liquid from the gas preventing the leak. The expansion chamber also adds another handhold for comfort and ease of handling.

3.These might not be considered upgrades, unless you buy a cheap package. You want at least a 20oz CO2 bottle, and a hopper that holds at least 200 rounds.

4. A .45 grip with a double trigger. When it all goes to hell, the only thing that will save your life is an insane volume of paint. The only way to do that is pull that trigger like there's no tomorrow. One thing that would make your life easier is a double trigger. Believe me, ask your friends, or a pro, and they will all agree.

Stuff you probably won't need:

1. Unless you get a magical paintball gun that shoots like a rifle, a scope won't do you any good. Due to the nature of paintball guns, they are not accurate over a distance of 30 feet max. Any further, and you would be firing by area saturation and luck.