HOW TO PLAY

THE GOAL

Tag other players with paint before they tag you. One paintball is all it takes: there are no health bars between players, so whoever lands the first hit wins the fight.

Paintballz.io has two game modes, and every map is built for one of them:

• Team Deathmatch (TDM): Blue against Red. Every tag scores a point for your team, and the team with more tags when the clock runs out wins the round. Your teammates show up in your colour, and paint can't hurt your own team.
• Free for All (FFA): everyone against everyone. The player with the most tags at the end of the round wins. Each player gets their own bright colour so you can tell people apart.

Online rounds last 5 minutes. When a round ends you see the winner and the top three players, then everyone votes on the next map. A short break later, the next round starts in the same room, so you can keep playing with the same people for as long as you like.

JOINING A MATCH

Quick play

Press Deploy! on the main menu and the game drops you into the best public room for your region. The live match you see behind the menu is a real one, so you can watch before you jump in. Public rooms hold up to 18 people. When a room is quiet, bots fill the empty spots, and every person who joins takes a bot's place, so a match is never empty.

Server browser

Want a particular room? Open the server browser to see every public room with its map, mode, region and how full it is. You can search and filter rooms by region to find one with a good ping.

Private rooms and parties

Make a private room to play with friends only. Before you create it you choose who is on Blue and who is on Red, and the round length (3, 5, 8, 10 or 15 minutes). Friends you put on a team get an invite straight away. Private rooms don't get bots. Add friends from the social screen and form a party so you always end up in the same match.

Playing as a guest or with an account

You can play straight away as a guest; your progress is saved on that device. Make a free account with a username and password to keep your cash, guns, accessories and level safe and to play on any device.

CONTROLS

Keyboard and mouse

Every key except Esc can be changed in Settings → Keybinds, and each action can have two keys. Keys follow their physical position, so the layout works on any keyboard language. Mouse sensitivity is in Settings too.

Phones and tablets

On a phone or tablet the game switches to touch controls automatically. Use the joystick on the left to move and drag anywhere on the right to look around. On-screen buttons fire, jump, scope and open chat. Tap an equipment tile to use it; while you're placing a sentry or wall, the FIRE button puts it down. In Settings → Mobile you can change look sensitivity, pick a floating or fixed joystick, switch to left-handed mode, resize the buttons and drag them wherever you like. Play in landscape for the best view.

SHOOTING AND PAINT

Paintballs are real projectiles, not instant hits. Each ball leaves the barrel at your gun's speed and then drops with gravity, so:

• Lead moving targets. At range, aim a little ahead of a running player, where they will be when the ball arrives.
• Aim a little high at long range. Balls arc down over distance. Fast guns like the Helix, Aurora and Noctis fly flatter and need less correction.
• Every gun has a reach. Past its range a ball fades out, so a close-range sprayer simply can't hit someone across the map.

Spread and recoil. Most guns throw each ball slightly off the crosshair, and fast-firing guns spread more. Every shot also kicks your view up and a little to the side and only springs part of the way back, so on long bursts pull your mouse down gently to stay on target. Heavier guns kick harder. Short bursts are more accurate than holding the trigger.

Scopes. Snipers and marksman guns have a scope (2.5× to 6×). Hold the right mouse button or E to zoom in.

Headshots and long shots. Any hit tags a player, but headshots and long-distance tags count towards daily tasks, and the kill feed shows them off.

Cover is real. Walls, crates, containers and trenches stop paint. If you can't see someone, they usually can't hit you either.

Fair hits. The game server decides every hit, and it accounts for your ping by checking where your target was when you fired. If it looked like a hit on your screen, it almost always is.

SPAWNING AND PROTECTION

After you're tagged you respawn after 3 seconds (press Space to come back a little sooner). Several things stop spawn camping:

• Spawn protection: for 2 seconds after you spawn, paint can't tag you.
• Spawn barriers (team matches): each team spawns inside a see-through wall in its colour. Enemies can't walk in and their paint stops on the wall. Your own paint can't leave the spawn either, so you have to step out to fight.
• Exit protection (team matches): when you first step out of your spawn you're protected for another 3 seconds, even if you start shooting.

Free for All maps have no spawn pens: you spawn at the point on the map that is farthest from everyone else.

KILL-STREAK EQUIPMENT

Tags earn you equipment during a round. You pick up to four pieces in Shop → Streaks and put them in slots 1 to 4 (keys Z X C V). Every time your kill count in the round reaches a piece's number, you get a charge of it. Charges stack up to 3, so you can save them for the right moment. Kill counts start over every round.

Radar

4 kills · free

Shows every enemy on the map, even through walls, for 5 seconds. Use it before you push.

Sentry

8 kills · free

A stationary turret that fires at enemies in range for 60 seconds. Place it to guard a doorway or flank.

Drone

12 kills · free

Hovers beside you and shoots at enemies for 60 seconds. It goes down with you if you're tagged.

Wall

14 kills · $250,000 or 60 splats

Solid cover that blocks sight and paint from both teams for 45 seconds. Instant cover in an open field.

Tank

16 kills · $500,000 or 125 splats

A small sentry tank that drives itself, hunts the nearest enemy and fires at them for 60 seconds.

Nuke

90 kills · $2,500,000 or 625 splats

A siren sounds for 5 seconds, then every enemy on the map is tagged again and again for 10 seconds. Spawn protection doesn't help.

Radar, Sentry and Drone are free for everyone. Wall, Tank and Nuke are bought once and kept forever. Placing equipment shows a green preview: aim where you want it and click (or press FIRE on mobile) to put it down.

THE GUNS

There are 27 paintguns. Any of them tags a player in one hit, so what separates them is how quickly and from how far away they can land that hit: fire rate, reach, ball speed and accuracy. Heavier guns also slow you down a little while you hold them.

Cash guns: the gun ladder

Cash guns are bought in the shop with the cash you earn by playing. They form a ladder in price order: each one unlocks once you own the one before it. Range is shown relative to the starter Sprout, and move speed relative to running with nothing in your hands.

Gun	Type	Price	Fire rate	Range	Move speed	Good for
SPROUT	Rifle	Free	8/s	1.00×	97%	Your starter. Steady and predictable, so it's the best gun to learn the paintball arc with.
NOVA	Rifle	$8,500	8/s	1.00×	97%	A slightly tighter, slightly faster Sprout. A cheap first upgrade.
VIPER	SMG	$14,500	12/s	0.90×	97%	Compact bullpup. Quick to fire and best up close.
PULSE	Sprayer	$17,000	15/s	0.85×	95%	Fires fast, drops fast. Great in tight corners, weak across open ground.
FLICKER	Pistol	$20,000	12/s	0.90×	100%	Automatic paint pistol. Light, so you move at full speed.
VOIDBREAKER	Hand cannon	$23,000	3/s	3.00×	100%	Slow, heavy shots with long reach. Wrecks enemy sentries and drones.
HORNET	SMG	$26,000	15/s	0.95×	97%	A hose of paint for close fights.
RIPTIDE	Rifle	$28,500	10/s	1.10×	95%	Fast and accurate at mid range. A strong all-rounder for its price.
LONGSHOT	Marksman	$31,500	4/s	2.15×	93%	Budget sniper with a 2.5× scope. Your first real long-range gun.
TITAN	Light machine gun	$34,500	15/s	1.30×	88%	A wall of paint at mid range. Heavy, so you move slower.
SCRAPPER	Shotgun	$36,000	2/s	0.60×	95%	Pump action: seven balls per pull. Brutal up close, weak far away.
KESTREL	PDW	$37,500	15/s	1.20×	97%	Snappy and light, with more reach than the other SMGs.
RANGER	SMG	$40,000	12/s	1.20×	97%	A steady, accurate stream. Easy to control.
COMET	Sniper	$43,000	6/s	1.70×	93%	Bullpup sniper with a 3× scope and quick follow-up shots.
FORGE	Support gun	$52,000	15/s	1.45×	88%	A long, steady stream that keeps the other team's heads down.
MISTRAL	Marksman	$58,000	5/s	2.65×	93%	2.5× scope and very long reach for a marksman gun.
AURORA	Sniper	$69,000	3/s	7.00×	92%	The best cash sniper: perfect accuracy, the longest reach and a 4.5× scope, but slow to fire.
VANGUARD	Assault	$78,000	12/s	1.65×	93%	Hits hard, fires fast, reaches far.
GOLIATH	Heavy machine gun	$92,000	15/s	1.50×	86%	A fast, accurate stream with a big drum.
HELIX	Carbine	$115,000	12/s	1.45×	95%	Fast, flat and accurate. The best all-rounder you can buy with cash.
THUNDERCLAP	Heavy shotgun	$125,000	2.6/s	0.85×	90%	One pull fires a heavy spread of balls. Owns any room it walks into.
CYCLONE	Minigun	$144,000	20/s	1.85×	84%	Six barrels. The fastest-firing gun money can buy, and the slowest to carry.

Premium guns

Premium guns cost 200 splats each. Each one fires its own colour of paint instead of your team's, and each has a trick no other gun has. One premium gun is on sale as Today's Deal every day.

Gun	Trait	Fire rate	Range	Move speed	What it does
AURELION	Twin bolts	9/s	2.00×	95%	Every pull fires two laser-straight cyan bolts.
IMPERATOR	Scatter blast	4.5/s	1.60×	92%	Six emerald balls per shot, with real reach for a scatter gun.
TEMPEST	Blast	2.4/s	0.35×	93%	A wide cone of molten orange paint. Devastating up close, useless past a few metres.
HYDRA	Torrent	30/s	1.20×	88%	30 balls a second in a loose, spraying stream: the fastest gun in the game.
NOCTIS	Piercing	5.2/s	14.00×	92%	6× scope. Near-instant magenta bolts go through up to three players in a line.

THE MAPS

Every map is made for one mode: team maps have a spawn on each side, free-for-all maps don't. At the end of each round, players vote on the next map, and the room's mode follows the map.

TEAM DEATHMATCH

Classic

A grassy valley between cliffs. Red houses on one side, blue on the other, and a cluster of shipping containers in the middle where most fights happen. Snipers like the house windows; everyone else fights for the containers.

TEAM DEATHMATCH

House

A big two-storey house with a wide porch sits in the centre, with crates and garden paths around it. Fights inside the house are fast and close; the yards outside reward patient aim.

FREE FOR ALL

Warehouse

An indoor hall of shipping containers and machinery with a raised catwalk along the walls. Lots of corners, so SMGs and shotguns shine, and the catwalk gives a view over the floor.

FREE FOR ALL

Proto Yard

A training yard of orange blocks and crate stacks around a long central lane. The lane is a sniper's dream and a runner's nightmare, so cross it fast or use the blocks on the sides.

FREE FOR ALL

Trenches

Rolling hills cut by a maze of wooden trenches, fences and old tanks. Stay low in the trenches to move safely, and climb the hills when you want a long view.

CASH, SPLATS AND REWARDS

There are two currencies. Cash ($) is earned by playing and buys guns, Paint Crates and equipment. Splats (the green paint drops) are the premium currency: they buy premium guns and Premium Crates. You can earn splats for free from level rewards, the daily login track and optional video ads, or buy them in the store.

Earning cash in a match

A streak keeps going as long as each tag comes within 3 seconds of the last one; getting tagged ends it. An optional 2× cash boost doubles everything you earn from tags for 15 minutes.

Daily tasks

You get three new tasks every day, such as getting 25 kills, 10 headshots, 3 long shots, an 8 killstreak, using equipment, winning rounds or simply playing for 20 minutes. Each one pays $2,000 to $8,000 and gives XP. Your tasks show in the corner during a match, so you always know how close you are. Tasks reset at midnight UTC.

Levels

You level up from minutes played, tags and finished tasks, all the way to level 100. Every level pays a cash reward, every 10th level also gives 5 splats, and each level needs a bit more XP than the last. Claim level rewards from the Rewards screen.

Daily login

Log in every day for a 7-day reward track: $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, 5 splats, $6,000, $8,000 and finally $10,000 plus 15 splats on day 7. Miss a day and the track starts again from day 1.

AVATAR AND CRATES

Your character can wear something in five slots: head, face, back, top and pants. There are 97 accessories, from beanies and cowboy hats to Robot Wings, a Clockwork Owl and full exclusive outfits. Everyone in the match sees what you're wearing.

Accessories come from crates. Every crate gives you an accessory you don't own yet, or a cash prize, so you never get a duplicate. The real odds are shown in the game before you open one:

Crate	Price	Cash prize	Regular accessory	Premium accessory	Exclusive
Paint Crate	$40,000	60% ($15,000 to $60,000)	36%	4%	–
Premium Crate	40 splats	20% ($100,000)	20%	57.5%	2.5%

The Avatar screen is your inventory: it shows what you own, marks new items, and the Collection tab shows every accessory in the game and how many you've collected. You can try on anything to see how it looks before you go after it.

TIPS FOR NEW PLAYERS

1. Don't stand still. Paintballs take time to fly. A player who keeps strafing left and right is much harder to hit than one standing in the open.
2. Peek, shoot, hide. Step out of cover, take your shot, and step back. Long fights in the open usually end with someone else tagging you from the side.
3. Jump when you're in trouble. A jump changes your height mid-fight and makes enemies miss balls aimed at your body.
4. Fire in short bursts. Recoil and spread grow when you hold the trigger. Two or three balls at a time land more often at mid range.
5. Pick fights your gun can win. Shotguns and SMGs want corners and doorways; snipers want long sightlines. Move around the map to the range that suits you.
6. Use Radar before you push. Five seconds of seeing everyone through walls tells you exactly where it's safe to go.
7. Place sentries behind you. A sentry covering the path you just came down stops people sneaking up from behind while you fight forward.
8. Shoot down enemy machines. They pay a bounty, and a drone left alone will keep tagging your team.
9. Stick with your team in TDM. Two players looking at the same doorway beat one player every time.
10. Do your daily tasks. They're the fastest way to earn cash early and level up, and they nudge you to try new playstyles.
11. Climb the gun ladder steadily. Every cash gun unlocks the next one, so buying a cheap gun you'll use for a while is never wasted.
12. Watch the live match. The match behind the main menu is real. Watching a minute shows you where the busy spots on the map are.

SMOOTH GAMEPLAY

Paintballz.io runs in any modern browser with WebGL, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, on computers, Chromebooks, phones and tablets. If the game feels slow:

• Set Graphics quality to Low or Medium in Settings → Game. Low turns off shadows and uses less paint spray. Phones start on Low automatically.
• Lower the Resolution scale, or set an FPS limit (30 to 240, or unlimited) to match your screen.
• Close other heavy browser tabs, and plug in your laptop so it doesn't save power by slowing down.
• Pick a room in your own region in the server browser for the lowest ping. Your FPS, region and ping are shown at the bottom of the main menu.