Paintball is all about Honor. If a ball breaks on you or anything you're carrying or wearing, you are eliminated from the game.

A break is anything as big as a nickel's worth of paint OR a blob of paint with pieces of Shell. Many times you'll be behind some decent cover and a ball will break on a bunch of twigs in front of you, and you will get get sprayed. This is called Splatter. It's sometimes hard to tell if you're being covered in splatter or actual hits. If in doubt, you can try to call a paint check on yourself.
On fields with Refs, this is easy enough to do, and a ref will run ( or saunter) over and check you out. At the Ward we're more honor bound, so you can do two things, you can ask someone close to check you whether it's your teammate sitting besides you or the guy in front of you that's shooting at you. Or you can check yourself. Checking yourself with a mask on can be harder than you'd think.

Checking yourself-
First make sure you're in a relatively safe spot. If the person that shot at you hit you, chances are they can hit you again. Go to ground, get behind a tree, make yourself small.
Now using two fingers of whichever hand can reach the spot in question, lightly touch the area then check on your fingers. If there's a paint blob, especially with shell particles, you can safely bet that you've been hit fairly and squarely. Call yourself OUT! If there's no paint, you can play on. If the player who shot at you starts yelling to check yourself, you should reply that you did and that "you are clean." If you honestly try and check yourself and make a mistake, it's okay, at least you tried to do the right thing. You can apologize especially if you shoot out someone when you're already eliminated.
Once I shot out a player while waiting for a ref to come check my backpack, and when called out I implored the ref to allow the player back into the game, which he did much to the other player's relief.

Calling Yourself OUTOUTOUT!- Calling yourself out is vital to the game. You should do it in three ways, all at the same time. The first is a verbal acknowledgement, YELL "I'm OUTOUTOUT!!!"
The next is a visual acknowledgement, by putting your hand or your gun in the air and waving it around.
And third walk out of your cover with your hand or gun up. Do not put your hand or gun down until you are well clear of the fighting zone, and even then as you walk through other zones you will need to signify visually that you are out of the game, so keep the gun pointed up.

Put your barrel plug back in the barrel. This will tell players in other areas that you are out of the game as you walk by, but have your hand up in the air just in case. Walk to the deadzone or staging area. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR GOGGLES!! Even if they are fogged up and you can barely see.

By giving a verbal acknowledgement, you are also telling your team mates that you are out of the game. It's important for them to know, but once you're out of the immediate zone of your elimination you shouldn't speak to anyone still in the game. The adage is "Dead Men don't Talk" So don't talk to anyone while you're on the way off the field, except to likewise eliminated players. Giving imformation to "live" players is cheating.

Since the guns are being fired you cannot expect players to necessarily hear your declaration of OUT, so the visual of your hand is vital. However, since someone may be shooting at you when you call yourself out, there may well be balls in the air when you call yourself out, they cannot stop these airborne balls, so you may get hit again even though you've declared yourself eliminated. This happens a lot and some people get angry as if it's an insult heaped onto injury, however unless it's blatant overshooting, it usually doesn't mean anything, so don't get upset. I use my gun as a shield when I walk out of a bunker.

A ball may not always break, it may bounce. This is not an elimination. However if you call yourself out, you are out of the game no matter if it was a bounce or a bumblebee colliding with you. So try and Check yourself first.

At the Ward we've been quite careful to demark the starting points (Break out) on the two fields so that they are roughly equidistant to each other and the strong points of the field. This helps to ensure that neither one side or the other has a tactical advantage over the other. Without Refs, we rely on eye contact to know that both sides are ready for Game On. Typically the Uproad team does the count down. Count downs generally are 3-2-1-Go. Some people start at 5, some go from 1 up. Whatever works, as long as both sides yell out Ready and the word Go starts the game!

There are two main games we'll play. Capture the Flag and Total Elimination.
In Capture the Flag, the object of the game is to take the opposition flag and return it to your flag station. The Flag Stations are located about 50 feet in from the break out positions, and are marked with Yellow Tape. If you get the flag and are shot on the way back, you have to hang the flag up on the nearest tree or tall object, do not hide the flag, it must be in a visible spot. If you come across your flag hanging out there away from the flag station, you may return it to your flag station.
In Total Elimination, also called Speedball, you simply must eliminate the entire opposition force.

When you're eliminated, you should walk off the field with your barrel plug in the gun, your hand in the air, and your Goggles ON! Walk to the near roadway and you can watch from there, or move on down to the Staging Area. You MUST KEEP YOUR GOGGLES ON if you choose to stay on the roadway and watch. If you are hanging out by the road, please do not shoot your gun. The game is in play, and hearing a gun from the road may be mistaken for some action. If a firefight develops by the road (and it does)and you're there observing, you are likely to catch a stray. Stay at your own risk, then you'll realize why you must keep your goggles on! If anyone with you takes their goggles off, please remind them to keep their goggles on. Safety is everyone's business!

When you return to the Staging Area after a game, Clean up your gear. If your goggles have been hit, clean them off so you're ready for the next game. If you're low on Ammo, reload. If your air supply is empty, refill or ask to be refilled. Consider what you did right and what you did wrong so the next game you'll tear up the opposition! If you want to practice, aiming and plinking, do so off the road by where we chrono the guns. And definitely ReHydrate!