History Main / PaintballEpisode

* ''Series/ThePigletFiles'', a 1990's British sitcom, has the MI5 protagonists doing a paintball training exercise, including a parody of the TakingTheBullet cliché. The doofus of the group is praised for having no paintball marks on him, only to reveal as he walks away that he's been shot InTheBack numerous times. No-one wears protective equipment as we're [[DangerRoomColdOpen initially supposed to believe they're actually in combat]].

* In the training exercise at the beginning of ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', the guards shot the infiltrating spies with paintballs [[TrainingAccident (at least that was the intention)]] despite their lack of face protection.

* ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'': The author makes markers for the game and can get a little annoyed by people disregarding the rules.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/Champions2016'', the team bonds/practices their battle strategies over a round of paintball. Vision even drives the team to a paintball arena in a van.
* IDW's ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeIDW G.I. Joe]]'' series has the training exercise variation. A group of Joes armed only with paintball weapons have to attempt to infiltrate the Pit. A pair of Cobra commandos kill most of the team (who mistake them for their opponents), leaving three essentially unarmed Joes (Cover Girl, Downtown and Tripwire) to take on the Cobra soldiers.
* The ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' special "Last Man Standing" was completely devoted to a game using paintball guns. Hardly anyone wore face protection of any kind - and every character who wore glasses got hit at least once in them. (Even many of those who did not were glasses were hit in the face, but those were "off screen".) Not to mention "firefights" with participants being hit sometimes dozens of times (how do they even know who won?), called shots to the groin, and even one character fighting while carrying an unprotected baby! But then again, characters in KODT tend to go overboard in whatever tey're doing.
* One of the stories in a ''ComicBook/{{Punisher}} Summer Special'' had Frank tracking down a gang of killers who disguised themselves as paintball players while equipping their weapons with live rounds.

* While ''Series/{{House}}'' did not have an official paintball episode, the one-hour retrospective which aired before the series finale ended with Robert Sean Leonard and Hugh Laurie having a paintball match in the defunct set of the Princeton Plainsboro hospital.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has Barney's utter devotion to laser tag from the very first episode, and is sometimes revisited throughout the series and playing up the "mock battlefield" scenario. In one episode he gets too aggressive against the kids that were playing and the manager had Barney [[TurnInYourBadge turn in his membership card in a style very similar]] to a CowboyCop being asked to resign.
* ''Series/PeepShow'': The second half of "The Love Bunker" takes place during a paintball match.
* ''Series/LasVegas'' has the owner, Casey, taking the gang over to do paintball. Most of them were not wearing the proper gear.
* In the ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' episode "Ray Butts", the titular Lt. Col. Butts puts the squadron through a training exercise with paintball pistols. In the best traditions of this trope, no one is seen wearing any eye protection or other padding.
* One episode of ''Series/SledgeHammer'' had the titular detective investigate a murder on a paintball field. Near the end, he takes on the suspects in a paintball match.
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'':
** The show first gets one with the episode "Tactical Village". Fairly realistic in that it's a training scenario for a group of cops (they're using training rounds in what looks like real guns) but nobody seems to be wearing more protection than goggles. And they get shot in the chest at a couple of feet!
** Appears again in "Windbreaker City", in which the cops are invited to a terrorism training exercise for federal agencies only to be looked down on by everyone else present and discover that they're assigned to be the hostages. They eventually end up rebelling and freeing themselves, only to ''then'' decide to take revenge on the condescending feds by taking over the role of the terrorists.
* ''Series/SEALTeam'' occasionally features Bravo training using simunition rounds (made clear by the use of blue magazines and blue suppressors). In one episode, Bravo and Green Team have to engage in multiple rounds of a simulated assault, resulting in everyone involved getting covered in paint marks.
* ''Series/UglyBetty'': "Bananas for Betty" has Alexis and Daniel try to settle their rivalry ([[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame and decide control of a multimillion-dollar company]]) with a paintball contest.
* ''Series/StElsewhere'': Drs. Chandler, Erlich, and Morrison take part in a tournament against a group of accountants. It's mild-mannered Jack Morrison, working through some serious PTSD, who winds up going mercenary against the rival team.
* The Military Channel series ''Series/SpecialOpsMissions'' features former United States Army Ranger and Air Force Pararescueman Wil Willis going up against groups of opposing-force operatives, which consist of regular and special operations veterans, in simulated wargame missions. They use simunition paintball rounds in their M-4 carbines and M-16 rifles, which the show frequently mentions as non-lethal but still quite painful to be hit by.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'''s [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/060724 "Sistine Shrapnel"]] arc, complete with Torg being a wuss about getting hit and Riff illegally modifying his marker.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has a few incidents where the mercs, equipped with "goober rounds", i.e. big wads of glue that can stick people to the floor, decide to have an impromptu practice session amongst themselves. Schlock's teams tend to win these. Also, Captain Kaff Tagon and his dad the General go up against a number of the crew in an offscreen laser-tag match and beat them all handily (they cheated).

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' had a particularly egregious episode where a teenage bully torments Bobby on the paintball field and Hank and his buddies end up sucked into a paintball match with him. Not only does no one ever wear face masks in this episode, but the bully frequently engages in activities that would get you immediately [[FictionIsntFair thrown off the range (such as lining up a losing team against a fence for a "firing squad" shot) and of course, nary a marshal or range master is seen.]] Hank and his friends then turn the tables, shooting at point blank range themselves, bringing outside unsanctioned equipment and changing clothes on the field.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' had a paintball episode where the teens had to hunt each other with paintball guns. Other than the camera crew and the host, there are no marshals to keep an eye on the contestants. The contestants wear goggles but no facemasks, and otherwise wear no protective clothing at all, just their [[LimitedWardrobe normal street clothes]]. It doesn't help that some of the girls are pretty much half-naked. Finally, during the event briefing, the host literally shoots a contestant point blank for comedic effect. Of course, ''Total Drama Island'' is very big on AmusingInjuries, and the hosts make no effort to hide the fact they are complete [[JerkAss jerkasses]].
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': "Petarded". Spooner street game night includes a "paintball" fight in the Griffin house with goggles and body armor but no masks. Only Brian forgot the paintball guns so they use Joe's box-o-guns from work. RefugeInAudacity indeed.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' paintball episode must've been the first of its kind to use a ''brush'' in a parody of movies about UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Complete with American GI and Viet Cong outfits, paintball guns that resemble AK-47's and M-16's, Sharpie pens used like knives, Steve even using a paint sprayer like a flamethrower, and golf carts used for many different things like Huey helicopters, River Patrol Boats, and POW Cages.

* If it counts, ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' has a paintball ''segment''; Derek and Bromley practice archery by tipping their arrows with bags of paint.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Fridge" is set off by Nicole winning a company paintball game off-screen ([[NoodleIncident every other contestant was hospitalized]]) and ends with the Watterson family having a free-for-all game of capture the flag. There is no supervision, people get shot at very close range or after already losing, players either take off their mask (Anais) or wearing only goggles (everyone else), and some extra equipment includes paint grenades and paint balloons dropped by trip-wire.\\
[[FreezeFrameBonus Humorously]], besides the forest course shown the [[http://theamazingworldofgumball.wikia.com/wiki/File:ElmorePaintball.png poster]] for the place claims it has one course in a junkyard and another ''in outer space.'' And are available for all kinds of parties, including stag parties (bachelor parties) and hen parties (bachelorette parties).
* The episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheEpicTalesOfCaptainUnderpants'' “The Cunning Combat of the Covert Camoflush” centers around the kids playing a game of paintball with [[spoiler: [[AlmightyJanitor Mr. Ree's]] younger brother, [[BigLittleBrother Major Messy]]]], only to end up having to follow more rules than you can shake a stick at. George and Harold make him a comic to remind him that paintball's really about fun, resulting in him letting the kids go on a rule-free paintball game, and him ultimately turning into the [[MonsterOfTheWeek monster of the week]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/SchoolRumble'' had its class 2-C engage in a massive multi-way paintball battle to determine what their activity would be for the SchoolFestival. [[MundaneMadeAwesome Played for the maximum in epic]].

** The opening of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'' shows the test pilots of Torrington Base staging a mock battle using paintball clips in their [[HumongousMecha mobile suits]]' machineguns.

* In ''Anime/SoundOfTheSky'''s first DVD extra episode, the crew has a mock battle with water guns. Being UnsuspectinglySoused at the time, HilarityEnsues.
* Likewise a DVD extra episode for ''Literature/FullMetalPanic: The Second Raid'' has Tessa and Melissa engage in a mock [[HumongousMecha Arm-slave]] battle using paintball ammunition.
* ''Anime/{{Macross}}'':
** During the evaluation trials in ''Anime/MacrossPlus'', Guld and Isamu do combat simulations using mech-scaled paintballs. Given their rivalry, it devolves into physical melee, and then the clip of live ammo gets loaded and fired.
** We also see mech-scaled paintballs used for training in ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' and ''Anime/MacrossDelta''.
* Chapters 142-149 of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' (Season 2 Episode 17-18 of the anime) has the entire class engage in a paintball civil war [[spoiler:to settle the dispute on whether they want to kill or save Koro-sensei]].
* In the ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' novels, William James Moriarty's crew has a paintball fight as combat training.

* The ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' special "Last Man Standing" was completely devoted to a game using paintball guns. Hardly anyone wore face protection of any kind - and every character who wore glasses got hit at least once in them. (Even many of those who did not were glasses were hit in the face, but those were "off screen".) Not to mention "firefights" with participants being hit sometimes dozens of times (how do they even know who won?), called shots to the groin, and even one character fighting while carrying an unprotected baby!

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/Champions2016'', the team bonds/practices their battle strategies over a round of paintball. Vision even drives the team to a paintball arena in a van.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* In the ''BasaltCityChronicles'', a brother of one of the main characters is in the [=PaNoTer=] armed forces. He tells his family over a dinner about a time when he and his squad wish to have a practice battle on a paintball field. Several smilodonian youths are there for the same purpose, and the two sides decide to go against each other. The soldiers see no reason to go easy on the youths (all of whom have received some military instruction). [[CurbStompBattle Needless to say, the youths lose SPECTACULARLY.]]
* In the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' fic “[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37186546/ Tingle]]”, Peter Parker and Kate Bishop’s first solo date consists of them going paintballing together.

[[folder:Film]]
* In the training exercise at the beginning of ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', the guards shot the infiltrating spies with paintballs [[TrainingAccident (at least that was the intention)]] despite their lack of face protection.

* TheFilmOfTheSeries ''Film/SWAT2003'' has them doing a training scenario using realistic paintball firing guns.

* ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' uses it almost realistically during its characters' training time. One grunt asks the stupid question-"Them paintball bullets...they hurt?" Cut to the answer.
* In ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives'', Jason Voorhees stumbles upon a group office workers playing paintball. They weren't in the film very long.
%%* The {{Slasher Movie}}s ''Paintball'' and ''Stagknight''.

* The campers seemed properly equipped in ''Film/ReturnToSleepawayCamp'', except for Alan. Since everyone (including most of the counselors and other employees) hate him, all the players surrounded him and shoot him a bajillion times.
* Taken to ludicrous extremes in ''[[Film/IronEagle Aces: Iron Eagle III]]''. While performing in airshows, the heroes use paint rounds for mock '''dogfights'''. [[spoiler:Nearly results in a TrainingAccident when one pilot's guns are secretly loaded with live rounds.]]
* In ''Film/DieHard'', when Hans Gruber is caught by John [=McClane=], he tries to bluff his way out, acting like one of the hostages. When [=McClane=] says to stick with him to live, he asks Gruber if he's ever fired a gun. Gruber lies that he spent a weekend at a "Combat Ranch" whose guns shoot bullets of red paint.

* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', a group of corporate executives take part in a "team-building" paintball battle. Crowley the demon changes the weapons to real guns. HilarityEnsues.

* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' Season 2 Full face masks, but they're removed by the minor characters and one guy, mask semi-removed, shoots the girls multiple times. He then takes his mask off again in an empty clearing. He is soon killed by a saber-tooth tiger.
* ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' used goggles instead of full face masks, and a total absence of marshals. This allows some acknowledged dangerous shots to occur, mostly Tim firing at Dwayne's crotch. Several times (admittedly causing a severe injury)
--> '''Tim:''' No hard feelings eh?
--> '''Duane:''' You shot me in the bollocks, Tim.
--> '''Tim:''' Yeah, well like I said... ''no hard feelings...''
** Mike's overzealous attitude towards paintball (he's a member of the Territorial Army and general military enthusiast) is stated to have gotten him a ban which lasted several years. [[spoiler: From the various hints dropped in the episode, he clobbered an accountant with a big stick and gave the guy some serious psychological trauma, but this is of course PlayedForComedy.]]
** Also features the obligatory War Movie Parody scene - Mike gets shot, Tim runs over to give a HowDareYouDieOnMe speech, and Mike coughs up yellow paint[[note]]"Rule one, don't eat the paintballs."[[/note]] and goes limp. Cue {{Big NO}}OOOOO!... Then cut to Tim and Mike walking out of the game:
---> '''Tim:''' I feel cleansed. It's been a really good day.\\
'''Mike:''' That, my friend, is the beauty of simulated violence.
* There was an episode of ''Series/{{Jake20}}'' with a paintball match. Jake's enjoyment is ruined by someone trying to kill him [[spoiler:who turned out to be a hallucination]].
* ''Series/SouthOfNowhere'' has an episode where the Carlins and others go paintballing. Especially egregious in that Madison shows up in a ''Cheerleading outfit'', just so she can act like a psycho bitch when the cheer squad removes her from the lineup.
* ''Series/CoronationStreet''. Tony's stag party pulled most of the common mistakes with masks being lifted up willy-nilly and no sign of marshalls. They did have full-face masks though.
* ''Series/JustShootMe'' has an episode with paintballing.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has an episode where a trio of the main cast visits a paintball course to bring in a suspect. The main members enter the field in the middle of an active game without any protective gear, and the suspect removes his mask while still on the field even though viewers can clearly see people still shooting each other in the background.
* ''Series/MythBusters'' will normally break out the full face masks when paintball guns are in use, but during one segment of the "Ultimate [=MythBuster=]" episode Adam and Jamie were firing at each other with no body armor other than groin cups and face masks. Of course, the point of that challenge was to see who had the greatest pain tolerance... (Huge surprise, Jamie won.)
** A later episode testing whether a "[[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan Slap in the Face]]" can get you out of a hysterical fit and back to dealing with a stressful situation had them testing cognitive awareness using simunition rounds at a gun range. They used paintball ammo largely because they had to simulate mental fatigue ''and'' give that person a gun.
** They tested whether first person shooter games were accurate either when picking up one weapon and discarding another or keeping all the weapons in a live action version of the games with paintball guns.
* ''Series/ICarly'': In "iSaved Your Life", the trio and Spencer play a game called ''Assassin'' using only blow tube guns. Carly and Freddie were "eliminated" early on, leaving behind extreme mind games between Sam and Spencer. No safety equipment is used at all, although the relatively low speed nature of blow-guns reduces the risk of injury and it was meant to be played in a home.
* The pilot of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' had the other football players shooting Finn with paintball guns at point-blank range. Not on a paintball range. With ''nobody'' wearing any gear. And somehow it was all okay because they weren't aiming at his head. So much wrong with this scenario...

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm's friend Dabney was being shot repeatedly by a bunch of bullies at point blank range while he was on the floor. When he snapped, he not only returned the favor to one of them, he also was shoving paintballs up the guy's nose.
* ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'' had a paintball episode where all the characters had goggles but [[GogglesDoNothing wore them like headbands]], instead of over their eyes where, you know, they could actually do some good.
* Episode of ''Series/DangerBay'', in which two characters break the pre-established rules about, respectively, taking one's face mask off during the exercise and aiming for the face, with the result that the guy who took his mask off takes a paintball between the eyes and is effectively blinded for most of the rest of the episode.
* ''Series/SixFeetUnder'' has an episode where paintballing errors show up most egregiously. David and Keith go paintballing with a couple other gay guys. They don't wear protective clothing, they take their googles off and even close-range hits don't elicit any reaction from the characters. It mostly follows the RuleOfFunny and aims to illustrate the difference between Keith's HardGay friends and David's CampGay friends.
* An episode of ''Series/LALaw'' had some of the attorneys going on a weekend paintball excursion as the team of a client. Stuart Markowitz becomes very good and very ruthless at it. Even more remarkable since Markowitz was coming off a heart attack.

* ''Series/GregTheBunny'' featured a paintball team building trip. When Gil neglects to invite the women, they get irate and vow to crush him.

* Near the end of season 4 of ''Series/TheWire'', one episode starts with Michael running away from Chris and Snoop; all three of them armed. He hides, ambushes them, and then we realize that they're actually all using paintball guns.
* ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' has Mac and Pete in a Phoenix versus other agencies Paintball match as one of the cold openings. Mac's "no guns" rule applies even to Paintball. And yet, Phoenix was winning, because of Mac.
* ''Series/AceOfCakes'' started an episode like this when the team was asked to make a cake for Splatter Mountain paintball and was invited to play. The first few minutes of the show are about the team sneaking up and assassinating each other before they get to cake-making.
* On ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'', they had an episode where Cody and Bailey were taught to have fun by Mrs. Tutweiler ( they had come into to class on senior skip day and Mrs. T had had it with their interrupting her reading of a romance novel). Of course, this being the 3rd season, Cody and Bailey took it as an opportunity to hurt each, then their teacher, and finally after the game, they analyzed the science behind it.

* ''Series/LittleMosqueOnThePrairie'': Amaar's bachelor party involves a paintball game. Unfortunately, Amaar doesn't think the teams through ("everyone on this side of me on my team") and ends up unintentionally making the game Muslims versus (white) non-Muslims - which, besides the [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] UnfortunateImplications, means that he's saddled with a whole team who've never handled a gun in their lives, half of whom immediately shoot their own teammates by mistake.
* One episode of ''Series/TopShot'' allowed members of the two teams to finally shoot at members of the opposing team with paintball markers While the target marksmen were running from one protected firing point to the next.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has the intar: a device developed by the Goa'uld for use in training Jaffa, that stuns people shot with it, instead of killing them. It is first seen being used by a group of Jaffa being trained to fight using human weapons, and tactics, and is later adopted by the SGC for use in training exercises for its recruits.

* One episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had two paintballers staging a match in alley. One is murdered when he stumbles on to a drug deal, while the other is abducted by a mentally unstable woman who thinks he is an alien. The paintballers were, at least, wearing full protective gear. The gear, combined with the luminous green paint she thought was blood, was why the woman mistook him for an alien.
* ''The Piglet Files'', a 1990's British sitcom, has the MI5 protagonists doing a paintball training exercise, including a parody of the TakingTheBullet cliché. The doofus of the group is praised for having no paintball marks on him, only to reveal as he walks away that he's been shot InTheBack numerous times. No-one wears protective equipment as we're [[DangerRoomColdOpen initially supposed to believe they're actually in combat]].

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:FanFic]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

* TheFilmOfTheSeries ''Film/{{SWAT}}'' had them doing a training scenario using realistic paintball firing guns.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

* Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible, and a Paintball Episode may be applicable to other types of situations including combat maneuvers, crisis simulations and general war games.

* ''VideoGame/MarioParty8'': The minigame Paint Misbehavin' has two pairs of characters (or, alternatively, only two individual characters) operate train-like paint cannons across rails to shoot paintballs at Goombas. One pair or solo character shoots pink paintballs while the other shoots blue ones. If a Goomba is painted with either color, it's still possible to change its color by shooting painting from the other. If a pair or character gets hit by a rival paintball, they'll be stunned for a short while. After 30 seconds, whichever pair or character has more Goombas painted with their color wins; but if the number of painted Goombas is the same for both colors, the minigame ends in a tie.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty9'': The minigame Flinger Painting places the players in front of a giant blank canvas, and arms them with paintball guns. The goal is to cover more of the canvas with your color than any other player by firing paintballs at it. The paintball guns can be charged by holding the fire button down for a second before releasing, resulting in a larger shot. Players can cover paint left by their opponents, adding extra strategy. The player with the most paint coverage when the time limit expires wins the minigame.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty10'': Paintball Battle is a minigame where players run around a small maze carrying paintball guns, and the objective is to defeat all of their rivals by shooting them. Each player's paintballs match their player color, and when they hit an opponent, that player will get covered in paint of that color.