What Markers Changed the Game?

[Aslan]

I was thinking about this recently.

Obviously, if we go back to the "old days", we'll get to the first ever paintball marker, etc...

But since YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING....what markers have really changed the game (for better or worse)???

For example, since I've been playing (1999), I'd say the battle is between:

• Tippmann 98 Custom
• Smart Parts Ion
• Tippmann A5

And I gotta say the 98C wins....they probably are in the order I have them listed.

I mean, the 98C changed the game by making reliable, CO2 powered, easily upgradeable markers available for right $110 new. That was a huge deal. Before that, you'd have to buy Brass Eagle markers if you wanted to spend any less than $160...and those were mostly junk and hardly upgradeable.

So...what do you guys think? Marker, when you started playing, and why...

[Frizzle Fry]

In order...

Nelspot 707

NSG Splatmaster

Sheridan PG/P (and variants)

CCI Phantom

WGP Autococker

Tippmann 68 Special

Sheridan VM68

AGD Automag

F1 Illustrator

Kingman Spyder (and variants)

WDP Angel / PVI Shocker (not gonna fight about dates & patents; they're equally important)

Tippmann M98 (and variants)

Bob Long Intimidator

Airtech/Diablo Matrix

Smart Parts ION

Planet Eclipse Ego

Invert Mini

DLX Luxe

?


Those, in my opinion, were the game changers. I find these to be the most influential because of cost, availability, popularity, functionality, evolutionary leaps in technology, trendsetting, and various other factors that can't be summed up in one word or two. Granted, some are functionally very similar, and most were cloned and cloned again to be released under different names.

These are not my favorite markers, most are actually very low on my list of preferences; they're just the ones that have made very visible and tangible changes to the sport in my paintball career (with the exception of markers 1-4, which were released before I started playing). I realize there were a lot of cool markers out there that aren't on this list, but none so "big" in my eyes when it comes to their effects on the sport.

[Silverback]

For markers that TRULY changed the game (for better or worse)

My list is short:

Line SI Bushmaster - took 007 mods out of the garage and put it into a slick package with a quick change CO2.

CCI Phantom - Ditto but an under cocker

Tippmann 68 Special - First dependable semiauto marker

AGD 68 Automag - DUH, do I REALLY need to explain this one on THIS forum....

WGP Autococker - Proved that advanced plumbing, could produce a dependable winning package. And due to it's hulking weight and ugliness brought about the aftermarket machine parts and customization market.

Smart Parts "Shoe Box" Shocker - First "electro-pneumatic" marker......

[Frizzle Fry]

Smart Parts "Shoe Box" Shocker - First "electro-pneumatic" marker......

I've seen paperwork to state otherwise, but let's call it a tie with the V6.

[dahoeb]

I started playing in 98' so my list looks like....

1) Tippman 98: Rock solid. Low priced, pretty quick (for the time), pretty efficient, ran CO2 great, and is high quality. Perfect starting marker for a great price. The T98 opened the door to lots of people and really made it's mark on the scenario/rec side. 14 Years later and you'll still see them scattered across almost any rec field.

2) Angel: I don't remember the exact year the angel was intro'd, but I know they were really making the rounds at around this time. To a new player like myself with a spyder compact 2000, an Angel was the last gun you wanted to see on the field. I know other electros came out before the Angel, but the only one I heard people talking about was the Angel. The Angel really set the bar for what was expected for the high end $1000+ market, and in the long run, created the competitive conditions for the much cheaper electros we have today

3) Tie: SP Impulse/Bushmaster 2000: I never liked the Impulse, but both of these guns were the first successful "low priced" budget electros and they really established the beach head for that market. They were the poor man's Angel for a mere $400-450. In a way, they helped create the environment that led to the creation of other good budget electros like the Ions and Invert Minis.

4) SP Ion: This gun (for the fields I went to), sortof heralded the end of the mechanical age of paintball. It was a very low priced electro with solid all around performance, eyes, lightweight, a small profile. In the past, newer players would gravitate toward spyders or T98's; after the arrival of the Ion, new players were starting off with tourney level firepower. A few months after this marker was introduced, I saw a very noticable change to how games were being played. There was a lot more spraying and praying going on and not as much movement as I was used to. After this marker was introduced, I've seen the technology sortof stagnant with minor tweaks here and there, but nothing game changing.

It's a short list, but these are the guns that, for me, really altered how the game was approached, marketed and played.

[wetwrks]

Nelspot 007

NSG Splatmaster

Sheridan PG/P (and variants)

Tippmann 68 Special

Sheridan VM68

AGD Automag...Emag...Xmag

Invert Mini

3357 spotmarker

Tippmann SMG-60

the WGP Sniper (as well as the WGP Ranger *pump gun*) and all the nifty aftermarket autococking add-on systems.

Line SI Bushmaster

And yes...these were all commonly available new in the time I have been playing.

[cougar20th]

I would say the one I think changed things was the Ion.

Before that a gun that performed like it was expensive thus limitting there use, after the ion everyone coould afford something with that performance.

[Sniper Steve]

I would say the one I think changed things was the Ion.

Before that a gun that performed like it was expensive thus limitting there use, after the ion everyone coould afford something with that performance.

To add to that it also killed the value of every other gun on the market and changed how the entire financial landscape of paintball worked.

[Aslan]

Ion

I had the Ion #2 on my list behind the 98C just because the Ion didn't have the longevity of the 98C as was eluded to in another post; you can still see 98Cs EVERYWHERE on rec fields and scenario fields. By adding the response trigger, that marker went from being a step towards an A5 or X7....and became a force in and of itself.

I'll also add that is NOT my list of favorite markers. I HATE Tippmanns....and an Ion owner is one half step higher than a Cocker owner in arrogance and idiocy.

BUT....those markers changed the game like nothing ever has. The flood of participation in the 90s and early 2000s was almost entirely due to the popularity of the 98C and Ion.

I added the A5 because that marker "may" have saved paintball by expanding the mil sim market. Speedball is dieting. It's too expensive, a bad spectator sport, ramped with cheating, and the developmental leagues are chaotic. Rec players that want more are starting to actually "play war" again...and as the Afghan and Iraqi soldiers return....that's only going to increase in popularity. More magazines and vendors are focusing on mil-sim....and the A5 started that where the 98C left off. The speed, the cyclone feed, the cosmetic upgrades...that marker became a standard that other markers that followed would be compared to.

As for my "favorite" markers...I LOVE MAGS!! I don't think there is a better made marker on the planet. The technology and amazing performance...all packed into that valve...it's just a work of art. Cockers aren't just ugly....they are 200 moving parts...one away from breaking down. The mag can be thrown out of a tree and still have above average performance. I wish the Tac One would have made the Mag more of a player in the mil sim market...but it just couldn't compete with Tippmann's cost ratio.

[Aslan]

yup

To add to that it also killed the value of every other gun on the market and changed how the entire financial landscape of paintball worked.

I actually LOVE this because I could have never afforded a Mag, or Matrix, or Minion if it wasn't for this. I'd still be shooting a Spyder.

[Ando]

Tippmann 68 Special

Spyder/Autococker/Automag (good old days)

Angel/Shocker

Tippmann 98

ION

Nothing revolutionary has come out since I would say but higher BPS and shooting modes.

[Frizzle Fry]

Nothing revolutionary has come out since I would say but higher BPS and shooting modes.

Agreed.

The extra stuff on my list was added for factors like being most widely available (Catalogs and Big-Box stores all stock Spyder, then Tippmann), having an enormous following with allegiance and owners pride battles (Angel vs Shocker, Timmy vs Angel, DM vs Ego, etc), inspiring widespread design changes and trends (NXT/SFT die, LUXE shows up now there are tons of high-end low-profile BOB'ed spoolies), and inspiring clones and imitations (F1 clones, VM clones, etc), and being the first mass marketed paintball-as-sport markers (PGP and Splatty). Also, Phantoms for being one of the first factory customizable mass market Nelson clones and the only Nelson clone to truly survive from the good old days. And Inverts for providing an all-metal low-end electro that isn't a sear tripper and features "high-end" features like macroless design, BOB, and industry standard threading and soft parts all around.

[fierymartel]

2) Angel: I don't remember the exact year the angel was intro'd, but I know they were really making the rounds at around this time. To a new player like myself with a spyder compact 2000, an Angel was the last gun you wanted to see on the field. I know other electros came out before the Angel, but the only one I heard people talking about was the Angel. The Angel really set the bar for what was expected for the high end $1000+ market, and in the long run, created the competitive conditions for the much cheaper electros we have today

My first marker was an automag. Man that was really something over the 68 specials and stingrays. This was back in 1994your and I get remember advertisements for an angel back then. I thought it was sovereign that was making them not sure. Definetly the first electro I remember. I embraced the elect
tos as it seems paint pri.ces dropped as well

[Frizzle Fry]

My first marker was an automag. Man that was really something over the 68 specials and stingrays. This was back in 1994your and I get remember advertisements for an angel back then. I thought it was sovereign that was making them not sure. Definetly the first electro I remember. I embraced the elect
tos as it seems paint pri.ces dropped as well

The V6 was shooting while the C9000 was still on paper at PneuVentures. The Shocker beat the Angel to the US market and consumers. The production Angel with the LED board was introduced to the US using BE as a distributor and being sold as the 1455 Angel Semi-Auto. There were quite a few full color ads with real high quality photographs in mags and pro shops in late '96, early '97. I'd say it was the only ad I DIDN'T see in grainy black and white, ever, unless it was a small retailer ad in the back pages. WDP took over US distribution quickly and changed the model over a few years to include a less finicky regulator, and eventually a crackpipe with traditional threading as well as a few other functional upgrades.

I owned the original, but sadly I modified the crap out of it in my garage and then sold it. I now only have a late '97 model that I picked up second hand. I will never forget the day I showed up at the field with the BE-distributed marker... Some guy had been making the rounds with a potentially home-brew semi-electronic autococker "thing" and the Angel was so much more clean and perfect.

[cougar20th]

To add to that it also killed the value of every other gun on the market and changed how the entire financial landscape of paintball worked.

I loved that part. Alteast the first half. Cant believe I forgot about that. I went on a very serious & expensive buying spree when the prices tanked thank to the Ion. Loved watching prices get cut in half or more on guns I wanted.