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Tank Rules

 

Over the years several people have asked me what the rules are for tanks of which I was recently reminded of.  The problem with this is that there are no National set of rules that apply to paintball vehicles.  If you want to know what rules you have to follow, you have to check with the field or event you're planning on operating from.  Generally speaking you should use a lot of common sense with you vehicle but then if you had a lot of common sense you probably would be doing something more sensible with your money than building a paintball vehicle that if you're lucky you'll get to use more than twice a year.  If you've ever ref'd you would also know that as far as the players go (especially the new ones) common sense is often very short on a paintball field.  The new addition courtesy of Bill Tison is the most comprehensive take on tank rules I've ever read.  Anyone thinking of building a tank should go over these.  Bill is one of the most outspoken promoters of paintball tanks and is about to expand his paintball tank fame from the paintball world to the world at large in a few short months. (insider secret, all will be revealed soon)

Bill Tison's rules compilation

 

Larry Cossio posted these rules on March 23, 2001 (I believe on the WARPIG forum)

Ok, 2001 NPA insurance rules for tanks first
1. tanks must be accompanied by ref.
2. ref must have remote ignition cutoff switch in case of emergency (ie: rc remote control)
3. ref must have walkie talkie communication at least with tank
4. tanks can shoot guns in semi auto mode only with one shot per trigger pull
5. tanks may travel no faster than walking speed
6. tank owner and operator must have liability insurance of at least $300,000 and name the field owner and promoter as additional insured one week prior to event. ( can be purchased from insurance agent for off road use only)

no mortars shot out of tank
1. mortars are not allowed on NPA insured fields as the danger of knocking off a mask is too high and the price of an eye is too high.

Laws rockets or similar toys
1. rockets or similar toys may be used against buildings or tanks only to eliminate only if no human beings are around. Can be shot at the building to destroy but not thru windows to eliminate players. At no time may one of these be pointed and fired towards players. Ref control is mandatory over players with these items.
Any Questions?
Larry Cossio
National Paintball Association
larry@cossioenterprises.com
619-472-2242

Now these rules apply to all the NPA fields.  I'm pretty sure that Larry can also be reached at the NPA at 864-297-9727.  Now before you panic over that $300,000 figure and if you're feeling down because every insurance agent in town is laughing at you (that happened to us) read on.  The way it works is you contact Larry at least a week ahead of time and give him the details of the field and event and he will arrange to have your tank insured.  Your tank will have it's own $300,000 policy and the field owner will be named on the policy and an additional insured.  This will cover your tank for that particular event only.  The tank owners have to bear the cost of this.  Last time I checked there is no smaller class of tanks, it's $100 for all tanks no matter what the size or weight.  As for the ignition cutoff, a cheap over the counter car alarm system can be used.  The nice thing about that kind of setup is the alarm kit usually comes with two remote switches.  It's just a matter of hooking it up to your tanks ignition system.  Although I don't know how that would work on some of the smaller tanks

Now below are some links that go to some tank rules posted on the internet

 

http://www.mxsportz.com/gamerules2.html

This one is to all of the MXS rules but near the bottom is a section the pertains to paintball vehicles.

http://www.waynes-world.com/tank.htm

This is another good example of tank rules, although we violate their limit on gunners

http://www.waynes-world.com/NewRules.html

This is basically another copy of Larry's post with the reaction of Wayne's World

http://www.bunkerextreme.org/DDay2002.html

Bunker Extreme's tank rules are listed near the bottom of this page.

 

And finally after all of that my own take on all this, make sure that;

1.  Don't Hurt anyone

2.  Check with the field or event coordinator

3.  Use your common sense, if you are short on this get someone on your tank crew who has a lot of common sense, they usually make good drivers ;)

4.  Don't Hurt anyone