Start a Paintball server in Minecraft

Paintball is a team shooter where players fire snowballs at each other and the team with the most kills wins. ArenaPaintball is a free plugin that adds it to a Paper server. It is a game mode for the BattleArena plugin, so you install both, and the store can add BattleArena for you.

Checked against ArenaPaintball 2.0.0 and BattleArena 4.0.4 on Paper 26.1.2, October 2026. The newest ArenaPaintball build is a beta that also lists 26.2, and the store prefers the newest release build, which is 2.0.0.

What you need

• A Paper server on 1.19.4 or newer. The Minecraft versions listed for ArenaPaintball 2.0.0 end at 26.1.2, which is the version this guide was checked on. ArenaPaintball lists Paper as its only loader, but a Purpur server also searches Paper plugins. Switch software in JAR Manager if the server is on Vanilla (see Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).
• BattleArena. ArenaPaintball will not run without it.
• Optional: WorldEdit. BattleArena needs it for dynamic maps, which are copied into a new world for each game (see Set up WorldEdit).
• Permission to run the /paintball setup commands for whoever builds the map. Operator status, set from the Players tab with Make operator, is enough, because BattleArena lets an operator run any of its commands.

Install the plugins

1. Open the Plugins tab and stay on the Store view. Choose the Modrinth button.
2. Search for ArenaPaintball and press Install.
3. A window titled "Needs 1 more add-on" lists BattleArena. Press Install all (2).
4. Restart from the Console tab, then type plugins to check both loaded. The files are in plugins/ArenaPaintball and plugins/BattleArena.

Create a map

Build a paintball arena first. The map is created by a wizard that reads what you type in chat, so do this in game.

1. Run /paintball create.
2. Type a name for the map in chat.
3. Choose the map type. A static map stays where it is, and only one game can use it at a time. A dynamic map is copied into a new world for each game and needs WorldEdit.
4. Click the blocks that mark the minimum and maximum corners of the map.
5. Type waitroom where players should wait. This step is required even if the mode has no waiting room.
6. Type spectator where spectators should appear. This is required too.
7. Type spawn, then the team name the spawn belongs to, and repeat for as many spawns as you want. Type done to finish.

Maps are stored in plugins/BattleArena/maps. If you edit one by hand in the File Manager, run /ba reload.

Play and manage games

• /paintball join <map> joins, /paintball leave leaves and /paintball spectate <map> watches.
• /paintball list lists the maps and the games in them.
• /paintball team join <team> picks a team, since the default arena lets players choose.

The default Paintball arena is plugins/ArenaPaintball/arenas/paintball.yml. In the default file in the plugin's GitHub repository (the 2.0.0 jar ships the same values), a team wins at 150 kills or when the 10 minute limit runs out, teams hold 2 to 10 players, and a one minute countdown runs before the game. Custom paintballs, such as triple shot, meteor and grenade, are in plugins/ArenaPaintball/config.yml.

If something does not work

• ArenaPaintball does not load: BattleArena is missing. Install it from the Plugins tab and restart.
• The map wizard asks for a waiting room: type waitroom anyway, since the wizard cannot finish without it.
• A dynamic map is slow to start: each game creates a new world. The BattleArena docs suggest FastAsyncWorldEdit to speed it up.