The FormatsHere in Malaysia, the main format for tournament Paintball is the 5-man format. The
National Paintball League (NPL) &
Malaysian Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) adopts these format in their league. The NPL feeder series (Pahang Open, Mayor's Cup, etc) are also based on the 5-man format and tournaments such as the Werdna Hol Cup & Junior Sports Carnival (JSC) adopts the 3-man format. There are also numerous lesser known tournament out there but mainly there are in these formats. Last year, the NPL introduced the 7-man NPL Super7 tournament and it was a roaring success. Perhaps we'll see it again this year.
The Game
Players getting ready to start the gameIn any format, each team starts at the starting gate with the barrel of their markers touching the gate. After a 10-sec countdown the Ultimate Referee will signal the game to begin. A typical 5-man format game duration is about 5-minutes and 3-man is about 3-minutes.
Players starts to shoot as soon as the Ultimate Refs called the Game On!The objective of the game is to capture the enemy flag and hang in back at your starting gate. In order to do so, you have shoot out and eliminate the opponents. Players found with paint marks on their bodies or equipments will be regarded as 'dead' and will be called out by the referees.
The NPL game rules can be
downloaded here.Why do people play tournament Paintball?Some things you just can't get during normal weekends in the field. People play tournament paintball for several reasons:
1. To be the Champion
2. To win lots of money
3. To earn respect from fellow paintballers.
Other reasons I can think of, it's always a carnival/party atmosphere at the tournament! You get to meet the other 40+ teams, you may get interviwed by TV, Papers & Magazines, you might meet VIPs, artistes & celebrities and it's like going to a huge gathering of paintball families.
Getting Started - Your EquipmentsSay you got a regular friends who play paintball in the weekends and now decided to play tournament paintball. And you wonder what sort of equipments do paintballers have and needed. Things that you don't know what to call, but you see it everytime. Let's take a look at my gear bag for this instance. I'm a Division 1 player, so my gears might be different from those who are in Div 2 or Div 3. Sooner or later, your gears could get to something like mine or even more.
Okay, I've labeled all the items and lets get into details.
1. GoggleOr face mask some of you calls it. This is a MUST in paintball. You have to protect your eyes. Safety is crucial in this sport in order to enjoy it. Never ever take off your goggles in the field, until it is deemed safe by the officials. Also, you might cause your team to automatically lose if this happened. SO be careful.
2. Sandana/Bandana/HeadgearMost of the reasons new players wear this is because they looked cool and its paintball fashion. But the truth is, it help to protect the back of you neck to a certain extend and also keeps the forehead dry of sweat, so that your goggles won't slip off easily.
3. JerseysTournament paintball nowdays encourages players & teams to wear bright, colourful jerseys instead of military like outfits with camouflages. NPL has banned those with military type outifts in order to make Paintball a legitimate sport - not wargame. There are colours that could not be used in a jersey such as Pink, Orange & Yellow, cause most paint fills are of these colours.
4. PantsPaintball type pants are the best. They are made to withstand slides and made out of the toughest fabric. Easy to wash, light and they looked cool too!
5. GlovesOptional. Some players like to wear, so that they can grip the marker easily. It helps to lessen the pain when you're hit on the knuckles.
6. Knee/Shin guardsProtects the knee and shins, when you do knee slides, crawling or whatever.
7. Harness/PackThis holds your ammo or pellets in pods. The one shown carries up to 7 pods with 140 pellets in each one. You can also get harness of different configuration and sizes to suit your playing style/position.
8. E-Marker/GunElectronic marker are pretty much allowed in all divisions in the NPL. Like the one shown, can shoot up to 20~25bps (balls-per-second). Different league format has different marker settings. Please check rules & regulations. The marker above is shown with a 68cu/4500psi high-pressure tank. It can shoots up to 7 pods in a single fill. You may get more with different marker or if its tuned perfectly.
9. Force feed loaders/hoppersFast markers need to have paint feed into them equally fast. Battery powered loaders/hoppers, can force feed paint up to 25bps! The faster you can feed, the more you can shoot!
10. Elbow pads/guardsHelp to soften the bumps when you're crawling or laying low.
11. Swabs/squeegeesHelps to clean barrels when you paint breaks in your barrel or marker. A quick way to clean the barrel when you in a game.
12. Toolbox/BatteriesTo store all your batteries, screws, spare parts, o-rings, lubes, allen-keys, screw drivers, masking tapes, white-tapes, tissues etc.
There you have it. Everything a paintballer needs in order to get into tournaments. Of course it helps to have everything in twos. Two loaders, two markers, two goggles, etc... you never know when one might broke down and you needed a backup.
Costs?Expensive. To have everything new costs alot. In the region of thousands of ringgit! The ones shown are collected over the years. Some of it are used items. As long as you know what you're buying, and knows how to fix it. But there's good news. Every year it keeps getting cheaper and cheaper! Yeay!
For newbies to start a team, I recommend you guys get the following things first. 1, 3 & 7 first. You need pods for the harness though. Once you started winning tournaments, you may want to decide to go for more challenging tournaments or divisions. Next get a marker, loader & tank. From there on, slowly get other things.
If you guys have any questions or comments, do let us know. If you need some guidance, we would gladly help.
Paintball is a serious sport! Don't let others tells you that its not!
Peace out!
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