you rather play a 24-hour scenario game with a huge new group of best friends (many of them dressed like it’s Halloween) or would you rather run a 26-mile marathon? Either way it’s 110 calories per mile, but one of them is actually fun.
Would you rather scream through a 5-man tournament with cash and prizes at the end or go to the gym and lift dumbbells? Either way, your muscles are going to get a huge workout.
While we’re talking about what makes paintball tick, let’s talk teamwork. There’s Worr Games Executive Director Sonny Lopez (certainly a responsible corporate position) screaming out movements and shooting like a mad dog for the top-ranked pro team Naughty Dogs in Huntington Beach. There go General Blue and his friends Mother and Pac Man leading a team through the woods to attack General Ben Torricelli ’s red team at the International Amateur Open’s 8-hour scenario game .
The Captain, our own William Shatner from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, is a huge paintball promoter.
Sure, paintball is competitive, and it is a whole lot better to observe the Golden Rule and give paint rather than receive it; but within the big world of competing alliances, backstabbing and cutthroat business practices, there is enormous cooperation. You could say that it is the cooperation and the teamwork that makes the competition possible. Otherwise, you’re back in the woods 20 years ago playing the original survival game, alone with something like a Nelspot 007 single-shot marker powered by a 12-gram CO2 cartridge and shooting oil-based paint. After the game, your clothes are going to be such a mess that you may throw them away rather than take them home. Long-time player Steve Davidson has said that in those days some of his clothes were so disgusting that burning them was the only way to safely get rid of them after a game. And who likes that?
You will see all kinds of gear and get-ups on a typical paintball field, from ninja to hand-me-downs. What every player has in common are goggles, markers, balls, barrel plugs and a smile that says, “Game on!”
It is because they work together to accomplish a goal in a super-competitive environment that Team Dynasty is a winner and puts $20,000 in their pockets after winning an NPPL Tournament. If everyone went off on their own, they would be quickly eliminated by the other team, which has discussed and agreed on assignments to cover the field with fire and to keep paint rifling through approach lanes while their smallest, quickest member dashes for the flag.
Teamwork and competition. You’re going to learn a lot about them in paintball because the more you dig it, the more fun you are going to have and the more successful you and your buddies will be. It’s really a better gig than listening to your dad talk about how it was when he was a kid and had to walk to school.
And what about that other word, sportsmanship? What’s that got to do with anything, much less paintball? Well … everything. There are rules in paintball just like in an English classroom or sitting in a jury box. There were rules in cave man society. There are rules everywhere human beings live, work or play, because believe it or not, it’s the rules that we all observe that make our games possible.
The first rule of sportsmanship is Play Safe. If you don’t play safely, someone is going to get hurt, the game is going to stop, the refs are going to get angry and nobody is going to have a good time. So, never take your goggles off during a game or while you are on a playing field. Duh, dumb and dangerous. A paintball may not seem like much. It’s light and squishy. But a hit in the eye can cause retinal detachment, which means you will have pain (a lot) and, at least in one eye, it will seem like you are dizzy and the world is dark and fuzzy for a very long time. You won’t like that. And, of course, if you get hurt because you have ignored this primary rule, everyone else suffers, too. People yell at you. Your mother panics. The ride in the ambulance may be interesting, but you will be in too much pain to enjoy it. The field owner’s insurance goes up. Bottom line: wear your mask.
The second rule of good sportsmanship is to Use Your Barrel Plug or Barrel Cover absolutely every moment you are not on the field playing. An accidental shot could blind someone and get you thrown off a playing field or a team … forever. Who needs that? And by the way, it’s okay to remind someone that their barrel cover is not in place. If they don’t like it, too bad. Here is a situation where everyone must do the right thing.
The player’s party following the DraXxus International Amateur Open featured a boxed dinner, individual and team awards and dozens of free “door prizes” donated by paintball manufacturers. Debra Dion Krischke , who has been in the paintball business since the game’s founders recruited her in the early ‘80s, promotes this popular annual and international event in Pennsylvania.
Another reason we like paintball.
The third rule of sportsmanship is Honesty. Get hit? Get out. The paint didn’t bust? Well, ask the ref for a paint check or just sit out for a while. In a big game, you’ll be back on the field in a little while so use the time to rest, grab some water, squeegee your marker, load up with paint, check your air or eat a sandwich. In a tournament, you are going to see this rule bent to the breaking point (some people would say way beyond it) because money and pride and some pretty inflated egos are on the line. Tournament play is very fast, and even with trained referees right on the spot, it is sometimes hard to decide who was hit first. In recreational play and scenario games, it’s pretty rare to see anyone lose their mind. In tournament play, it happens all the time. You will hear a lot of talk about cheating in tournament competition. Don’t be a cheater and don’t accuse anyone else of cheating. Don’t start shouting, “You’re out! I hit you! You’re out!” Get over yourself.
A homemade, air-powered bazooka is a formidable weapon indeed!
The fourth rule of sportsmanship is to Put Yourself in The Other Player’s Position. This particularly applies to close shooting. The kid shot multiple times in the face at very close range at the 2003 International Amateur Open took one of the balls between his face and the edge of his mask with the ball traveling forward toward his eyes at a couple hundred feet per second (fps) or so. Very painful. It was most probably accidental because it happened very fast and with adrenaline levels very high. You don’t want to get hit at ultra-close range; it’s quite painful, it’s not macho and it will leave a nasty little bruise. Give your opponent a chance to surrender before you stick the muzzle of your marker in their back and pull the trigger. Point and shout first, “You’re out!” Give the person a chance to surrender and raise their marker over their head. If they turn and act like they would prefer to shoot it out with you at 10 feet when you’ve got the drop on them, well, what are you going to do? Let ‘em have it!
CHAPTER 2
IN THE BEGINNING
Unlike horseback riding or archery or darts, we know precisely when paintball was invented. We know who did it, too, and even why. Or do we? Well-known attorneys who act in the public’s interest, such as Mary O’Rourke of Florida, are schooled to understand that the testimony of
