Link: http://www.bullrun.com/

Okay, so I admit I watch reality TV shows. Big deal. However it seems like lately the reality TV show is needing to make up on it's paintball quota.

Last week it was Bull Run. If you haven't seen this show here is the rundown. 12 teams of 2 participate in a 4,000 mile rally with their cars. The cars, naturally, are not your normal, everyday vehicles and neither are the teams your normal, everyday people. This season, there is a Ferrari 430 Spider, a 2008(?) Shelby Mustang, a Lexus is250, a Mitsubishi Evo, a 1971 Panterra, a 1970 Dodge Dart, a 2002 Porsche 911 C4S, a 2001 Corvette (with a very Strange but very cool team headed by a guy named Elvis), a 2007 Avalanche, a Pontiac Solstice (my choice as I own a Pontiac and use to have a Kappa platform Sky), a 1967 VW Bus, and a sweet looking 1969 Camaro. The teams have to go from point A to point B and usually have to hit a checkpoint or two along the way to make things interesting. First team there wins...

...but there's a catch. The last two teams to make it to the end of the leg get thrown into an elemination challenge. After all, what's a reality show without an elimination challenge. Also, the first place team then gets to pick a third team from the remaining teams to also be in the elimination challenge. Well, last week in episode one of the new season, the challenge was called Bus Takedown. Team Porsche and Team Shelby were the last two to the finish and Team Solstice who finished first decided to throw Team Ferrari into the mix.

Well here is how the challenge went down. The event took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Bus would pass a certain point and that was the cue for the driver to take off in persuit. The driver first had to pull up on the left side of the bus and the navigator, equipped with a Tippman 98 it looked like, had to shoot a target on that side of the bus. Then the driver had to break, move around behind the bus, and then run up and hit a tube of glass that was dangling from the right side of the bus. Once hit, the team had to repeat these feats two more times at which point the clock would stop. The team who completed it in the fastest time won.

Now I don't know if the bus shot back or the people in the cars just never had held a gun, paintball or otherwise, before because each team came back to the pits with the passenger's side windshield splattered with orange paint hits.

The second Paintball reference was on Sober House. I'm not going to get into it too much but imagine a bunch of celebrity recovering addicts and you get the idea. Well, they went to play paintball in the last episode at Paintball USA which, I believe, is up by Magic Mountain here in Los Angeles. Well, at one point one of the Celebrities, Amber Smith a former model, gets hit in the neck and one too many times. She responds by throwing off her mask in the middle of play. Well, the refs were on it and in the background heard clear as day even over the player's yelling, you could hear the ref "GET THOSE GOGGLES BACK ON!!!" Good job ref!!! It was an interesting episode and showed what rec paintball is about but the attitude of some of the people playing it from the show was attrocious. Hope they see how rediculous they look on the show behaving like that.

I don't have a real links page on this site just...well...because I don't feel like having one. So I figured that since I have a blog now why not put down a few links here so that if someone had an overwhelming desire to figure out some sites I think are important they can. Why someone would ever need to do that I have no idea but what the heck, I need to put something up here now and again, right?

A5 Owners Group - Great site for those of you with a Tippmann A5. Even if you don't own one this is a great resource for Woodsball players and scenario people as that is the principle focus of the forum.

MilSim Empire - If you are into MilSim style play this is THE place for you. Tanks, LAWs, SAWs, and just about anything else you can think of can be found here. Want to see some INCREADIBLE modifications? Check out the Marker of the Month!

Tippmann - Great forum and what can you say...everyone has owned a Tippmann at one point in time or another.

Paintball Nation - The Nation. If it is happening in paintball they are talking about it on the Nation. Mainly speedball oriented and the crowd is a bit young but the information that can be found over there is just second to none. Just be forwarned that the forum they have runs on Drama 2.0.

Paintball Photography - Gary Baum has had his work featured on every major paintball magazine in the country. He covers events all over the world but, lucky me, he is based in Southern California and is always on hand for the local events. Planning on attending a paintball event and would love to have an awsome shot of you playing taken by Gary? Well, just sign up on his forum and put in a request. You may be on the next cover of your favorite paintball mag!

PBLive! - Oh, if you haven't sat in on a live broadcast with Ryan "the Mighty" then you don't know what you're missing. Top scenario producers, manufacturers, and anyone who is anyone in the paintball community have been featured and interviewed on Ryan's show. The "live" show is on Wednesday nights at 7 pm PST (that's West Coast time, fyi...) and podcasts of past shows are available as well.

SoCal Ghosts - Hey, what's the use of having your own website and blog if you can't pimp your hommies? SoCal Ghosts are a Southern California (shocker, I know...) Scenario paintball team that yours truely has had the pleasure of joining recently. If you are the type that plays with honor, is all about having fun no matter how absured it may be, and are into helping your local community then the Ghosts are your kind of paintball players.

Ariakon - Ariakon seems to be DOA as of late but this is the forum where this site and these guides got their start so I have to say something about them. A milsim company that manufactures M4, MP5 and pistol style paintball markers Ariakon use to be a fairly major player in the MilSim business.

Warsensor - This forum is even more dead than the Ariakon forums but they still produce a good product. I have two markers from them (the WS-66 and then when the name changed, the MilTec MT-66) and can't say enough about their quality. Now they focus more on MilSim/Scenario supplies such as tactical vests and equipment bags but their products are still top notch and worth checking out if your in the market for new tactical gear.

Well, these are just a few for now and they are in no particular order. I may add to this...or I may just leave you to your own devices because if you can't find a reference to it from one of these sites it may not exist.

Told you not to get use to the everyday postings...but at least now I have some real "various nonsense" as promised.

I wish I had a link to this but did anyone else catch the McDonald's add during the pre-race show for the Daytona 500? Yea, I'm a NASCAR fan...so shoot me. What can I say I like fast cars...

But that's not what gets this entry on the Blog. This commercial gets a mention here because it is paintball related...barely. So the commercial starts out with a young couple sitting across from each other. The viewer is entering the scene with some kind of conversation already in progress.

"See, what you don't understand about Paintball is..." the man says as the camera pans to the woman who then proceeds to ignore the man and focus on another man across the room who's eating a Quarter Pounder or something. The guy says something else about paintball before his dialog is faded out but I couldn't catch it.

Nothing major, I know, but I thought it was funny and obviously it's paintball related. That and is reminded me about the conversations I've had with my girlfriend about paintball...though she wouldn't be distracted by a hamburger...

I've been trying to find a clip of it but without much luck so far. If anyone happens to stumble across it please feel free to post it with a comment.

Link: http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=2996652

Seriously...do not get use to this every day stuff. It's just a fluke that I happen to have found something to gab about three days straight...no really!

Anyway, just the other day Sean from Smart Parts posted this over on PBNation regarding their new marker...well technically just a new firing mode...targeted towards the rental market:

Smart Parts announces Billy-Ball for the Rental Vibe

Smart Parts introduces a new firing mode for the rental version of the Vibe electropneumatic paintball marker aimed at reducing rate of fire.

Loyalhanna, PA – February 8, 2009 – The new Billy-Ball firing mode available in Vibe rental markers from Smart Parts, Inc., restricts a players' rate of fire, opening up more opportunities for paintball field operators.

“It's pretty ironic,” says Smart Parts President Bill Gardner Jr., for whom the mode is named, “we've pushed the limits of marker rate of fire to meet player demand, but at the beginning levels of the sport that's scaring off newer players.”

Gardner's own sons were anxious about jumping in to walk-on games at Smart Parts' home field, the All-American Paintball Park in Greensburg, PA.

“Most of us around the factory started out in the days of pump paintball, so we never faced that kind of intimidation, it was a different game with those lower rates of fire. We've had a lot of field owners tell us they needed a way to address it, and they couldn't afford to keep a second set of pump markers on hand, while their more experienced customers want higher performance. The solution was easy, and it all boiled down to software.”

The microprocessor “brain” of the Vibe can be configured with custom firing modes tailored to a particular paintball field's needs. The Billy-Ball firing mode allows the Vibe to fire at a rate of 0.5 bps, or one ball every two seconds, simulating the rate of fire typical in pump-action paintball games. The new mode was first tested at the All-American Paintball Park and met with an immediately positive response from the Smart Parts staff members playing, as well as visiting field owners who had an opportunity to try it out after technical training classes. More importantly, the mode was quickly embraced by groups playing paintball for the first time.

In its first month of use, Billy-Ball's advantages in a rental marker became quickly apparent:
- Group sales, especially with younger players, are increasing as less paint in the air means less welts and less intimidation.
- Package pricing for Billy-Ball moves away from being paint-centered, to being facilities and time centered.
- The reduced cost of consumables allows for higher per-group profits.
- Increased rate of returning, occasional play customers.
- Fewer referees are needed to monitor a game with less firepower.
- Cleanup – especially for indoor fields - is easier with less paint on the field.

“Because of the lower paint consumption, we're able to put together birthday party package prices that are more affordable,” says All-American Field Manager Tim Montressor. “When paint was a variable, parents were concerned about going over budget before the day is out. Billy-Ball has taken care of that sales obstacle. We can offer a per-child price for their party that is all-inclusive – it's already making a difference in sales.”

Surprisingly, some of the more experienced regular walk-on customers have been spending time playing Billy-Ball games as well, using it as a tool to improve their communication, movement and snap-shooting skills without relying on high rates of fire to hold their game together. Even though they are renting a marker, these players are still saving money on a day's play because Billy-Ball requires so much less paint. Not only does the customer save money, but the income the field generates is a return on its investment in rental markers, instead of money it must spend on buying more paint.

SP-1 markers purchased in field-rental quantities are also available with similar features and Billy-Ball programming. Smart Parts plans to make Billy-Ball available in future updates to most of its product line.

So. .5 balls per second. I can almost fire a blow gun that fast if I really had to. Why bother?

I'll tell you why...this sport, if it is going to survive this apocalyptic economic disaster, needs to bring in new players and find new ways to enjoy the sport while at the same time cutting back on the cost.

You see, I cut my paintball shell on playing stock class pump at a little place called Sat Cong Village (now known just as SC Village) when you could rent a PGP pistol and have a rental walk on game of 40 on 40 using fields that today could house 5 or 6 speedball fields and still have room for spectators. Movement was the name of the game, not ROF. You could have three guys play all day on a case of paint and have a lot of paint left over by the end of the day. You learned to shoot, flank, and be aggressive very quickly because otherwise you got board fast. We saw some of the first semi-auto markers in the sport and watched their games a bit hesitantly when we saw guys walking off the field with six, seven, or more bright hits on them.

With the slow ROF stock class provided, we got to learn other aspects of the sport outside how fast we could pull a trigger. We didn't spend a ton of money. Yet, we still had a blast and all of us still play to this day.

If you read the posts on that board you see a lot of guys there dismissing this innovation as being useless. Well, this innovation isn't meant for them directly and I think that's the point they are missing. I mentioned on one of the threads that you don't learn to swim by jumping in the deep end of the pool...you do it in the shallow end where you can get accustomed to being in the water and learning in an environment that isn't intimidating.

The Billy-Ball game is our sport's "shallow end". It's there to bring in new players. It is there to give fields a budget controllable package to market to private parties and birthday events. I think it's a great idea that you can have a group of people get together with guns in Billy-ball mode who can play not having to worry about getting overshot or lit up by someone with a high ROF marker.

Case in point. A few months ago my team, the SoCal Ghosts (shameless plug...) put on a Big Game. Unfortunately for us the field we put it on at didn't get the memo or help promote the game so turnout was really low. There were a couple private party groups that were scheduled to be there that day and we asked if they wanted to try our big game format. They all had rental markers and went onto the field with hoppers only...no pods. Well, at first things went okay until the first "regular" player started firing at tournament level rates of fire and carrying a bunch of pods of paint onto the field. The private party players started feeling uncomfortable because they felt "outgunned" (and in a way they were) until finally they said they were done and were just going to go out on their own.

Even then some of that group struggled with trigger control and there were kids sitting out games for fear of running out of paint. Even among themselves they were concerned that if they moved they were going to get lit up by their friends firing at rates well over .5 bps. For a group like this...and mind you this was a pee wee football team with their coaches...the Billy-Ball mode would be perfect.

Even seasoned players who are trying it are loving the change of pace. They say the way you play is very different from what they've been use to and that it is so much fun to change it up by playing Billy-Ball.

Of course some have said that if you want to play like a pump why not just use a pump? Well, fields normally don't want to buy a bunch of pump markers because they don't rent them out that often (if at all) and that would make them too costly to have on hand. By being able to change modes, the SP Billy-Ball mode equipped guns can be used just like any other rental marker then put into Billy-Ball mode for those Billy-Ball games. One marker with multiple uses means fields can have a large number of markers on hand, reduce maintenance costs by only stocking repair parts for one make of marker, and can be flexible to accommodating both types of groups without having to turn anyone away from either group for lack of having the right rental marker.

The beauty of this idea is that fields won't have to sacrifice accommodating any of the games or players they have at their fields now while still being able to expand their marketability to those folks and groups who want to come out and enjoy a recreational day of paintball while staying within a fixed budget.

And in this day of economic woe that last part is HUGE. Think about this for a second...what is the number one reason your friends who have never played paintball have given you for not trying the sport? I bet the top two answers will be pain and cost. This address both issues (can't really overshoot much at .5 bps) but the cost factor is a huge deal. Right now, you can't tell your friend exactly how much he/she will spend when they play. Sure the field fee, rental fee, and air fees are all fixed but the big one, paint, is always "up to them depending on how much they'll shoot". Then they ask what to expect and I bet most of you answer "Well, about a case per day or so." and then when you tell them a case is $40-$50 they start to balk at the idea. But if you could tell them a fixed and reasonable price for paint now because they are going to be playing Billy-Ball and won't shoot as much paint now they are not going to be so hesitant.

Not only that, but it will keep them coming back more often. If you have $90 to spend on recreation a month and you can either play paintball once or play it three times for the same price which would you rather do? Maybe you won’t play paintball at all because you can think of a lot of other things you’d like to do that will make your money go further but now if you can play paintball for $30 maybe you’ll try it because when all is said and done you still have $60 to go out and do other things. This is how you’ll get more people to play the sport and stay with the sport. Eventually they may even move up to the faster forms of paintball because they find they love it so much but had it not been for that cheap introductory experience they may have never tried it.

So yes, I think this sport DOES need a marker that shoots .5 bps. I think it is a good thing for the sport and is coming at a time when the sport needs it the most.

Now don't go thinking I'm going to start writing every day. Good lord I do have a life...I think...yea...I checked...Judges say it qualifies but only just barely.

So last night Spiro from Black Cat Paintball revealed his new game format, Scavenger Paintball. I had been working on the site for the project all week so I THOUGHT I had a pretty good handle on it. While I understood how the game was to be played I wasn't quite sure on how the players would react to it.

Well, react they did and in a very positive manner. The audience that was participating in the discussion seemed to grasp the idea pretty well and were very excited about this new form of paintball. The more I listened to Spiro, the more I found myself getting amped up about it too. Looks like we'll have to wait until late spring though before a game comes out this way and even then it will be a 6 hour trip to Pheonix. I'm sure the temps shouldn't be much higher than 110 by then so it will still be fairly cool...for Pheonix.

Even so, Spiro did mention that there may be an event coming to Cali shortly after the AZ game so maybe that one will be a little closer to home. If history has taught me anything about these games though it will probably be held in the northern part of the state...which, ironically, is further than driving half-way across another state for the Pheonix game...go figure.

Lots of questions were posted last night and the big one seemed to be team size. Listeners were curious as to whether they could still keep their traditional scenario teams in tact. The answer is yes so long as the team size is the same or smaller as what Spiro sets each Scavenger Team size to. So if you got 14 players on your team and Spiro says the team sizes for the event will be limited to 10 then you get to play with MOST of your team, but not all. I don't know how this will be recieved by some of the larger teams but I think most of the time teams will not get too seperated.

Also noted on the show was the new "Fisrt Strike" Round from Tiberius Arms. This new type of paintball has a finned skirt on it that improves aerodynamics and results in better range and more accuracy...or so Tiberius Arms claims. (Pictures of the new round can be seen here.)

The idea is not exactly new. The FN303 Less Lethal round is almost identical in design and I wouldn't call it a stretch to say the two probably are related.

So will this work? I don't see why not. It has been used in less lethal systems that have proven to be accurate. Range should be greater because of the added aerodynamic benefits. (I could go into this but the last time I did it turned into a three part series on paintball accuracy...)

All this comes with a price however...litterally. At a rumored $.75 per round the new paint isn't cheap. Because it is marketed to the Tiberius crowd who is already used to having only eight rounds in a magazine while the rest of us run around with 200 paintballs in a big plastic bin the extra range and accuracy would be welcomed benefits that would definately offset the cost. Also, as was the case with paintballs back in the late 80s where a horribly made, oil-filled paintball would cost $.50 per round ($.90 per round in 2007 dollars) the more people started playing the more paintballs companies could sell thus they could produce them in greater bulk and prices dropped as production costs dropped. So too could it be with these new rounds. If more players start using them and they become cheaper to produce the price per round will drop and it will be more cost effective to have markers that have higher capacities fire these rounds.

Time will tell whether or not the Tiberius round will be a success or just another paintball flop. The idea is sound and the theory is good but it will be up to the paintball public as to whether or not this technology, and the limitations it currently has, will be embraced or not.

Link: http://www.scavengerpaintball.net/

As anyone who has come to this paintball guide knows, I am an avid scenario player. My markers are definately milsim in nature and my play style is probably best described as oldschool woodsball.

Last week, I got the opportunity to talk for a long time with Spiro from Black Cat Paintball. For those unfamiliar with the name, Black Cat has been one of the top scenario game producers in the country for at least the last five years. He has put on some games and the most unique venues that I have ever had the opportunity to play. The two that come to mind for me were both up at Fort Ord in Northern California.

The first one, hosted back in December of 2004, was the "Night of the Catman" game. The "field" (and I use the term loosely) this game was played on was an abandoned section of on-base housing. If you ever dreamed of running around your neighborhood with 600 of your closest friends playing paintball and shooting up everything this was the event for you.

While the props at this game were lacking due to TSA deciding to confiscate them (as well as the event being plauged by a number of other near-disasterous issues that Spiro handled to the best of his ability) this game stood out for more than just the increadible playing field. Spiro, throughout the game, brought in folks to play "roles". These people were not normal players and not affiliated with either team. They acted out parts that helped move the story line and made the players really have to think. These role playing characters really added to the story.

In addition, Spiro threw in a couple of other monkey wrenches into the game. For instance, "computer hacker" players from the bad guys team hacked into the good guys bank accounts and transfered all their money into locked offshore accounts preventing the good guys from being able to "buy" important game materials like gas for their tanks or rockets for their LAWs. These kinds of "out of the box" players really made the game much more than just a "big" game with missions.

Now the second game up north with Black Cat was held about a year later but in a section of abandoned two story barraks buildings. This was also a very cool venue to play at (though I still liked the houses better because it was a larger field) but something was missing from this game. While Spiro still had his cast of characters, gone was that "out of the box" thinking that had been so important at the first game.

This is not a critique on Spiro...not in the least. The simple fact of the matter is that players, if they are going to pay full price for a scenario game or go through the hassle of traveling to far away fields, want to shoot a lot of people. To me, these quirks to the game are what make scenario different from everything else and this focus on firepower seems to be killing that part of scenario paintball. Producers aren't doing anything to try and keep that part of the sport alive...or at least not enough to keep it from limping along on life support.

Until now. Tonight Spiro is going to be on www.pblive.tv to promote a new type of paintball game that he believes will revitalize the sport. A product called Scenario Paintball combines the fast pace of speedball, the mission oriented aspects of scenario, the large field and small forces feeling of oldschool woodsball, and the capture the flag strategy of most big game formats into one type of game.

In a nutshell, Scavenger Paintball is designed to be played with a large number of players divided into multiple teams with 10-20 players on a team. These teams must then go out and find their first "clue". This clue may be in the form of a puzzle they must solve or a prop they must bring back which will allow them to move on to the next "clue". By the end of the game, and if the teams have figured out their clues properly, they will find a "treasure chest" waiting for them filled with prizes that they get to keep! The pirate in me is all over that. I'm just hoping to need a shovel...but I digress.

The catch is that there are multiple teams often going for the same clue and not every team will have the same "clue path" to the treasure chest. This means sometimes it will be better for a team to avoid a firefight with another team in order to get to their next clue.

If a player is shot out there is no medic but instant resurections are a part of the game so it is no more than a short walk before the player can return to the action. Also, because of the small size of the teams, each player can make a difference and players hopefully should be less likely to remain seperated from their team after reinserting.

Spiro has also mentioned that there will be a number of common flag stations on the field. At the top of every hour a ref will count which team is in control of the most flag stations and award them a point for "field control". With two field control points a team my "spend" them to bypass one of their clues and jump ahead in the game.

So, will this new form of paintball revive some of those old aspects of the game? I think it has the potential to. I think that the format sounds fun, intreguing, and different. Seems to be something for everybody...well except me with my LAW as tanks and LAWs are not part of the game...but other than that this is something right up my ally. It definately will require more thought than it takes to pull a trigger and people use to just running around ignoring missions and props will definately be at a bit of a disadvantage (though still will get their shots in). I think the other interesting aspect of this format is the Kaos factor. Imagine three or four 20-man teams stumbling into the same area at once all on the same quest for that next clue. Every team is effectively outnumbered and the firefight will be intense! I just want to see that the first time it happens.

So I'll be tuning in tonight to catch Spiro on Ryan's show and see what else he has to say about this new idea of his. I love my scenario paintball...but something like this may just wind up being the next evolution of that sport. I just have to find a way to get them to let me blow stuff up with the LAW.

The first event will take place at Spiro's Professor Lumpy's Paintball Accadamy. Information on the game and game rules are available at the scavenger paintball website, http://www.scavengerpaintball.net.

Seriously...I'm not even sure why I'm doing this. Every now and then I feel like spouting off things regarding the sport of paintball that don't fall into any kind of "guide". What's a web nerd to do...BLOG IT of course!

So figure on seeing more of this in the near future. I wouldn't expect too much depth to all this but who knows what may turn up. A schedule? Come on now...let's not get crazy.