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.