The United States is where paintball was born. Over the years as the game grew, more and more differences started emerging on how the game was played. East Coast Killas regularly square off against California ‘ballers on the tournament circuit, and the fight for supremacy is never ending.

With the changing economy, the competitive side of paintball is in a downturn, as players, teams and the industry struggle with less money to spend on games and gear. This is a cyclical downturn, and it’s happened in the past. Pump play and “Old School” play are enjoying a resurgence due to the lower costs involved, and the NPPL responded by putting on a pump division during the 2008 season.

Geographically speaking, the different parts of the country play and perceive the game differently from each other. In the scenario world, these differences are more stark. In different places across the country a lot is the same, but the differences are marked and make for a completely different experience playing scenario based on the local attitudes and philosophies of the player base.

The Northeast

Paintball was born in the Northeast, and premier fields like Skirmish and EMR lead the way in defining paintball in the Northeast. While the natural seasons shorten the playing time available to the player base, they are enthusiastic about their interpretation of the game. On the tournament front, the NE Hurricanes are considered top dogs, while on the scenario front Blue’s Crew and Pub Crawling are the most well known teams. Cousin’s Paintball is also a major player in this region.

A lot of emphasis is placed on role playing and storylines. EMR has hosted games for national producers like Wayne Dollack, Viper, and MXS. On the industry side, both EMR and Skirmish are sought after for sponsorship and support by the industry due to their loyal and enthusiastic player base. Websites like McarterBrown.Com are a hotbed for discussion involving play in the NE, as well as the enthusiastic support of pump and stock class play.

The Mid-Atlantic

In this region of the East Coast, Pev’s paintball, a chain of paintball stores run by Mike Peveril, serves as ground zero for most things paintball. Also in this region is Paintball Central, with 5 locations in North and South Carolina. Ground Zero Paintball in Lake View, SC is also a major player in the Mid Atlantic region, serving as a distributor for Planet Eclipse, and home to Eclipse Master Tech Lance Rogers. He and his father Cecil Rogers run all aspects of the field and store.

On the scenario front, Coastal Paintball’s Bambi Bullard is a fixture on the scene, as is Paintball Charleston. MPP Games have run several games out of this field, exposing players to Ben Torrecelli’s mastery of American History and it’s application to the paintball world.

Deep South

The Deep South is has their own breed of tournament players, who take advantage of good weather year-round to hone their skills. Fields like Central Florida Paintball are hubs for tournament play of every level, including pros. Prior to Florida-based PSP and NPPL events, CFP is normally the place where teams of all levels congregate to work out their strategies and plans for those major events. NXL Pro Team Damage calls CFP their home and many tournament players aspire to join their ranks.

The PSP World Cup has been hosted in the Orlando Area for the past few years at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, and the NPPL has hosted events in Tampa, Miami, and Jacksonville.

On the scenario front, there are a lot of choices available. It’s widely acknowledged that Ocala’s Wayne’s World is where the concept of a scenario game was born. Wayne Dollack continues producing games today, and his Grand Finale draws thousands of players every December as a way to close the end of the year out on a high note.

However, there are other contenders in the mix. Southern Tennessee is the home of Bearclaw Paintball, where Bob and Susie Juengel operate one of the prettiest fields in the Deep South. MPP Games calls Bearclaw Home, and the field is regularly transformed into WWII Europe as part of Ben Torrecelli’s historically accurate games.

Newberry, Florida is home to First Strike Paintball, a unique field that has a lively weekend business as well as hosting games by Cecil “Thunder” Brackett, who writes and produces games based on WWII and other conflicts. While the field is relatively small in acreage, it plays like a much larger field. Nearby Old River Paintball is the home field of NOCER Productions, who write richly detailed games. Old River is a challenging field to play, especially in the deep woods portion of the field, which is covered in Palmetttos. Old River boasts 3 castles, which gives game producers a variety of field layouts to use for their games.

Relative newcomer Low Country Paintball gained national attention with the introduction of the “Free Finale”, which boasts free camping, free entry and low priced paint. Smith uses his position as a DraXxus distributor and field operator to leverage low pricing from the manufacturers, and pass the savings on to his customers while maintaining his margins.

The Free Finale is an alternative for those who don’t want to play in the Grand Finale, or can’t or won’t afford the pricing at Wayne’s World. Smith is a consummate showman, creating a fun, non-politically correct atmosphere for teams and players to fight it out on the 63 acre former tree farm. The SPPL hosted two events at LCP in 2008, and Smith and his game writer “Georgia” Joe Hamilton had several large events at Camp Blanding, starting with “The Godfather of Paintball” in December 2007, which was that year’s Finale for LCP.

Texas

It’s often said that Texas is its’ own country, and here it rates its’ own category. Playing in Texas is a unique experience, unlike any other in the US. Scenario producer Kerry “Viper” Rosenberry calls the state home, and produces games all over Texas, at his own field in Mount Pleasant, to fields in Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth.

MXS was based in the Houston/Sugarland area until they went out of business in 2008, with their last event held in Florida at the Camp Blanding MOUT facility.

California

If the Northeast is where paintball was born, then California is where the sport grew up. Major companies like DYE and Bob Long all call California home, and fields like SC Village, Hollywood Sports and Jungle Island all have a commanding presence in the sport and in the minds of players.

Oddly enough, there’s a very small scenario community in California, with the only real team of note to mention is Psycho Clown Posse.

For his first event of the 2009 season, Viper will be coming to Giant Paintball in Alpine, California to produce Road Warriors, Part 1 in mid-January. MPP Games has produced games in the past at Jungle Island as well.

Mid-West

The Mid-West, which has a relatively small player base as compared to areas like Florida and California, still has plenty to offer for those wanting to play paintball. The Chicago area has Bad Boys Toys, which is the home of NXL Pro Team Aftershock. Nearby in La Porte, Indiana is Sherwood Forest, one of the prettier and well maintained fields in the country. Joliet, Illinois is the home of Challenge Park, a massive facility that cost millions to build. The first William Shatner game was played here, and the town of Bedlam is a great way to play in an urban enviroment.

Further South, Wyandotte, Oklahoma is the home to one of the largest games in the world, D-Day. DeWayne Convirs produces the game every year as a way to remember his father, who fought in WWII and landed at Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion. The game regularly draws 2-3 thousand players. Nearby Neosho, Missouri is the home of Brass Eagle’s paint manufacturing plant.

Now that we have a base of information to work from, I want to discuss Deep South Paintball, and what makes it unique in the US:

There are traditional scenario production companies in the southeast, the best of which is NOCER Productions, based in Georgia. Owners Kristie and Andy Graham produce richly written games based on movies and their own creations. Their interpretation of Monty Python’s Holy Grail is one of the more widely anticipated games in the South. Their standalone creation, the “Bloodlines” series of games based on werewolf and vampire mythology, takes inspiration from traditional legendary creature mythology and mixes in inspiration from books and video games, as well as Native American mythology. They also produce a Korean War series of games, based on Andy’s father’s experiences during that conflict.

MPP Games, owned by Ben and Bonnie Torrecelli have made a name for themselves by producing WWII based games with a high level of historical accuracy, and engaging storylines based on the actual history of the event being portrayed in the game.

Following a non-traditional path is Low Country Paintball’s Billy Smith. LCP’s 63 acres near Ludowici, GA play host to several games a year, most of which are written by “Georgia” Joe Hamilton. LCP also serves as home to Bill “Firebug” Meister’s “Harry Pottier” series of games, based on the Harry Potter series of books. Standalone games like “Assassin’s Greed”, written by first time game writer Bill Bain have also been produced at LCP. Wayne Dollack, MXS, MPP Games, and NOCER Productions have all produced games at LCP.

What sets LCP apart is Billy Smith himself. In addition to the field itself, which has an extremely active weekend recreational player base, Smith also acts as a distributor for DXS, selling paint to several fields in Georgia and North Florida. He also has the Black and Blue Krew, an SPPL Team. With this large investment in the paintball industry, Smith has immense buying power, which he uses to leverage agreements with vendors in the industry and passes those savings down to his customers. While field paint at most scenario games can cost anywhere from $55-80 case, Smith routinely sells event paint, in this case a custom ball manufactured by DXS, for $45 a case. As a result, higher end markers capable of higher rates of fire are common at LCP, and this allows Smith to enjoy a higher per-player paint usage. Typically a scenario player uses 1.7 cases per event. An LCP game player will typically shoot 2.7 cases per event.

Conclusions

Paintball is a ‘living’ sport, similar to Motocross. Every year the equipment manufacturers release new products, and as a result last year’s model comes down drastically in price. This trickle-down effect is fueling an arms race for faster, more accurate paintball markers and associated equipment, like air systems and hoppers.

This is causing a slow move towards a higher rate of fire, more intense game across the Deep South. I’ve noted previously hard-core scenario/mil-sim teams inquiring about re-arming with higher end markers to keep up with top Deep South teams like Xtreme Fanatics, South Beach Pimps, and Doom Troopers, who typically use high end tournament markers.

Given the low resale for 1 and 2-year old paintball markers, rearming to the greater capabilities of Angels, Egos, and other high-end markers isn’t as daunting a task as it has been in the past. Other markers, like the Mini-based TM7, allow a mil-sim/hardcore woodsball player to have the greater capabilities of a high end marker, while maintaining the realistic look of a military firearm.

Couple that with the competitive pressure being applied by Smith, and a new paradigm emerges in the Deep South. In the past, scenario players used Tippmanns or other blowback markers equipped to look like a military firearm. With major buy/sell/trade venues like PBNation, TradeMyGun.Com, and others, the shift in marker technology going upwards on the performance scale is easier and less expensive to the individual player than it has in the past.

The players themselves are changing as well. On the top teams, who get the most respect and command a high level of intimidation on-field, most of the players are retired tournament players in their late 30′s and 40′s who have gone to playing scenario paintball as way to continue enjoying the sport. This player will usually be wearing tournament style clothing and using a high-end marker.

At this time it’s unknown as to how widespread this phenomenon will be. There are still a huge number of players who will wear BDU’s and use a Tippmann marker, with varying amounts of upgrades to improve performance and aesthetics. However, the trend is towards higher performance, and top teams will be using products from Smart Parts, Planet Eclipse and other manufacturers.. This affords manufacturers the opportunity to aggressively market to the scenario segment, while minimizing R&D costs. Some, like Smart Parts have taken the bull by the horns and are involving themselves in this segment, competing in the SPPL, and creating products for the scenario market. Others, like Angel and Bob Long, are late to the party or haven’t yet started participating.

The 800 pound Gorilla in the room that everyone is trying to ignore is the fact that woodsball/rec/scenario play has always had a much higher participation rate with the playing community than local/regional/national level tournament play. If the industry is to survive the current economic difficulties, tapping this market in a serious fashion industry-wide will be necessary.