Tournament Paintball 101

The Grande ‘ol Introduction

The gentlemen in the photo above are engaging in the action sport we presently refer to as paintball, and they are doing so quite competitively. But wtf is competitive paintball, really?

Well reader, that’s exactly the flipping point of this article, now sit back, put some liquid diamonds into your Puffco or some Jacky D. in a glass, and watch as I splatter these pages with my neon-accented words explaining:

(1)   what tournament paintball is and how it is structured,

(2)   how you win, and

(3)   how you reach the top ranks in the sport.

I have or will ostensibly be interviewing the following players from Division 6 on up through Pro, and publishing as they come in at the interview subjects’ convenience, at my convenience naturally. Your divisional rankings generally begin at 5 once you get your APPA #, although a Division 6 has recently emerged, as Travis will explain in his interview:

·       WNXL Player Gillian Zen Brigman - Tiki’s Ohana, Florida

·    D6 player Travis Colford, Tampa Bay Exile, Florida

·       D5 player Ben Komorny, Vegas Venum, Nevada

·       D4-ranked D5 Drop-Down GIANT Devin Lopes, Boston Ravens, Massachusetts

·       D4 player Max Stone, Slugking

·       D3 player Josh Robles, Platoon, LA - Cali

·       D2 player Gabe Sutherland, Beefy Boys, Houston Texas

·       D1/Semi-Pro player Victor Abarca, Texas Demolition, you guessed it, Texas

·       NXL Professional Player Jared Sherman, Austin Notorious, Texas

·    USXBL League Owner - Michael Hinman

·    Scenario Event Paintball Player Joseph Brigham, Scorched Earth, Texas

·    Paintball Photographer Rufino Ong - Ong Studios

Disclaimer for the Experienced:

If you show up to your local field at 8am with a rolling gear-bag stuffed to the gills with OG Proflexes, Infamous armpads, PE markers, some aftermarket FreakXL-compatible barrel kit, Hydra kneepads, competition-grade JT Odyssey Pro jerseys and HydraSkinz pants, and a BunkerKings 4+7 podpack, this might seem like old news to you. However, that don’t mean a gotdamn thing pardna, as my writing isn’t boring, and at worst you spend a few minutes reading words instead of staring at motion on a screen. Na’meen?

What is Tournament Paintball?

Unfortunately, the initial answer here must be lawyerly: it depends.

It depends on what league you’re playing in, what division you’re running through, and what format you’ve entered into the tournament as.

So let’s start at the beginning. First, you get a paintball gun, a mask, a podpack, a hopper, and an air tank. You decide you want to go harder than the children and desk jockeys who largely populate recball. You’ve seen the dudes in neon clothing that look like they’re in moto-cross about to launch 60 feet into the air on a dirtbike, and you think, might I enjoy doing what those folks do? What is that, exactly?

At its most basic, tournament paintball is an elimination-based sport, the goal of which is to hit the opposing team’s members with your paintballs. A hit anywhere on the body, marker, hopper, tank, or podpack counts. The ball must break, although is a player calls themself out, they’re out, even if the ball didn’t break.

Look to the picture with the title to this article and you will see 5 paintball players at the “starting box”, an air-filled contraption known as a bunker, waiting for the “Go Go GO!” buzzer to begin play. The bunkers are used for cover, and the “lanes” or throughways that paint can pass through to hit the opponents are where the action happens. Players will “paint lines” to hold lanes, preventing other players from moving to control the field. With chess-like strategy, lanes can be controlled, allowing for teams to move in coordination to eliminate opponents.

 In some leagues or divisions, you must eliminate all opposing players, then make it to the opposing side of the field to hit a button on the start box. They call the side with dorito chip-looking air bags as “D-Side”, and the side with the noodle-like air bag on the ground “Snake”. See page 1 from my comic-book “Paintball Apocalypse” as our team of American rebels figure out the lay of the land for the “points” of the day against the invading force. They’d best Slay Like GIANTS if they hope to survive the day, and keep ‘Merica alive 🤘🏻

We’ll discuss leagues more in depth below and in our interview with Michael Hinman, owner of tournament paintball leagues USXBL and WCPPL.

There are a broad variety of formats for tournament paintball, but the most popular is 5v5, 5 players on each side competing to eliminate the opposing 5 players. The paintball lifestyle and attire brand Hormesis is popularizing the concept of 1v1 Duels, which I’d also incorporated into my JOTUNnightball series of events in the summer of ’23 just outside Austin. Hormesis is doing it on an international scope, and I hope to compete in one at some point, I love me some 1v1s brosef.

5v5 Drop-In Hopperball = JOTUN = Pure, Uncut Xball

Personally, I prefer and enjoy most the hopperball 5v5 drop-in format of gameplay that I use in JOTUNnightball, featuring the “hustle-whistle”, move bunkers or get called out; plus no calling yourself out if you run out of paint, go for barrel swap elims, draw fire, and stay in until hit. Each player has a full hopper of paint, and that’s it, first 5 players to the box on either side, then the countdown begins. It allows players of different divisions and teams to test their mettle in an open gameplay format that is radically different from the mainstream tournament style. I am Division Nothing, have played in 0 tournaments, and regularly splatter out D4-3 dudes at hopperball as they are used to line-dumping campers, not fearless, hyper-aggressive JOTUN.

Drop-in 5v5 Hopperball allows you to Play Like GIANTS in a more open format style of play that allows for greater aggression and movement. Each player has 200-225 rounds instead of anywhere from 800-1400+ rounds when they have a full pod-pack on like in tournament paintball. Dumping lines early just puts you at a disadvantage later in the game when the JOTUN wolves start prowling the field for prey.

Step #1 – Get a Player Number on pbleagues.com

The American Paintball Players Association, APPA, was established in 2002, and from what I understand is essentially the god of American paintball, in that it stands above all the leagues and players, and says what’s what. Based on my present understanding, the number that you are given when we register at pbleagues.com is your “APPA #”.

Step #2 – Find a Team that Fits

To join a team, you’ll need to provide you APPA # to your coach/owner, hence why completing step #1 is necessary. Joining a team is only possible after you have found one. For JD Luckau, owner of Paintball Fit, “Paintball is Life, and Life is Paintball.” For others like me, paintball is a pastime-hobby and/or a workout, like carrying your bag out on the golf course just, like, not boring, or running on a treadmill combined with Nerf wars that hurt and give you a baller adrenaline rush. Drop-in paintball is an outrageously good time, and a good way to enjoy the sport while determining if the tournament format of the game is your style.

If you decide that you have the time to commit to a team, and the resources, go for it. Expect to spend entry + 2-3 cases of paint a weekend at practice, and $350-550 + travel & other expenses per tournament, at minimum. Some teams practice before work, at home, and seemingly treat their paintball like a job, taking great pride in the “work” invested into the pastime. Given the huge variation in the perspective of teams, it can take a minute to find a team you fit with, but we paintballers in general are cool and weird. We’re all part of a community of people after all who basically run around with upgraded Nerf guns in future-lookin’ cosplay gear, so don’t worry, you’ll find a spot somewhere. Or just play drop-in tournaments and/or hopperball like the Allfather, Himself; a team is quite a commitment in terms of both time and blue notes (racks).

If you play hard and contribute value to earn your spot on the field, or are willing to put in work and do what it takes to get there, then you’ll find a team. Sometimes there are “free agent” lists for tournaments that lone wolves can sign up on, and teams lacking a player on their line can draft from the free agent list.

Cardinal Rule: Leave Work, Politics, and Religion at Home – the Field is for Paintball, Only

The Blue Lodge rules of Freemasonry should and/or simply must apply in paintball in a more universal scope: (1) We are all free and equal human beings, (2) No Politics, (3) No religion, and for paintball also I personally add (4) no discussion of work.

At the field it’s paintball and laughs, then back to our own real-world lives. Paintball is an escape and an absolutely fantastic, super marvelous happy fun-time, leave the real-world out of it. Let’s not talk about our day jobs at paintball por favor, just let us think about whether we’re using a .684 or a .687 Freak XL insert in an Infamous Silencio FXL barrel kit, and if we’re paying an extra $5 to shoot more brittle, more likely to eliminate the opponent tournament-grade paint at practice, get me?

Step #3 – Play Like GIANTS

Register as a player, find a team, and get to practicing fella, lady, or human. From there you just might get onto the field at a tournament to Play Like GIANTS.

So you’re registered, you have a team, and you’re entering tournaments, where do ya go from there?

Tournament Paintball Divisions and Points

Key info on divisions:

·      There are 5 divisions.

·      Division 1 is “semi-professional”.

·      Professional is a division of its own that stands above the 5.

·      There is no limit to D6-D1 teams.

·      There are 20 professional teams in the National Paintball League, NXL. That’s it, like Formula 1.

·      Each year, the 20th ranked professional paintball team is kicked down to semi-professional.

·      Each year, the 1st ranked semi-professional team is promoted to professional.

·      Division 6 has emerged in some leagues to allow beginners to get a feel for the rules and gameplay format in a 3v3 environment.  

Now we understand that to rise up in divisions, we must earn points, but what are “points”?

Points and Divisional Progression

So you earn points for participating in sanctioned tournament paintball games. Following is the data from “Player Class Explained” from PBleagues.com , I by no means am a master of this data, so check their site and study it to your heart’s content. This is all the essential data, and as deep as I’m going to wade into this information here as it’s more than sufficient for our purposes hombre, mujer, or persona.

Basically if you are a 0 point D5er, you’ll need to win 1 tournament for the 100 points this year to start next year as a D4 (with 100 points minimum) or place last in 10 tournaments, 10pts each, or if you place right smack in the middle of 2 tournaments, you’d get 55pts each for a total of 110 points, and you would start at D4 next year. Refer to the point charts below for more insight.

There’s the key data. Now: where do you get points? In sanctioned league play.

The Leagues

To begin our discussion of paintball leagues, we’ll kick off with our first interview, Mr. Michael Hinman, owner of the USXBL and WCPPL and long-time GIANT in the paintball industry.

The Player and/or Insider Perspectives

Interviews:

• Tournament Paintball League Owner - Michael Hinman, USXBL & WCPPL

• Professional Player - Jared Sherman, Austin Notorious

What team do you play for?

Austin Notorious - Austin, Texas' first professional paintball team out of Outlaw Paintball.

What league and events do y’all get into?

We play all of the National X-Ball League events, hosted by the Major League Paintball.

You’ve got 100 words to plug your sponsors: go!

Thank you to Maxt Paintball for our jerseys, Virtue Paintball for our loaders, masks, pads, and pants, and DLX Technologies for our Luxe Idols. Valken is our 2024 paint sponsor.

Most importantly, my own personal sponsor - TexanHemp.com - the best place for purchasing Locally Shipped Cannabis Seeds.

How would you explain Pro-level paintball in 3 sentences?

Professional Paintball is as brutal as any professional sport you can think of. A game of inches, the best players in the league have played as long, or longer, than some incoming Pros have been alive. Hardwork and dedication barely cover the entry fee to be here, and that's not enough to stay here.

What would you say is the most important thing you need to do to win in your division?

 Develop our team game even further. It takes good teams with great individuals to win in Semi Pro and lower divisions, but it requires great teams with great individuals to win in Pro. The true difference is teamwork, even within the Pro ranks.

Where do you hope to go in the sport and how do you plan to get there? 

Winning a Pro event is the next goal for myself. As much as you wish it for a team, there's 9 other guys plus management that need to be firing on all cylinders. And that's not easy to do.

Ideally, we try winning with Austin Notorious. If that's not in the cards, so be it. Maybe Fate will blow my ship another direction, but until then, we get back on the grind and hope for a better tomorrow.

• Semi-Professional Player - Victor Abarca, Texas Demolition

Here we have Victor Abarca, D1/Semi-Pro player.

What team do you play for?

I play for Texas Demolition out of the Rio Grande Valley. 

What league and events do y’all get into?

 Last year we started in the Bunkerfest Series and ended in Semi-pro NXL. This year we are playing the NXL semi-pro series. 

You’ve got 100 words to plug your sponsors: go!

Want to thank Dye paintball for the unparalleled support we have received this season. Our home field Delta paintball for the continued support week after week. Unos Jerky for the support and dedication to our team. A.F.G. Filming for the great film during practices and tournaments. Sandana Paintball with the best headgear in the game. Our friend Julio Garcia with Mavens Paintball with the continued love and support you have given us all these years. G.I. Sportz with best paint in the league. And Xfactor Paintball Park for their continued support this year.

How would you explain Semi-Professional paintball in 3 sentences?

The biggest difference moving up to the semi-pro division is the timing of the moves being made. The moves get made faster by your opponents and windows are shorter to make them before they close. The top teams in this division take it serious and if you want to be a top team you have to live and breathe paintball.

What would you say is the most important thing you need to do to win in your division?

One of the the most important things needed to win in this division is to have the teams communication/game play be on the same page. Most of the semi-pro teams have been together for years and already have that bond and trust to play off one another. We are on the verge to become one those teams.

Where do you hope to go in the sport and how do you plan to get there?

 To make it to the professional division.

Thru dedication to the game, the team, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to get better.

• D2 Player - Gabe Sutherland, Beefy Boys

• D3 Player - Josh Robles, LA Platoon

• D4 Player - Max Stone, Slugking

• D4-ranked D5 Drop-Down GIANT - Devin Lopes, Boston Ravens

What team do you play for?

Boston Ravens.

What league and events do y’all get into?

The Nepxl (New England Paintball League) we do 5 man xball and d4.

You’ve got 100 words to plug your sponsors: go!

Shout out to PNL paintball my local field and home the place that got me into this paintball life bout a year and a half ago The Boston Ravens are made up of mostly “ The Horn section” 10 man mech players from PNL all us mutts started over there and grew our love for paintball weekly. 

We don’t have any other sponsors really quite yet it’s our first Season of xball. most of us are brand new to speedball, we will strive for more sponsors as we grow Most importantly big thanks to JOTUN paintball for allowing me on board love the brand and owner I’m here to stay ”Play like giants”.

So you are D5 ranked, but play with the Ravens' D4 line. How does that work? 

The Nepxl doesn’t have a d5 league only a d4, teams are allowed 2 d3 players or 1 d2 I believe 

As the drop-down D5 GIANT at paintball, do you do anything different or extra to help bring your team up to that D4 elevation? 

Communicate best I can, perform, and motivate the team/stay positive 

What would you say is the most important thing you need to do to win in your division?

Ideally have good communication, coordination, and movement (not getting stuck, making secondary moves)

Where do you hope to go in the sport and how do you plan to get there?

I wanna go pro eventually but I have to dedicate a lot of time and money into the sport pay my dues, move closer to the local fields too (Im a Sunday driver)

I just enjoy playing and improving, it’s all about the journey not the destination

• D5 Player - Ben Komorny - Vegas Venum

• D6 Player - Travis Colford - Tampa Bay Exile (far left)

• WNXL Player Gillian Zen Brigman

And here we’ve got WNXL player out of Florida Ms. Gillian Brigman, dropping some knowledge on the WNXL side of the tournament xball world.
What team do you play for?

Tiki’s Ohana from Tiki’s Paintball Park in Seffner, Florida

What league and events do y’all get into?

We play in the WNXL and Maximum Velocity Paintball Series (MVPS)
You’ve got 100 words to plug your sponsors: go!

East Koast Kids, Planet Eclipse, JT Paintball, GI Sportz, Ruthless Paintball, Tiki’s Paintball

Park, MVPSpaintball, and AttorneyKevin!!! We are beyond grateful for the support and love we feel from our sponsors!

How would you explain WNXL paintball in 3 sentences? Are there any differences in rules or gameplay experience you’d care to point out between the NXL and WNXL?

Paintball is a great sport for women, but it is one that we can excel at in our own right. The WNXL is a league where female players can be competitive, but also provides an environment that encourages and inspires other female players to play paintball. It started with 6 teams and has expanded to consist of 10 teams, and I hope it continues to expand with more female players joining this amazing community.

What would you say is the most important thing you need to do to win in your division?

The most important thing you need to do is learn to communicate. You can have great lanes and athletic ability, but if you cannot communicate with your teammates, the game will fall apart.

Where do you hope to go in the sport and how do you plan to get there?

I hope that my teammates and I can become the top team in the WNXL. As a new team, we have been working really hard to grow as individuals and as a team to become stronger with each opportunity we have to practice together. We all work hard on and off the field to become stronger players physically and mentally.

• Scenario Tournament Player - Joseph Bigham, Scorched Earth (Far Left in the Fog)

• Tournament Xball Photographer - Rufino Ong, Ong Studios

What league and events do you get into? 

    We like going to the California Speedball tournaments, 

CEPL (Capital Edge Paintball League) Northern California, www.playcepl.com

WCPPL (West Coast Paintball Players League) South California

And of course, NXL (National Xball League)  

You’ve got 100 words to plug your sponsors: go! 

RUFINO ONG STUDIOS - is empowered and thankful for the trust and partnership of the following companies

GUNFIGHTER SPORTS

JT PAINTBALL

SUPREME PAINTBALL

DARK CARNIVAL FACTORY

VIOLENCE

MATRIX GEAR USA

DIRTY DAN

SONY USA 

BLACK MAGIC - Davinci Resolve

ADOBE - Lightroom Classic

APPLE

TRANSFUSE

GEEK BAR

- woohooo good stuff and great people

 

How would you explain tournament paintball photography in 3 sentences? 

Preserving an action that happens in milliseconds.

Controlling the rush of adrenaline and focusing it to match the players speed and motion.

Two teams shoot each other, I shoot 1-2 teams, and get shot in the process.

 

What would you say is the most important thing you need to do to get a great action shot? 

I think it starts with the field layout. It will generally dictate the breakout and possible movements. 

And then, of course the style and strengths of specific teams and players come into play.

Prediction and adaptation. 

 

How would you suggest tournament paintball players approach tournament photographers like you who they might see shooting their game? What should they expect in terms of options on getting their hands on the photos, in general? 

Best time to do it, is before the tournament. Book the photographer / videographer - before the event! A couple of weeks - to a month before! If they ask for a deposit - do it! You want the media guy to be best prepared for the event - knowing how many teams / squads and their respective schedules, will give your booked media guy the most effective way for them to plan out their trip, their day, and be able to manage expectations. Media guys (like the players), will need to plan out the logistics of the trip (hotel, airbnb, auto rental, flights, food, resources, etc) and to add the specific gears and accessories that a videographer / photographer will need for the event. 

Specific terms of delivery will be different for each media person. For us in RUFINO ONG STUDIOS, we offer our edited photos to be either downloaded directly from our website or from a google drive, and for videos - we like to post the edited and compiled videos in our YouTube page. Reels and highlights created are also posted in Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels. 

www.RufinoOngStudios.com

IG @Rufino_Ong_Studios

IG @Rufino_Josh_Ong

YT Rufino Josh Ong

HERE, WE CONCLUDE

And for now, reader, the interviews will emerge as they come in, above, a variant of this article may emerge in a stylish retro-tech print edition, and my content may refine or reduce without notice organically, as I prefer. Plus I’m working on lining up sponsors for “Tournament Paintball x01” to support this ongoing project that I hope provides the paintball community with a valuable resource. If you’ve enjoyed it go buy a JOTUNflex part, a THKR HeadBand, or a screen-printed in Texas T-shirt to feed the JOTUN, when he gets hangry he starts stomping things.

The Goal: presenting our Xballin’ community with an important resource to understand what the hell is going on at points, and how one rises up through the divisions while having a blast slinging paint on one’s way through ‘em. AND THERE WE HAVE IT READER! Insight into tournament paintball.

This has been “Tournament Paintball 101” by M. Jack Westerman, with more interviews and content ostensibly coming for 101, then we’ll maybe hop on up into more complex topics in the 201 edition, should I opt to create it.

Let’s hope y’all now understand tournament paintball better, and remember that in the end:

P8ball=FUN,

now get on out there and

Play Like GIANTS!

P8ball=FUN. Play Like GIANTS.

COPYRIGHT: All contents above and on this site are copyrighted to Michael John Westerman 2022-2025, and may not used, reproduced, published, or otherwise exploited in any way in any medium or by any means without the express written permission of Michael John Westerman, JOTUN’s Allfather (Creator/Owner)