Bringing back tournament paintball

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Wayne and Kenny Stockdale of Armageddon Paintball are looking to put tournament paintball back in the limelight.

Last Sunday six teams, each one made up of three players, from Christchurch, Blenheim and Nelson, competed against each other in a genre of paintball that is almost extinct, especially within the South Island.

Tournament paintball has its roots in America, established around the 1990s to be a televised form of paintball, due to the sports high speed and frenzied game play, but the idea never took off.

When Wayne and Kenny, who used to own the paintball business in Appleby, took over Armageddon, they decided to pull the inflatable bunkers out of storage, patch them up and put them back on the pitch.

“Tournament paintball was hanging around in New Zealand about three years ago or so when I first started getting into it,” says Kenny.

“It was more in the Ashburton, Dunedin areas, then it completely died out, so this is kind of the beginning, South Island wise, of it starting to come back, we hope so anyway.”

Being inflatable bunkers, unlike the popular solid barriers including tyres and buildings, the pitch can be set up in a number of different ways with the bunkers giving players an advantage when it comes to seeking cover.

Players also dress differently, more similar to motocross, with smaller, electric guns that fire a lot, very fast, although the paintball size and velocity remains the same.

Not everyone taking part on the day had previous experience with tournament paintball, and while the high-speed, full on game may not be everyone’s cup of tea, “we’ll take any paintball genre because it’s our sport and our passion,” says Wayne. “This is just one aspect that we’re trying to develop because it’s not happening [around the country].”

The format for Sundays tournament was simple, starting at opposite ends of the field, players tried to eliminate the opposing team, when they achieved a clear field a flag in the centre of the pitch would be taken to the opposing end. “It’s the adrenalin, when you come off the field your hands are shaking,” says Nelson team, Outlaw.

“And it’s just that fast pace, it’s different playing out here where it’s so much more open and you’ve got to have your wits about you.

It’s fine running round in the bush and shooting lots of paint, but when you come out here it’s a totally different ball game with more tactics involved.”