Played in the Formula Five event today down in Colchester.
I feel I have to just tell everyone else what a fantastic event it was. I have been playing tournament paintball for 20 years now. I've seen our sport move from pumps to semi's, woods to sup-air, machanical markers to electronic markers, etc etc......
I'm really sick and tired of playing in regular events. Don't get me wrong, I really do love the game and the events I attend are always run very well. When you think about it, if you play an average of 8 games in a day, how much ACTUAL paintball do you really play??? 8 games @ 5 mins each, potential 40 minutes paintball. After getting shot on the break at least once, then either winning or loosing within the first 2 minutes, I average it (without a calculator, just a guess) at approx 16 minutes (and that's being generous).
I can tell you that today, out of a potential 60 minutes (4 games of 15 minutes), I would guess that I played at least 40 minutes ball.
It was great to actually PLAY and not spend most of the time in either the dead box or waiting in the centre of the field to be checked.
The field itself was easily twice the size of a regular field. It meant that you could actually MOVE around a hell of a lot easier.
For those of you unfamiliar with the format, Formula Five paintball is just a regular game of sup-air paintball, with 5 players on each team, played on a larger field, cut into three sections. You can actually have up to 10 players in the pit. As soon as one of your team are eliminated, they have to race back to the pit and once they cross the line, another of your players can leave the area. This menas that you should have 5 players on the field at all times. (apart from when the dead player is travelling back to the pit).
The 3 sections of the field are colour coded, so you can't make a mistake. Outside of the pit, the first 2 rows of bunkers are yellow, from each end. Then the remainder of the field is red. You cannot move into your opponents yellow section. You can only play within the red, or your own yellow section.
Air is limited to 3000psi to avoid people leaving the pits with a hideous amount of paint. Once you've shot all of yur paint, or air, you need to eliminate yourself and return to the pit, releasing a new player.
Points are scored by using an electronic score board in the centre of the field. In order to activate the scoreboard, you have to press the button located on a post directly in the centre of the field. One button on each side of the post. This starts the score for your team. You score 1 point on the board for every 10 seconds your team is in control of the board. It's the opposing teams job to then make their way up the field, press the button on their side, without getting eliminated, stopping the score for the opposing team and starting their own.
Each game is 15 minutes long.
It leads to some really interesting play......
Excellent day, keep an eye out for the next event if you fancy trying out this new format. You wont be disapointed.........
Wingy...
I feel I have to just tell everyone else what a fantastic event it was. I have been playing tournament paintball for 20 years now. I've seen our sport move from pumps to semi's, woods to sup-air, machanical markers to electronic markers, etc etc......
I'm really sick and tired of playing in regular events. Don't get me wrong, I really do love the game and the events I attend are always run very well. When you think about it, if you play an average of 8 games in a day, how much ACTUAL paintball do you really play??? 8 games @ 5 mins each, potential 40 minutes paintball. After getting shot on the break at least once, then either winning or loosing within the first 2 minutes, I average it (without a calculator, just a guess) at approx 16 minutes (and that's being generous).
I can tell you that today, out of a potential 60 minutes (4 games of 15 minutes), I would guess that I played at least 40 minutes ball.
It was great to actually PLAY and not spend most of the time in either the dead box or waiting in the centre of the field to be checked.
The field itself was easily twice the size of a regular field. It meant that you could actually MOVE around a hell of a lot easier.
For those of you unfamiliar with the format, Formula Five paintball is just a regular game of sup-air paintball, with 5 players on each team, played on a larger field, cut into three sections. You can actually have up to 10 players in the pit. As soon as one of your team are eliminated, they have to race back to the pit and once they cross the line, another of your players can leave the area. This menas that you should have 5 players on the field at all times. (apart from when the dead player is travelling back to the pit).
The 3 sections of the field are colour coded, so you can't make a mistake. Outside of the pit, the first 2 rows of bunkers are yellow, from each end. Then the remainder of the field is red. You cannot move into your opponents yellow section. You can only play within the red, or your own yellow section.
Air is limited to 3000psi to avoid people leaving the pits with a hideous amount of paint. Once you've shot all of yur paint, or air, you need to eliminate yourself and return to the pit, releasing a new player.
Points are scored by using an electronic score board in the centre of the field. In order to activate the scoreboard, you have to press the button located on a post directly in the centre of the field. One button on each side of the post. This starts the score for your team. You score 1 point on the board for every 10 seconds your team is in control of the board. It's the opposing teams job to then make their way up the field, press the button on their side, without getting eliminated, stopping the score for the opposing team and starting their own.
Each game is 15 minutes long.
It leads to some really interesting play......
Excellent day, keep an eye out for the next event if you fancy trying out this new format. You wont be disapointed.........
Wingy...
love to try it 
