X Ball
- Thread starter jay
- Start date
X-Ball: here’s the deal
It’s basically 5-player, center-flag paintball with some new twists.
Each match will consist of 4 ten minute periods
Each 10 minute period will be played by 5 out of 10 possible players on each team. The coach decides which 5 will start each new playing session.
The only points are for each successful flag hang. Each flag hang gives 1 point.
The team with the most points at the end of the 4th period wins the game.
Ties are broken by a sudden-death game: The first team to hang the flag during sudden-death wins.
Two matches lost = eliminated from tournament.
Whenever a point is scored or when a period ends, the game clock is stopped for a 3-minute ”pit stop” to allow the players to refill, refresh, clean up and get ready for the next session. Those players not in the start box when the start signal sounds will not be allowed to play.
All penalties are dealt with either by elimination or a period of time in a penalty box. The penalty time carries over to the next period or session within each match.
All chronographing is done on-field.
The coaches of each team are allowed to shout instructions and plays to the playing team from the coach’s box.
________________________________
This is a summary of the way it was supposed to be before Nations' Cup.
The times for each period have been changed for certain events. I forgot what they were at the World Cup. Even the penalty times were limited to each game, that is didn't carry over after a "game".
Some of the details are variable or open for discussion.
Steve
It’s basically 5-player, center-flag paintball with some new twists.
Each match will consist of 4 ten minute periods
Each 10 minute period will be played by 5 out of 10 possible players on each team. The coach decides which 5 will start each new playing session.
The only points are for each successful flag hang. Each flag hang gives 1 point.
The team with the most points at the end of the 4th period wins the game.
Ties are broken by a sudden-death game: The first team to hang the flag during sudden-death wins.
Two matches lost = eliminated from tournament.
Whenever a point is scored or when a period ends, the game clock is stopped for a 3-minute ”pit stop” to allow the players to refill, refresh, clean up and get ready for the next session. Those players not in the start box when the start signal sounds will not be allowed to play.
All penalties are dealt with either by elimination or a period of time in a penalty box. The penalty time carries over to the next period or session within each match.
All chronographing is done on-field.
The coaches of each team are allowed to shout instructions and plays to the playing team from the coach’s box.
________________________________
This is a summary of the way it was supposed to be before Nations' Cup.
The times for each period have been changed for certain events. I forgot what they were at the World Cup. Even the penalty times were limited to each game, that is didn't carry over after a "game".
Some of the details are variable or open for discussion.
Steve
so what are the field set ups like, is it standars sup-air?
if the coaches are allowed to shout instructions does this mean that they can give the opositions positions away? and does this mean also things like dead man talking and shouting from the crowd will also be allowed or the rule relaxed????
is there a copy of the actual rules anywhere on the net??
and finally will x-ball come to the uk and europe?????
if the coaches are allowed to shout instructions does this mean that they can give the opositions positions away? and does this mean also things like dead man talking and shouting from the crowd will also be allowed or the rule relaxed????
is there a copy of the actual rules anywhere on the net??
and finally will x-ball come to the uk and europe?????
Yes they are aloud to give opponents positions away, and crowd yelling is aloud as well, although from experience of playing other sports the crowd will play little part in the game, they are usually ignored
so basically their trying to make it more spectator friendly for when paintball replaces baseball on tv??
Many others could give an answer based on experience and first-hand observation (e.g. Robbo).Originally posted by jnr/shockwave3
so what are the field set ups like, is it standars sup-air?
if the coaches are allowed to shout instructions does this mean that they can give the opositions positions away? and does this mean also things like dead man talking and shouting from the crowd will also be allowed or the rule relaxed????
is there a copy of the actual rules anywhere on the net??
and finally will x-ball come to the uk and europe?????
1. The fields are standard 5-player Sup 'Air with entry points for players to return to the games. There is a massive scoreboard with all the info about score, time remaining, which period, players in penalty boxes, etc.
2. Yes, coaches can give away opponents' positions and so can the crowd. This is being debated because it gave US a major advantage during the Nations' Cup. No dead-man talking however.
3. I downloaded the X-ball rules from a Web site that has been down for a while. I could post a copy of the rules but I know they are undergoing modification.
4. There's a lot of speculation that you can read about in other threads. Robbo has been involved in discussions with the powers that be in US about a North American/European series. Might be a side-event to the Millenniums. Remains to be seen.
Hope this gives some indications. Again there a lot of people on this forum that know a lot more than me.
Steve
R
raehl
Guest
It's not being debated....
Coaching and audience participation are in, and are in to stay. What will probably change however is the audience is going to be farther away from the field, making their effect on the game minimal - even at Cup, the audience coaching the players was only marginially effective at best, because when you're on the field with 10 people screaming on you, you can't understand crap. People would have the audience screaming at them that they were about to be bunkerred and they'd get bunkerred anyway because it'd be over by the time they figured out what was going on.
Coaching has a much more significant impact, esp. since on the side with the coach the audience is way far away so you can really hear them (and practice communicating with them), although most of the "good" coaches also had hand signals. Good coaching determined more than one game at College X Ball - teams who had not practiced coaching were eaten alive by teams that had. You have to play differently when the opposing team is being coached.
I know a lot of people who havn't played X Ball bitch about how coaching "ruins" the game, but they've got it backwards - it adds a whole new dimension to the game that wasn't there before. It's just people complaining about change. I've also noticed that the liklihood that someone doesn't like X Ball is directly proportional to their size. No room for out of shape players on an X Ball field.
As for Europe, if you want X Ball in Europe, start a team, find 4-5 other teams who also want to play X Ball, and start playing. I know there's already been at least one X Ball league (all be it based on 3-man instead of 5) run on the US west coast somewhere.
- Chris
Coaching and audience participation are in, and are in to stay. What will probably change however is the audience is going to be farther away from the field, making their effect on the game minimal - even at Cup, the audience coaching the players was only marginially effective at best, because when you're on the field with 10 people screaming on you, you can't understand crap. People would have the audience screaming at them that they were about to be bunkerred and they'd get bunkerred anyway because it'd be over by the time they figured out what was going on.
Coaching has a much more significant impact, esp. since on the side with the coach the audience is way far away so you can really hear them (and practice communicating with them), although most of the "good" coaches also had hand signals. Good coaching determined more than one game at College X Ball - teams who had not practiced coaching were eaten alive by teams that had. You have to play differently when the opposing team is being coached.
I know a lot of people who havn't played X Ball bitch about how coaching "ruins" the game, but they've got it backwards - it adds a whole new dimension to the game that wasn't there before. It's just people complaining about change. I've also noticed that the liklihood that someone doesn't like X Ball is directly proportional to their size. No room for out of shape players on an X Ball field.
As for Europe, if you want X Ball in Europe, start a team, find 4-5 other teams who also want to play X Ball, and start playing. I know there's already been at least one X Ball league (all be it based on 3-man instead of 5) run on the US west coast somewhere.
- Chris
Apart from the fittness problem!!
How much will it cost a local team to play?
At present we can go through a lot of paint during a tournament, as i understand it, X ball means you shoot even more paint....
So will the added cost, exclude most teams from playing?
How much will it cost a local team to play?
At present we can go through a lot of paint during a tournament, as i understand it, X ball means you shoot even more paint....
So will the added cost, exclude most teams from playing?
R
raehl
Guest
Well...
Mainly field setup/reffing to be honest. Let's say you play an X Ball league with 10 teams in two "divisions" over the course of a year, with 4 regular season games, and possibly 2 "playoffs" games if you make the top two teams in your division.
Paint usage is 1.5-2 cases per player per game, so assuming the high end, you'd shoot 8 cases in the regulas season, and maybe 4 more in the post season, per player. That's probably on-par with what most people shoot playing NPPL/PSP 10-man.
So after that, it comes down to setup. If you're playing NPPL/PSP X Ball, it's $1750/team - same as 10-man, so an X Ball season is the same price as a regular season (or perhaps not, if they do two X Ball matches per event, in which case your paint consumption over the course of the season doubles. But after you factor in travel and all that, that's a small percentage increase, only about $80/event/player or less, depending on your paint and paint sponsorship.)
If you're NOT playing NPPL/PSP, then all sorts of variables come into play. Theoretically, you could play X-Ball on an existing 5-man field with minimal additions (lots of stop watches and some extra reffing) at a marginal increase over regular tournament cost, or you could set up a special X Ball field for your event, which would cost a lot more (although I've recently been informed of one way to DRAMATICALLY decrease the cost of running an X Ball event at a non-paintball location).
Anyway, point of the matter is that if done right, X Ball isn't much more expensive than regular paintball - most of the costs are in travel either way.
- Chris
Mainly field setup/reffing to be honest. Let's say you play an X Ball league with 10 teams in two "divisions" over the course of a year, with 4 regular season games, and possibly 2 "playoffs" games if you make the top two teams in your division.
Paint usage is 1.5-2 cases per player per game, so assuming the high end, you'd shoot 8 cases in the regulas season, and maybe 4 more in the post season, per player. That's probably on-par with what most people shoot playing NPPL/PSP 10-man.
So after that, it comes down to setup. If you're playing NPPL/PSP X Ball, it's $1750/team - same as 10-man, so an X Ball season is the same price as a regular season (or perhaps not, if they do two X Ball matches per event, in which case your paint consumption over the course of the season doubles. But after you factor in travel and all that, that's a small percentage increase, only about $80/event/player or less, depending on your paint and paint sponsorship.)
If you're NOT playing NPPL/PSP, then all sorts of variables come into play. Theoretically, you could play X-Ball on an existing 5-man field with minimal additions (lots of stop watches and some extra reffing) at a marginal increase over regular tournament cost, or you could set up a special X Ball field for your event, which would cost a lot more (although I've recently been informed of one way to DRAMATICALLY decrease the cost of running an X Ball event at a non-paintball location).
Anyway, point of the matter is that if done right, X Ball isn't much more expensive than regular paintball - most of the costs are in travel either way.
- Chris