Wednesday, May 27, 2009

How history was made... for Singapore Paintball





Contact info@weplaypaintball.com if you are keen to have mobile paintball in your facilities.

How to start a paintball field?

Yes, the million dollar question: "How to start a paintball field?" Try to google this and you will find many solutions to this question. Different perspectives from different people... some positives, some not so encouraging... but really, how do you really set up a paintball field?

Firstly, you have to understand the mechanics of paintball. When I say mechanics, I mean research, play the game, know how the game works, understand the difference between CO2 and HPA, understand the difference between the various types of paintball, talk to the paintball people. If you have played paintball once or twice and you think that paintball is a viable business, then let me tell you, you dont really know what paintball is. Yes, many people will think that I am bullshitting about this but I am writing this blog from my personal experience, from not knowing anything about paintball to running 2 paintball places, supplying paintball gears and organizing the country's only paintball tournament.

If you think that you know all that is needed to know about paintball by just playing the game...then you are far from knowing how to run a paintball business. Playing the game is one thing, running a paintball business is another. As the saying goes, "Its not about what you know, but about who you know". So in paintball, its no different. You need to talk to paintball people, people who have already been there done that...they will give you the best advice. Better still make them your partners. Its easier to break a bundle of sticks as a team than doing it alone. Playing the game helps a lot, so if you are not a player engaging in paintball, dont even think about paintball as a livelihood....likely, your learning curve is so steep and you are always out of touch. I happen to know this field owner who bought e-markers for his field as house markers...many will think that its surely a good idea . E-marker shoots more paintballs, more paintballs means more money. WRONG! It happen that there were not enough research done before the purchase, there was not enough talk with the paintball people and eventually... the e-markers started to give way and without a good knowledge of marker maintenance, the markers have now become white elephants.

Secondly, find the right people who can "teach" you paintball. Amazingly, paintball can be taught, yes, research, research and research... dont believe everything that is written on the internet. Marketing plans have everyone claiming that they are the best, the easiest marker to maintain, the best quality paintballs, etc. Dont just read, try and test them. Imagine that you are a customer when playing the game...bang the marker around, play it in a tight corner, slide with the marker, shake the marker...and if possible, drop the marker. Dont just read and believe those marketing words. E.g. "Best field paintball marker in the world" Again, this can be resolved if you know the right paintball people.

As I am writing this... I am starting to feel that there are so many things to write about "how to start a paintball field" and its almost impossible for me to write them down, it could take me hours and hours or maybe even days!!! But in short, these are the various things to look out for:

1) Talk to the paintball people
2) Location
3) Theme
4) Supplies
5) Cost
6) Directions
7) Workers
8) Repairs
9) Gears
10) Talk to the paintball people

To find out more about "how to start a paintball field", please email info@weplaypaintball.com

More to come... mobile paintball

Friday, May 22, 2009

Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) 2009



Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) 2009 Leg 2 – Pasir Ris Park, Native Lawn

Bringing Paintball to the Hearts”

For the first time in Singapore, a competitive paintball tournament was held beyond a licensed paintball centre in Singapore. Established in 2008 and organized by the Paintball Association (Singapore), PBAS, SPNS 2009 Leg 2 sets its foot on a national park located in the eastern coast of the Singapore’s shores, Pasir Ris Park. Supported by the Singapore Sports Council and the National Parks Board, this leg of the competition saw 13 paintball teams vying for Singapore’s top paintball honour. With the slogan of “Bringing Paintball to the Hearts”, the objective of organizing the competition in a public park allows PBAS to showcase the sport of paintball to the heart of the community. This is also the first time that a 5-men competition format is adopted in the SPNS as compared to the previous legs of a 3 men and 4 men format.



Introduced to Singaporeans in 2008, competitive paintball otherwise known as speedball is increasingly gaining its popularity in Singapore. Efforts by PBAS to promote this sport have been significant with roadshows in tertiary institutions such as Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Singapore Polytechnic has also recently become the first Singapore institution to introduce the sport of speedball to its students and armed with the intention of establishing a paintball club in the school.



Another historical event is the conduct of the Malaysia Marshal Level 1 marshalling certification course for 6 local paintball referees by Mr. Junaidi Khalil who is the Head Referee in Asia with marshalling experiences in the Asia Paintball Invitational Tournament 2008 in Kao Hsiung, Taiwan and the Asia World Cup since 2007. "The Certification Course helped to raise the competency of many of the new recruits to local refereeing" added Benedict Chen, a second year student from the National University of Singapore who took on the Head Referee role during the SPNS. Indeed, the certification course and cross learning between the Singapore and Malaysia marshals helped to unify the conduct of the sport with similar regulations across the borders.



Team Red West who was the champion team in leg 1 of SPNS 2009 managed to defend their title by clinching another champion medal in this leg of the competition. With 3 of its players playing for the Red Sevens team, a Singapore Division 3 team participating in the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) and Malaysia National Paintball League (MY-NPL), the Red West team displayed immense teamwork and proficiency to qualify for the 1st position during the 8 qualifying games and eventually winning the title. Five-O, participating for the first time in the SPNS took home the 2nd position after a series of impressive games against some of the top sides in the series such as Kamikaze and Dark Militia in Round 2 of the tournament. Last leg’s runners-up, Contract Killers, concluded the day with a 3rd position placing and Dark Militia claiming the 4th position. One of the most exciting segments of the tournament was the “Top Gun” Division where teams would send a representative to compete in a 1-on-1 paintball game where spectators of the event were involved in delivering sideline coaching. The “Top Gun” Division is a test of a player’s individual skills and of his ability to cope with the immense pressure of the match under the eyes of a crowd. This leg’s “Top Gun” Division was won by Sean Low, a student from Pei Cai Secondary School who has been playing paintball as a competitive sport for more than 2 years. His team the Death Mavericks was in 3rd position after the qualifying rounds.



“We have seen vast improvement in the level of the game. Participants are getting more skilful and technically sound as compared to last year. To continue developing paintball, we’ll need the local authorities to reconsider the classification of paintball markers as a firearm but as a sporting equipment, similar to a foil in fencing, a bow in archery or a bat in softball” exclaimed Jane Koh, President of the Paintball Association (Singapore) who is also the Tournament Director since the dawn of the SPNS. While many consider this event as a big leap for Singapore paintball, there are still many aspects of the sport that needs to be addressed to develop this sport into a mainstream sport. Through awareness program and paintball clinics, this sport will soon do away with the common branding of being “jungle-game, painful or just plain shooting”.
Official results of SPNS 2009 Leg 2 can be found in, www.weplaypaintball.com/SPNS.html

Article is contributed by Ben “King”, a paintball enthusiast and promoter in Singapore.

Photos courteosy of Tilt, www.tilt.com.sg

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Thank you Furious Barrels!!!


Photo by Hartika, DEADPGX

Red Sevens had a taste of Furious barrel in the last MPOC and they shoot great! The barrel shoots well and has a consistent shot with every trigger pull. Definitely a solid performer for barrel class. Vicious from the Semi Pro Division in PSP shoots with Furious barrels too.

If you want to try out these barrels just approach any of our guys and we will be willing to let you try out. After trying, do let us know your feedback and should you decide to commit to one of the best barrel in the paintball industry, do let us know too.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Asia Paintball Invitational Tournament (APIT) 2009

Its confirmed! This event will be held from 16 - 19 July 09 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Last year, when Red Sevens attended this tournament, we were told that it was a prelude event to the World Games in which paintball would be considered as demo-game for this year's World Games event. And so... when we heard the news that the APIT will be organized again, we were thrilled... With the start of the World Games 2009 on 16 July 09, the Kaohsiung city will be flooded with athletes from around the world making this event even more significant than last year's. When we received the invitation to participate in April this year, we were pretty skeptical that this event will not pull through but we were proven wrong. It seems like the Kaohsiung city committee like what they saw last year.

So, yes... Red Sevens will be attending this year's APIT again. I am sure we will see the likes of Infernal from Thailand and KU from Japan who were there last year. Adding to the list of the participating teams, could be Ironmen from US and Incarnate from Canada. S+S which is our favourite team from Taiwan could well be representing Taiwan for this tournament too. Taiwan is special to the Red Sevens, we spent a good time in Taiwan last year, met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, eat a lot of good food (fish sperms) and this is what paintball is all about. Fun and meeting new people everytime you go for a tournament.

So Kaohsiung, here we come...

Monday, May 4, 2009

DM9 Vs DM9 Ironmen Limited Edition





I have previously done a comparison of Egos, SLGs and yes, I would love to do a comparison for DMs but instead, I will go one level higher to compare DM9 against its limited edition, the Ironmen DM9.

There are only 5 pieces in Asia, 4 in Taiwan... and of course, being the paintball hub of South East Asia, there is 1 piece in Malaysia and to be really specific, you can only find this marker in KCHL paintball. This marker is not going to come cheap given that the DM series markers are undoubtly the most reliable marker in the paintball industry. Speak to any Dye DM series users and they will tell you that they wouldnt change anything for a DM marker. The internals of this marker uses a Billy Wing DM9 bolt which is non-existence in the retail market now. So that explains how limited edition this marker is. If you think that a limited edition DM is only limited by its overall outlook, then you are so so wrong. The Dye research and development team has developed a completely new marker frame with what looks like a strap holder for the new marker series. And yes, its lighter than the currecnt DM9s.
The one thing that amazes me most about the design of the mark is the Ironmen crest that is entirely embedded into the marker frame as opposed to the usual laser anodizing. This could set the entire paintball industry looking into this newly added feature in marker designs.
Oh...did I mentioned that there is a black version for this? Consider it as the limited among the limited. And yes, I will be holding one of this very very soon.

Congratulations to Bryan "Judas" Quek!



Congratulations to Bryan "Judas" Quek for winning the 2nd position in the International Super Sevens Championship (ISSC) 2009 Division 3 with Team Shoot in Rage. This is by far the most prestigious medal ever won by a Singaporean.

Judas has come a long way since started playing with Redlords. We have proud of him and happy of his acheivements. He is now the most medalled player in Singapore having won the following:

Redlords - SPNS 2008 Leg 1 Champion

NPL 2009 Leg 2 (Shoot in Rage) - Division 4 3rd Runners Up

ISSC 2009 (Shoot in Rage) - Division 3 2nd Runners Up

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Paintball store in Singapore







Want to play paintball seriously? Want to get some paintball gear so that you can look good in the field while shooting your opponents? Want to get some paintball upgrades? Look no further...
Red Dynasty Paintball offers all major paintball brands such as Dye, Proto, JT and Eclipse!!!

International Super Sevens Championship (ISSC) 2009


JT Booth by Pro Paintball

Seburo and I helping out at the Dye Booth
G3 booth by Wernahol

Steven with a full display of the rotors

Ironmen Limited Edition DM9 only 4 pieces in Asia!

Elle with SupaStar Loh

Eclipse booth by Skirmish Asia





The first Asia 7-men international tournament, the International Super Sevens Championship (ISSC) 2009 was held in Jaya Petaling, KL this weekend. A similar international paintball event as the World Cup Asia (PALS event) except that its a 7-men format in the amature (Div 2) and open (Div 1) division. With 3 playing fields and a splendid game schedule, participating teams play as much as 4 qualifying games a day (either the morning or afternoon half) and still have time to travel around the KL city.
Elle and I were lucky enough to guest for Division 1 team, Gen-X Penang. An ad-hoc team with a few players from Matrix Entourage and Sani from X-Fox. Playing in a 7-men tournament with uncapped semi-automatic or PSP ramping at 12 balls/sec is very different from playing in a 5-men tournament, firstly you have to think a lot faster, load a lot faster and move a lot faster. Even after eliminating 3 opponents, you still have to sit and wait as there are 4 more on the opposite end. Game advantage can switch in a moment of a split second move, if you are impatient and try to move in too early. We won only 1 game from the 8 games schedule losing to teams such as Macdev Ronin, Raz Legion, Bonnie Dogs (Guam), Nightmare, MPPJ and Killer Beez. Its definitely an eye-opener and a wonderful experience playing in the higher division.

Thanks to KCHL Paintball and Dennis for making this happen. Thanks to my fellow comrades from the Gen-X team, although we only won 1 game but you guys have been a great gang to hang out with. If only we have a snake player in the team... hahahaha...