Game on!

So my adventure of traveling to 100 paintball fields in the 50 States has officially started with Decay of Nations 4: World Pandemic, at SC Village in Chino, California. The biggest scenario game on the West Coast happened August 22-23 and consisted of over 750 paintballers playing for either the Ekron Corporation or UNA Army. Also running with the paintball players were 5 tanks that could either carry troops or fire on enemy positions with their own guns. The game organizers had invited Charles Allen of TAW Scenarios (UNA Army) and Ben Torecelli of Millennium Paintball Productions (Ekron Army) to be the Generals for this event.

The storyline for the game was Ekron was looking to build WMD’s and unleash it on the UNA army. UNA’s job was to find the WMD’s before Ekron and beat back the Ekron army once again. My team Foxhound Ops was running with the UNA army that weekend. With more than half of the paintball fields reserved for the game and their boundary tapes lowered, we found ourselves going into areas that were unfamiliar to us because some of the fields had not been used in a long time. These areas were filled with overgrown plants and small pathways in which to maneuver. This offered plenty of cover for both armies to launch ambushes and to also get lost within each other’s lines of advance. Occasionally we would find ourselves going in circles if we weren’t careful. The Generals had us run missions ranging from patrolling certain areas, retrieving intel, finding props and bringing them back, holding flag stations, to the fun mission of blowing up the opposing team’s CP (Command Post) with their General inside.

Both days ended with a Blender/Bloodbath type battle with both teams on one single field with the main objective of overrunning the opposing teams start point. Saturdays Blender saw the UNA push hard and taking the field away from Ekron after a 20 minute fire fight. Sundays Blender had both armies shooting it out in the city of Beirut. For every building gained by either team, another was lost. This game lasted more than 30 minutes with no team having the advantage. In the end, as both teams came off the field and waited for the results of the game; Team UNA was able to pull out a win by having the advantage of having blown up Ekron’s CP one more time than Ekron.

Although the game started on Saturday later than I like, I did have fun both days. I got to sleep at a teammate’s house and eat some awesome food. Bartered with the same teammate with our gear (1yr old Rotor for a 48/4500 air tank). My new Dye DM10 was called sexy by a handful of people who saw it. It also fired flawlessly. First time in a while that our whole team showed up and played together, it was great to see them and catch up. All in all, it was an awesome paintball filled weekend even if I did have to come home with a few bruises and sore muscles. So as I write this, I now have to get ready to pack and fly out to Reno in September for another scenario game that Charles is producing at Herbie’s Paintball Park in Fernley, NV. Starship Trooper: Always bet on Aces, ready or not here I come!

Really?!

Yes really! I know it sounds crazy and may not measure up to the 13 year old who summited Everest or the 17 year old making a solo sailing trip around the world this year, but it's something I first thought about in the summer of 2008. Two years ago, my parents took our family out to Hawaii as Christmas gift. During this trip I had a chance to paintball for a couple of hours at Paintball Heaven in Hilo, Hawaii. Once back on the mainland, I thought how fun it would be if I could paintball in Hawaii again. The thought did not last long and retreated to the back of my mind.

During the last two years since returning from Hawaii, I have been going out to the field (SC Village) and getting to know some people. I joined the Foxhound Ops. team in the winter of 2008. After joining this team, I have traveled with them to Northern California and Oregon for different paintball games and have made great friends along the way. In May of this year, after paintballing again in Northern CA something clicked in my head. "If I could do something fun that I enjoy and make it a better experience for me what could I do?" Paintballing in Hawaii returned from the archives and into my thoughts. "Hawaii was fun lets add another state to that." Soon another state was added, another, another, and another. The end product is me visiting all 50 States and picking two paintball fields to play at in each state. Why all 50? Because I remember my Dad doing a trip to all 50 States and hiking in each of them. So if he can do it, I could do it also.

Some of you may be asking, why now Chris? I am doing this now, because I want to do it now and I have no excuse not to try and do it. I want to do something I do not believe anybody else has done yet. Plus, like it or not I am not getting any younger. I will still be living and working in Orange County (I can't fly or play for free) during this adventure. The plan is to save enough through out the months and take one or two day trips out to each state and go paintballing. So if your are interested in my adventures I invite you to follow me through this blog where I will be updating you all on what is going to happen, where, when, and how it ended.

If you want to make a field recommendation please email me or contact me on Facebook with your ideas. Thanks and I'll meet you in the middle.