Branding Arc, Inc. created the brand NSA Paintball to produce scenario paintball events with our partners at Hot Shots Paintball here in South Florida. The Branding Arc team includes a few regular players and along with our friends, we wanted to find ways to create day-long games with interactive storylines and of course, plenty of paintball action.

We have had the opportunity to produce 2 different paintball events at Hot Shots, both of which were attended by over 150 players. At the time we didn’t have social media or many of the current marketing tools to promote the events, but people really got into the scenario storylines.

Bootlegger Scenario, Event (1930’s Chicago Gangsters)

We divided the 20 acre Hot Shots facility into 2 main bases (distilleries) and 6 neutral (neighborhoods) giving each of the neighborhoods an authentic Chicago name. We divided the players into two main teams, Al Capone’s Gang and The Northside Gang. Each hour, we would deliver (5) 5-gallon buckets 3/4 full of water to each teams distillery. The main objective of the game was for each team to transport their buckets to a neighborhood, and control that neighborhood (with the bucket) for 5 minutes. Each time they were able to successfully defend for 5 minutes, they would receive “money” that could be used for “special perks”. Other special objectives were also offered to each team so they could earn extra money.

The hardest part of the of coordinating a great game is keeping things balanced. Scenario paintball events draw all types of people from families using rental equipment to organize scenario teams that show up well equipped prepared to out-gun all opponents. The challenge is that the organized teams want to play together and even after splitting them up, trying to create perfectly balanced teams is pretty much impossible. However; it is the key to a great game. When the more powerful team eventually pushes their opponent back to their re-spawn location, you need to have a way to get things back in balance.

For this game we used a third team, “The Police” consisting of local professional team Palm Beach Vipers to keep things balanced. The “money” each team collected by completing objectives could be used to “pay-off” the Police to assist in completing objectives. When one team would push another back, as event coordinators, the Police were the perfect solution to keep the game going consecutively for 10 hours.

We wrote an official rule book (download Bootlegger Scenario Rulebook PDF) and distributed it online so people could show up prepared to handle some of the unique challenges that awaited them. Players showed up with all types of custom equipment (see NSA Paintball Double Gunner Setup on YouTube), costumes and more.

Gold Rush Scenario, Event (1890’s South Dakota Pioneers)

After the success of our first event, we decided to produce a second event with a similar game plan, but a different storyline to give players something new to look forward to. For this game, we changed from the 1930’s gangsters and used the setting of Deadwood South Dakota in the 1890’s. The general gameplay was the same and the Palm Beach Vipers were kind enough to play as our 3rd team “The Pinkertons” to keep things balanced.

It was another great event and we provided another detailed official rulebook (download Gold Rush Scenario Rulebook PDF) for players to come prepared. The second event had players showing up in some very creative costumes and turned out to be a fun day for the players.

The Future of NSA Paintball

Producing a scenario paintball event is a very time consuming undertaking. Coordinating enough appropriate refs and other on-field staff is challenging (and can require calling in a lot of favors). That being said, it is possible we will produce another event in the future. If you want us to produce another event, feel free to share your opinion in an email to [email protected].