Cool Paintball Scenarios

What makes a scenario paintball game cool? Compared to regular woodsball or speedball, what is it about paintball scenarios that make them popular with players? Understanding this idea is the core of why we started Think Tank Paintball. We want players to play paintball and do something that they find cool and memorable.

What is scenario paintball?

The Think Tank definition of "scenario paintball" includes the following features:

1. A story or plot that describes the context of the game and the teams involved.
2. A victory point scoring system, usually based on completion of missions/tasks and possession of objectives, territory or props.
3. A third-party entity controlling the missions or defining the goals. This is usually the scenario's "producer."

These are just the most common features. There is a lot of variation between individual scenarios. For instance, some scenarios feature roleplaying elements, while some are loosely based on historical events.

Additionally, almost all scenario games are also "big games." This means they have extended play times, usually from 8 to 26 hours, and an emphasis on large numbers of players, from hundreds to thousands. To accommodate all those players, the playing fields are large, sometimes hundreds of acres. Due to the longer game time, players usually have unlimited re-insertion into the game, often at set time intervals.

What makes scenario paintball cool?

So what about these factors make scenario paintball cooler than the usual paintball game?

The story or plot of a scenario paintball game helps players get involved and immersed in the game. When the goal is more than just a flag on a pole, players tend to get more involved in the game, even if the real-word effects are the same as grabbing a flag and holding it. An example is the Oklahoma D-Day game: players gain points by holding specific field locations that represent important historical locations in Normandy during Operation Neptune, like Omaha Beach.

Quality props, uniforms and effects give scenarios a very different "feel" than your average weekend game. You'll often see vehicles, smoke or pyrotechnics, and even costumes and other props. Some of the props are to increase immersion, but many are actually part of the scoring system for the game.

A scenario's long game time and high number of players means lots of "trigger time." Unlimited re-insertion means you can continue playing throughout those long play times. These two things combined mean lots of action for the players involved.

What do we think is cool?

There are certain factors that make some scenarios better than others. These factors make scenarios rise to a level that players tell stories about them for the rest of their paintball days. At Think Tank Paintball, a cool scenario has the following features:

1. An original story that gets the players involved, but doesn't weigh down the game. The story is a framework that helps players work toward a common goal. However, It is not critical to understand the story to play the game. Stories based on movies or video games are overused and boring. Historical stories can be cool only if the players aren't forced to the same outcome as history.
2. Lots of player participation in costume/theme as possible. The airsoft/mil-sim world is excellent at requiring players to look the same. In a perfect world, each team would have a unique uniform.
3. Player roles that provide specific in-game effects. Roles like Medic or Squad Leader are cool because the player does something that affects the game. Roles that are too abstract provide nothing for player enjoyment. For example, being assigned a role of "scientist" without some benefit for your team is a waste of time for a player.
4. Missions that matter. Players should know as much as possible about their mission and why it matters to the team. It could be scoring points, or gathering information, or providing the team with special privileges.
5. Better objectives than just flags. Scenarios are all about pretending. Let the players actually capture the bridge, or take out the bunker with a mock satchel charge, rather than hoist a flag on a rope.

Of course, Think Tank paintball has a preference for paintball that is military in nature, vs. other fantasy themes. That is because so much of paintball is like "playing army" rather than "playing knights."

Scenarios don't have to be big games to be cool. With a simple theme, some basic props, and a few interesting missions, you can play a scenario with a group as small as 20 players. Instead of a monster 24-hour game, you can play 2 action-packed hours. That's the basic premise behind many Think Tank Paintball events. Players get to do something different, even without the big production values that many scenarios have.

So if you haven't already, give a scenario game a try. You'll find a whole different paintball experience. If you are in the DFW area, sign up for our newsletter and keep informed of the mini-scenarios and alternative play days that we host. We hope to see you there!