The CatShack’s Report on Paintball in Portugal
The Walk On Day finally arrived! While that may not seem to be anything huge to any of us here in North America …believe me when I say it is a very BIG thing in Portugal where paintball is still in its relative infancy.
The Catshack Reports has been going international in an effort to see and check out at least via the internet what it is like to experience paintball in other countries.
Welcome to the Catshack Reports Alexandre Sá of Portugal whose first contact with paintball was at the age of 12 at a birthday party. He loved it, but lived in a part of Portugal where paintball was almost non existent. At 18 he moved to the city of Oporto to study Engineering. While there he met other people who played the game so he started playing occasionally with rental equipment for a couple of years. When the group of friends started hearing about Paintugal and “Big Gamesâ€Â six of the group got together to attend one and try it. Once was enough to get hooked , they never missed another game since that fateful day. It was that defining moment where they officially formed their team that continues to exist to this day. Of course they purchased all their own gear and now its incredible how many places they have visited, so many people they have met and all the friends they have made by playing rec or scenario games hosted by Paintugal or otherwise!
Throughout this journey there are two special thank yous Alex wishes to extend: to his team GJLP, for being the fantastic group that they are and Paintugal, for having created and innovated so many epic games and opening so many doors to the national Paintball world!
Over the years Alex’s team was always supported by the Emboscada store and during this time they developed a mutual helping relationship, When the group wanted to organize their 3rd GJLP Day “MAD MAX – OIL DRUMS OF WARâ€, Emboscada instantly allowed them use of their own field.
Never was a Scenario event hosted at that field before and it was a huge success. That made them realize there was a lot to be done for the rec/scenario world . The community had grown, and they were demanding a lot more than ever from game hosts and promoters, in terms of quality from field of play to services provided… ..so.. Alex was looking for a job, the job was there… It just made sense, so Alex went to work managing the paintball field.
With the growth witnessed in scenario play over the last 5 years, the Emboscada field had to adapt to this “new reality†and finally opened their doors for big well organized scenarios.
According to Alex he mentions “It’s not easy and I doubt there’s any commercial entity or game promoter that can make a profit with Big Games anytime soon in Portugal, there are lots of expenses, and the players, even the community as a whole which is strong and well organized are just not willing to pay the same as in other countries. Let’s face it every month now there’s everywhere between one to three free “Big Games†hosted by teams or small clubs…thus great difficulty in getting paintball really organized in the country”.
Speaking on behalf of Emboscada, Alex is hoping that by creating one big annual monster event, it will prove to these teams that the prices asked of them for in admission fees will be more than justified, thus creating a game that will set itself apart from all the others…
Now here is an interesting fact, in Portugal exists a huge gap between the occasional /rental players and the rest of the organized community. To date there hasn’t been an event that could create a bridge to those “lone wolves†without a team, or players without their own gear, or even the guys that got their own stuff cause they like it, but had nowhere to play at..
Secondly some new gun and ammunition laws have caused a lot of trouble to many players and the community became afraid to play at most of their outlaw fields, that were usually abandoned public or private lands. It was necessary to offer the players a field where they could feel safe while playing and where they can take their friends and family for a nice outdoors day…
Last but not least over a 50 Km radius there are over 20 different recreation/scenario teams, and half of them don’t know the others exist, which leads them to play most often alone and become demotivated which has often lead to many quitting the game altogether.
The defined need to lead paintball into a more organized state has lead Alex and the staff at Emboscada to create “Emboscada Dayâ€. Basically its an opportunity for players that are looking for a team and for teams looking for players to come together. Its a day of trouble free paintballing, and an opportunity to showcase the sport to friends and family in a safe and comfortable environment.
On the very first Emboscada Day – “Operation Conquest†(1st Walkon Day) they had 40 players and 3 different 30/40 minute games each in a different playing field with respawning and simple “take and hold†objectives. For future events they plan to still use the existing playing fields, or they can use the whole park depending on how registration goes.
Plus , they are in the final stages of construction of two new fields with a capacity for even bigger groups! Again it all depends on how many guys register, they will adapt to make better and more fun games… The objectives on the other hand are going to be always different from one event to the other and eventually more complex to avoid monotonous games
Emboscada charges a registration fee of 7.5€ ( $11.2810 USD) with different pricing for teams that includes admission to the venue, insurance and HPA. All games are played in the morning and you can then stay in the Park for lunch and hang out with other teams/players or you can try for free other activities available there. At the 1st walkon(October) they gave free admission and opened the Airball Fields for Rec/Scenario players to try out and enjoy 3 man games, next month it will be the Slides and Climbing Wall.
Rental players are always evenly distributed between both teams, thus exposing them to more experienced players and teams, making for a more complex game but all the more rewarding, this way they spend a whole morning playing till exhausted. For them it’s a totally different environment and experience than a rental game with rental players only.
Walk On days are an opportunity for ex competition players too, some don’t have enough time to play/practice, others still have lost the will to stay in a competition team , either way they can join in and have a trouble free gaming environment where they can keep in touch with the sport just for fun!
As a result of these efforts, Emboscada is playing a huge part in creating that bridge between sporadic players and regulars, making it easier for new people to enter the sport and grow inside a much more developed community.
Every walkon player is given the safety rules and field regulations used in all major events throughout the world familiarizing them with it. Through this teams have a much improved game style that’s becoming more and more universal daily. Besides with more teams getting to know each other and playing together better relationships have been built between teams on and off the playing field. Today exists a much more healthy environment in the Portuguese scenario community due in part to the amazing efforts of Alexandre Sá and the staff of Emboscada Paintball.
For more information on Emboscada Paintball please visit http://www.emboscada.pt/parque/ please note the website is in Portuguese
Submission courtesy of Luis “Ferra” Canto, Officer of the Milsim Empire
