How to Play a PAN AM Game

[ClockworkMiller]

Here's a summary of how to play in a Pan Am (limited paint) 5 man game. I've been asked this or heard this asked so many times, I figured I'll do my best to explain the strategy that I've seen work the best.

The Fields and Strategery: You should under all circumstances walk to fields as long as you can. Know the fields like the back of your hand. Know them better. Practice breaking, see if there are any angles you just cant see. Make sure someone on your team can. Each team has their own individual playing style, but the fewer players you have, the more agressive you have to be. Sitting back and waiting for them to come to you will get you torn to shreds faster than you can say "cat in the hat". With this in mind, a fast break and a steady motion will keep your team up in numbers and in points. The flag is not your number one goal, only a byproduct of what is called a Zone offense.

Zoning: A zone offense is the exact same theory that goes into a zone defense for basketball. Each player has an area and is responsible for every opposing player in that area. I sketched out an example below. With 5 players, you dont want your back center, so he plays to your weak side. I play to the left, since I find it easier to shoot right handed. It really doesnt matter, unless you notice 3 of your opponents lining up on your left, then your back center should change to the right. This strategy is imperitive that each person get to their bunker as quickly as possible, but more importantly, as safely. I've found the best way to do this is to send your 2 front to their positions off of the break as your back sees the field. Once they cross up, get your back to his position, and then your mids. This way, most of the field is covered by the time your mids begin to open up. Each player just watches his field, but listens to the back. If his area is empty, then he can look to his neighboring zones for aid. And remember, always take a shot if you have one.

Before the Game Preperation: This is after you chrono, but before you take the field. Each player should have their 200 rounds in two 100 round pods, not in their hopper. Since most hoppers can only hold 170 to 180 paintballs, you're not getting the most paint on the field. Once the ref checks your pods, poor them into your hopper so that each player has one pod with about 25 paintballs left in it. Poor all of these into one pod (should fill it) and give it to your back player. You should only have one backplayer anyways. Your backplayer should also have a gametime set. The rest of the players dont need them, but for the back, it is essential. Leave all excess equipment at the door. Dont bring harnesses onto the field, or car keys or wallets. Make yourself as lite as possible. Also, if you can, use the smallest tank available. If you can run CO2 well, invest in a 9oz tank. You only need to shoot less then 200 shots, so there is no need to bring the 114cui/20oz tank onto the field. Smaller tanks also help you keep tighter to your bunker. Set your game times, and walk onto the field.

The rest of how you play is up to you. Good luck. Oh, and add anything else you think is necessary or I may have forgotten.

[Wuzup101]

Hum...nice info man...I'll have to remember that if I ever get out of the north east :)

[ClockworkMiller]

It works for any 5man limited paint game, Im sure.

[Dolemite79]

Just goes to show that planning and execution of the plan are 2 seprate things ask the Wildcats how many games they won in the last panam event they played :dizzy:

[Flanders]

yea ll thats god, but id have the back push up more

[ClockworkMiller]

oh dolemite be nice. I developed this after watching a lot of teams play, and my team hasnt had a chance to practice it at all.

[Dolemite79]

Just callin things how i see them :D

[ClockworkMiller]

you suck:D

[Dolemite79]

lol nope :P

[team hessians]

hey clockwork, right on, thanks for the info, that will really help my team dude. :nod:

[Arizona Wildcat]

You know that i would actually believe that it would work if you guys didn't suck so much. How can you come on this forum and post that when you guys blow chunks, and who cares if your going to the world cup. Your not some paintball God. Bring it on baby!

[Hessian_01]

dude, why do you gotta be a cock? Stop the spamming....

[Arizona Wildcat]

Dude. How can you post something that's common sense and call it a new idea. That's text book stuff. Ok. So here it is. In a perfect world all you guys make it to the 50, and nobody gets laned. (What do you think the other team wants to do, Duh! get to the 50. ) On paper it looks great but that's not how paintball works. People get laned, some are not fast enough and some people suck hard. It's the right idea in a perfect world, it's common sense, but not everybody can do it. So yes i'm a cock, but i'm right. So shove it Saddam Hussien.

[Hessian_01]

Originally posted by ClockworkMiller
Here's a summary of how to play in a Pan Am (limited paint) 5 man game. I've been asked this or heard this asked so many times, I figured I'll do my best to explain the strategy that I've seen work the best.

The Fields and Strategery: You should under all circumstances walk to fields as long as you can. Know the fields like the back of your hand. Know them better. Practice breaking, see if there are any angles you just cant see. Make sure someone on your team can. Each team has their own individual playing style, but the fewer players you have, the more agressive you have to be. Sitting back and waiting for them to come to you will get you torn to shreds faster than you can say "cat in the hat". With this in mind, a fast break and a steady motion will keep your team up in numbers and in points. The flag is not your number one goal, only a byproduct of what is called a Zone offense.

Zoning: A zone offense is the exact same theory that goes into a zone defense for basketball. Each player has an area and is responsible for every opposing player in that area. I sketched out an example below. With 5 players, you dont want your back center, so he plays to your weak side. I play to the left, since I find it easier to shoot right handed. It really doesnt matter, unless you notice 3 of your opponents lining up on your left, then your back center should change to the right. This strategy is imperitive that each person get to their bunker as quickly as possible, but more importantly, as safely. I've found the best way to do this is to send your 2 front to their positions off of the break as your back sees the field. Once they cross up, get your back to his position, and then your mids. This way, most of the field is covered by the time your mids begin to open up. Each player just watches his field, but listens to the back. If his area is empty, then he can look to his neighboring zones for aid. And remember, always take a shot if you have one.

Before the Game Preperation: This is after you chrono, but before you take the field. Each player should have their 200 rounds in two 100 round pods, not in their hopper. Since most hoppers can only hold 170 to 180 paintballs, you're not getting the most paint on the field. Once the ref checks your pods, poor them into your hopper so that each player has one pod with about 25 paintballs left in it. Poor all of these into one pod (should fill it) and give it to your back player. You should only have one backplayer anyways. Your backplayer should also have a gametime set. The rest of the players dont need them, but for the back, it is essential. Leave all excess equipment at the door. Dont bring harnesses onto the field, or car keys or wallets. Make yourself as lite as possible. Also, if you can, use the smallest tank available. If you can run CO2 well, invest in a 9oz tank. You only need to shoot less then 200 shots, so there is no need to bring the 114cui/20oz tank onto the field. Smaller tanks also help you keep tighter to your bunker. Set your game times, and walk onto the field.

The rest of how you play is up to you. Good luck. Oh, and add anything else you think is necessary or I may have forgotten.
no where in there does he call it a new idea. Of course its not every body is going to make it to the fifty. Have you ever played chess, its exactly like a chess strategy; it all depends on what the other team is going to do. It's good info for people who havent played panam and are going to panam (the hessians).. so if you could not be a cock, that'd be great- thanks...

[Arizona Wildcat]

Ok so what events have you been to? Pan am punk? Try playing with the big boys. Take your shocker and play some nppl. Tell you what. I will meet you at sc village for practice this weekend. We can play ball and talk some stragety after i shoot you in the face. Now try taking advice from somebody who plays and has experience and not somebody who says he going to play in the world cup. Big deal been there done that. Get smart act your age! O' sorry your young.
Thanks for your time.

Wild West Paintball Open 3 Man - Queen Creek, AZ
Division: none (open)
Placed: 15th out of 16 Teams

NPPL/PSP Chicago Open - Badlandz - Crete, IL
Division: Rookie
Placed 16th of 22 teams, SO SINCE ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS PLAYED THIS EVENT THE WHOLE TEAM GETS CREDIT... NOT!

Pan Am Affiliate - Sudden Impact Paintball, Marana, AZ Division: Rookie
Place - 14th out of 15 Teams


OUCH!:eek:

[Dolemite79]

yup thers the proof
they suck
lol

[team hessians]

well we don't live in cali so your idea of playing each other this weekend...:tdown:

you don't like the ideas he's tossing out? then get outta this thread. man some people have the worst freaking attitudes I've ever seen.

i don't want to hear the crap you gotta say.

goodness, help a brother out, say something constructive.

you going to pan am in december? if you are I'll see ya there
:kiss:

peace...

[ClockworkMiller]

Arizona Wildcat,

You know, this wouldnt bother me so much if you didnt act so completely immature and then say "act your age". Irony at it's best, eh?

I didnt say it was a new idea, nor did I say my team had used it. I have seen it used, and spoken to Am teams in the Pan Am, and they all recommended this type of strategy for teams who have yet to play in Pan Am tournaments.

Oh, and who the fsck do you think you are bashing my team? Where's your team and there wonderful winning recond, huh?

Of course someone as completely inane as you would rather spend their time mindlessly flaming someone you've never met (I love the name by the way, you come up with that all by yourself?) instead of actually helping people.

If you are so sure you're right, post with you're real nick, and maybe we'll listen to you. Well, we wont, but we'll make you feel a lot less alone than you are right now.

[ClockworkMiller]

Hessian,

we should be at the Pan Am, but I really dont know how our schedule will look. A few guys on our team are typical poor college students, so playing paintball isnt as high a priority as it is for the rest of us, which means some tournaments, we just wont be able to cover entry fees. Its all cool though, hopefully we'll see you guys there. Good Luck.

[Arizona Wildcat]

dear, clockworkorange and team Saddamm hussien.

I really don't like you guys being so mean! It hurts my feelings. First off, maybe your team should use it. It might help. maybe not, or probly not. As for panam im usually there if my captain permits. He's kinda strict. Maybe if you guys would play some nppl. I could show you how to shoot lots of paint. And im not inane, i don't even know what that means. And get your little groupies to calm down. You guys are very angry. I know a good anger managment course you guys can attend. Please can't we all just get along! See ya at the cup, Cause im going!
Ryan.

O' ya Peace.

[Arizona Wildcat]

I guess i would be mad if my team sucked and was named after a terrorist.

[team hessians]

clockwork-that would be cool if i saw ya there.

AZ wildcat-whatever dude

[ImpYa]

AZ Wildcat whats up man? Why are you bashing them so much? The guy is just trying to help...if he is wrong, post the right way.

Oh yeah...see all of ya at the world cup.;) :D :cool:

ImpYa

[Dolemite79]

I know who arizona wildcat is and i can say honestley that his team finshes in the top 3 every tourny they attend and he has been playing torunies for a veyr long time. oh and i know for a fact that you have played aginst him. Oh and what Am teams have u talked to about yer so called strategy? Anyways I know that wildcat doesnt have anything aginst your team Just u Clocky. You act like a paintball know it all and god, and quite simply you are not, ive seen your team play (I reffed the PANAM affliate) and ive played aginst you. Really u suck and need to show a bit of humility. Try asking for advice instead of giving it out. I dont see any other members of your team going around and posting like they know everything, Clockwork you ask for trouble with your mouth, I can remeber 2 or 3 posts where your are simply being provocative and arrgonat such as the whole Why Sudden Impact in Tucson sucks hard and the whole why dynasty blows threads. Clocky you dont know Sh1t you are new to the tournement scene and do not have the skills to backup your large mouth. You are giving your team a bad reputation. Oh and clocky ill be at the world cup on the hand picked Tucson teamand ill be look forward to goggin ya

Hessians i have no beef with you my point was that theres no point in makin a complicated plan if you cant execute the basics and not to take advice from players who talk but cant back it up. we will have 2 nov teams and 2 rookie teams at the vegas panam Attitude Novs, PBHQ Factory team, Attitude Unreal, and Attitude Onslaught

[team hessians]

cool see ya there

[ClockworkMiller]

lol, now why ya gotta bring up old **** like that for? The Sudden Impact thread was me just being pissed off and venting some steam. You guys are a hell of a lot better than the other field (I cant remember the name of it).

Im not saying that Im right or that this is the best strategy, but it was something someone shared with me, it sounds like a good idea, so I decided to post it here. Thats it. Im not even taking credit for the idea.

Im just the most visible of my team mates, I seem to remember my captian (msiaematrix) getting banned from these forums, so obviously he's not gonna post.

Im sorry if I came off as a know it all or anything like that. I was just posting an idea (I'll admit, in hindsight, I phrased the topic wrong) but that doesnt justify someone just ripping into me or anyone else. If you think that there is a flaw in the general idea, or have something better, then share, but dont just say "you're wrong and you suck" cause you just sound stupid.

And Dolemite, if the IAO is a reflection of how the team Im playing on does, then I look forward to being gogged by you.

Oh, and one quick question...is it unethical to have a team both ref and play in the same tournament? Im just wondering.

[VVhiteGuy]

hey AZ wildcat what day u going to be at SC im goin and i want to play u, even though i suck i wanna learn something new

[Dolemite79]

LOl please the competion at the IAO is much weaker than the world cup give me a break. Fact: Teams that do not practice together do not do well agianst better talent. I dont believe that the NCPA All stars are able to practice together. plus they didnt do very well in thier first NPPL, in our First NPPL we made the semis big diffrence there buddy. This team from Tucson will be practing at SC village aginst top pro teams and will be practing top AM teams in state such as Phx heat. So no you wont be gogging me, please dont mistake the IAO for Cup big diffrence (again this shows your lack of knowledge)

as far as a team both refing and playing in the same tournament, that was not the case (as you are infering about the affliate) All the Attitude Ams reffed The attitude novs played we go on a rotating schedule for local torunmnets. There is no mixing and matching of players we do this purposley to avoid conflict, and if it wasnt for us reffing then you wouldnt of had much of a torunmnet

[Flanders]

wo eery one take it easy

first off, u guys bost so much about how clock work sucks, now true or untrue, where is oit that truly backs u up, for all we know, u didn't even play, ur were to chiken or not enough skill
second, playing aint all for wining, if he played as hard as he could, he did his best, what more can u expect of a guy, if u blew through there, u have no right to dis clockwork, u are wimps by playing people below u, move up to soemthing more chalenging, unless ur afraid of looseing, which is the worst kinda fear, u should be scared of not being able to do ur job, or ur gun breaking down, but not of loosing, u can't loose if u try as hard as u can, come in last, so waht u tried u learned

so every one chill, and good plan bad plan old or new plan, it's a plan which is more then ive had going into a few games, so just let him post what he wqnts, and if u have comments like the ones ur making, pm him so he can ignore ur ***, and make comments on what u think would be a better idea

so calm down, lets here what every one's plan would be for this kinda situation

[ClockworkMiller]

Originally posted by ClockworkMiller
And Dolemite, if the IAO is a reflection of how the team Im playing on does, then I look forward to being gogged by you.
Learn to read, maybe. Just a thought. Saves a lot of time.

And I wasnt referring to your tournament, but it does bring up an interesting point all the same...

[tonysk83]

Originally posted by Dolemite79

Hessians i have no beef with you my point was that theres no point in makin a complicated plan if you cant execute the basics and not to take advice from players who talk but cant back it up. we will have 2 nov teams and 2 rookie teams at the vegas panam Attitude Novs, PBHQ Factory team, Attitude Unreal, and Attitude Onslaught

well lets see Attitude Unreal is in 76 place with 25 point currently tied with AZ Wildcats

i cant even find the other teams, some of the teams names are attitude, thats it it could be a mistake

[ClockworkMiller]

go us with 25 points! Its not like I care how we place. I just play for the thrill. Winning is a nice side effect.

[Hessian_01]

:paranoid:
im scared of people who use "u" and "ur".....

this is team hessians first tournament so i think we will get pasted, but oh well...

[Dolemite79]

Tonysk83 if u look up in 9th place u will see the team called unreal thats the team the points are currentley messed up bcuz of name changes same with all the attitudes in the nov divsion they are actully all one team

dan bonebrake is working on rectifying the scores
so when its all added together Unreal will be in 7th place
and when the the nov scores are added up they will be in 8th place
onslaught is in 13th place and as for pbhq factory team
they have yet to play, its most of the amature team (the amature team is done with panam for the season) and will be playing as pbhq factory in vegas

sorry for the confusion on the names the mistakes are all being rectified.
but all the attitude teams are sittin good in the rankins thnx for your intrest in our scores

[ClockworkMiller]

wait, so Attitude is now PBHQ Factory Team? And Unreal and Onslaught are now Attitude Unreal and Attitude Onslaught which I thought were nov teams, but where does Attitude Novs fit into this?

[tonysk83]

Originally posted by Dolemite79
Tonysk83 if u look up in 9th place u will see the team called unreal thats the team the points are currentley messed up bcuz of name changes same with all the attitudes in the nov divsion they are actully all one team

dan bonebrake is working on rectifying the scores
so when its all added together Unreal will be in 7th place
and when the the nov scores are added up they will be in 8th place
onslaught is in 13th place and as for pbhq factory team
they have yet to play, its most of the amature team (the amature team is done with panam for the season) and will be playing as pbhq factory in vegas

sorry for the confusion on the names the mistakes are all being rectified.
but all the attitude teams are sittin good in the rankins thnx for your intrest in our scores

ok sounds good

[Arizona Wildcat]

OK. Now that I have everybodys attention, and this subject is hot. And dolemite thinks he knows me, and everybody is pissed off and i really don't care. You guys could follow this guys idea of how the panam should run BUT, and i say BUT, don't focus on the plan too much. Everybody and every team has a plan to follow but it hardly ever works the way it's supposed to. what happens is a new team tries so hard to make the plan work and there focus in so much on the PLAN that they forget the basic ideas of paintball. Then the plan blows up in there face. Just get off your butts and Practice every saturday or sunday. Ya some people can't afford to play every weekend, but you don't always need paint to practice. Limit your paint usage. If your playing panam practice with 100 rounds instead of 200. This will get you to shoot less and hit more. It will also save money. And don't buy all these fancy upgrades for your gun when you could be buying Paint. Ya you have the coolest gun but you suck cause you don't have paint to practice. Do pop-up drills. Pop shots. don't be weenies and practice eachother. practice teams that will smack you down. Ya you lose but you can see what you need to work on. and most of the time that team will tell you what you did wrong. See what moves they make. That's the problem with teams. THEY DON'T PRACTICE. they don't practice the basic fundamentals and they focus on a PLAN. Teams wonder why they suck. You see the UofA team could be a great team. They have some guys who played for awhile but i never see them practice, or even play. at least i havn't seen them do much. Now yes have a plan, but don't let it be your mistake. lates

[ClockworkMiller]

thats the unfortunate thing about playing on a college team. 3 months out of the year, you all live somewhere else and cant practice. We should be at Sudden Impact every Sunday this semester, and I plan on being there more. We've got A LOT we need to work on.