Admin: Add United States tournament and American decade categories; verify final standings, correct the five-player finals citation and explain separate final groups.

2026-10-31T11:41:50Z

Add United States tournament and American decade categories; verify final standings, correct the five-player finals citation and explain separate final groups.

Show changes

Admin: Rewritten and consolidated using contemporary APG and WARPIG coverage; clarified the competition formats and eligibility rules, retained the complete leading results, and expanded the documented trade show, industry conference, awards and international participation.

2026-10-22T19:34:03Z

Rewritten and consolidated using contemporary APG and WARPIG coverage; clarified the competition formats and eligibility rules, retained the complete leading results, and expanded the documented trade show, industry conference, awards and international participation.

Show changes

Admin: Created a year-specific article for the 1998 ZAP International Amateur Open using contemporary APG and WARPIG coverage; added the event format, eligibility rules, division results, sportsmanship awards, trade show and industry conference.

2026-10-22T19:24:10Z

Created a year-specific article for the 1998 ZAP International Amateur Open using contemporary APG and WARPIG coverage; added the event format, eligibility rules, division results, sportsmanship awards, trade show and industry conference.

New page

'''The 1998 ZAP International Amateur Open''' was a tournament [[paintball]] event held from 4 to 9 August 1998 at Three Rivers Paintball Games near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Part of the annual [[International Amateur Open]], the event combined three-player, five-player, pump and ten-player competitions with a paintball trade show and industry conference.[1][2]

More than 1,000 players attended. Johnstown Highlanders won the amateur five-player competition, Missouri Magic won the novice five-player competition and Thunderstruck won the ten-player competition. Team Brass Eagle won the three-player arena competition, while Adrenalin won the five-player pump tournament.[1]

== Organisation ==

The event was produced by Debra and Ryan Krischke through Team Effort Events, with ZAP Paintballs serving as its title sponsor. The competition was held at Three Rivers Paintball Games, which used approximately 70 acres of rolling woodland for the tournament fields.[1]

The programme ran from 4 to 9 August, with tournament play beginning on 5 August. Contemporary reporting described the International Amateur Open as both a major amateur tournament and an important annual gathering for the paintball industry.[1][2]

== Competition ==

The tournament attracted 98 five-player teams, 48 ten-player teams and 24 three-player teams. Teams travelled from across the United States and from countries including Brazil and Japan.[1]

=== Five-player competition ===

The amateur five-player competition began with 64 teams divided into eight preliminary divisions of eight teams. Higher-ranked teams were seeded across the divisions, while organisers also attempted to separate teams from the same geographical areas. Two teams from each division and four wildcard teams advanced to the semi-finals.[1][3]

Games used a centre-flag format in which teams attempted to capture the central flag and hang it at the opposing team's station. Games lasted ten minutes and used a 110-point scoring system.[1]

The novice division was restricted to entry-level teams, with organisers reviewing players' experience where necessary. The five-player competition also included a pump tournament in which competitors used [[Brass Eagle Talon]] pump markers, a limited supply of paint and twelve-gram carbon-dioxide cartridges.[1]

=== Ten-player competition ===

The ten-player competition ran from Friday to Sunday. It used a traditional capture-the-flag format, with each team beginning at its own flag station and attempting to return the opposing flag to its starting station.[1]

The preliminary competition was divided into six divisions of eight teams. The two leading teams from each division and four wildcard teams advanced to the semi-finals.[1][4]

=== Eligibility and rules ===

The event was intended for amateur and developing players. Professional players were prohibited from entering, with eligibility determined partly through professional team rosters and [[National Professional Paintball League]] rankings. Winners from the previous two International Amateur Opens were also prevented from entering the same division they had won.[1]

Team rosters and photographic identification were checked before play, and competitors were issued identification wristbands. The rules were based on the amateur rules developed from the former National Survival Game–International Paintball Players Association rules.[1]

The maximum permitted velocity was 285 feet per second when entering the field and 300 feet per second when leaving it. Fully automatic and auto-response firing systems were prohibited.[1]

== Results ==

=== Five-player amateur ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| Johnstown Highlanders
|-
| 2
| Sonic Rage–Black
|-
| 3
| Rebellion
|-
| 4
| Iron Legion
|-
| 5
| Boyz
|-
| 6
| Team Bezerkers
|-
| 7
| Rapid Fire
|-
| 8
| Final Notice
|}

=== Five-player novice ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| Missouri Magic
|-
| 2
| Wrecking Crew
|-
| 3
| PA Trespassers
|-
| 4
| Team Rogue
|}

=== Ten-player ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| Thunderstruck
|-
| 2
| T.B.A.
|-
| 3
| Missouri Magic
|-
| 4
| Oh-No's
|-
| 5
| Green Dragons
|-
| 6
| Outsiders
|-
| 7
| Actiontown Sports
|-
| 8
| Zero Tolerance
|}

Actiontown Sports and Zero Tolerance qualified for the final round but did not compete in it.[1][4]

=== Three-player arena ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| Team Brass Eagle
|-
| 2
| Rapid Fire
|-
| 3
| Nemesis
|-
| 4
| The Family 2
|-
| 5
| Bad Karma
|-
| 6
| Thor Omega
|}

The three-player competition was played on an arena speedball field positioned near the event's main spectator area.[1][5]

=== Five-player pump ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| Adrenalin
|-
| 2
| Wide Load
|-
| 3
| Bad Boys
|}

== Sportsmanship and awards ==

Bad Dream received the five-player sportsmanship award, while Missouri Magic received the corresponding ten-player award.[1][2]

Other event awards included:

* '''Ms. Paintball International 1999:''' Emily Fleming of Phantom Force and the Iron Maidens;
* '''Mr. Paintball:''' Bill Milburn of the Outsiders;
* '''Young Guns award:''' The Little Warriors;
* '''ZAP Ambassador Award:''' Bad Dream; and
* '''Long-distance awards:''' Far East Dragons of Japan in five-player competition and Mercenarios of Brazil in ten-player competition.[1]

The event's charitable programme allowed award recipients to nominate charities for donations funded by raffle proceeds and event sponsors.[1]

== Trade show and industry conference ==

The International Amateur Open included a trade show with more than 70 vendor booths. Products displayed or introduced at the event included the [[Tippmann Model 98]], Air Star Nova 700, Barrel International Rhino, Airgun Designs Z-Grip, a replacement circuit board for the [[Smart Parts Shocker]], the ProMag 600 feed system and an AKA low-pressure kit for the [[Angel (paintball marker)|Angel]].[1][6]

The associated industry conference was attended by approximately 200 participants and included discussions of paintball marketing, firing-rate controls and other industry matters. Lifetime achievement awards were presented to Bob Maguire of American Paintball League and Jerry Dobbins of Indian Creek Design.[1]

== Media coverage ==

''[[Action Pursuit Games]]'' published an eight-page illustrated report on the event in its January 1999 issue.[1] [[WARPIG]] provided contemporary online coverage, including scores, photographs, product reports and three [[PigTV]] programmes covering the industry conference, tournament play, trade show and players' party.[2]

== See also ==

* [[International Amateur Open]]
* [[Three Rivers Paintball]]
* [[ZAP Paintballs]]
* [[1998 in paintball]]

== References ==

# “The 1998 ZAP International Amateur Open: Experiences to Dazzle and Tantalize!”, staff report, photographs by Skirmish USA, ''Action Pursuit Games'', Vol. 13, No. 1, January 1999, pp. 54–61.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/zapam98/index.shtml WARPIG – 1998 ZAP Amateur Open coverage]
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/zapam98/5mansemi.shtml WARPIG – 1998 ZAP Amateur Open five-player semi-finals]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/zapam98/10mansemi.shtml WARPIG – 1998 ZAP Amateur Open ten-player semi-finals and finals]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/zapam98/3man.shtml WARPIG – 1998 ZAP Amateur Open three-player results]
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/zapam98/newprod/index.shtml WARPIG – New products from the 1998 ZAP Amateur Open]

== External links ==

* [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/zapam98/index.shtml WARPIG contemporary event coverage]

[[Category:Paintball tournaments]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:International Amateur Open]]
[[Category:1998 in paintball]]
[[Category:Paintball in Pennsylvania]]

1998 ZAP International Amateur Open - Revision history

Admin: Add United States tournament and American decade categories; verify final standings, correct the five-player finals citation and explain separate final groups.

Admin: Rewritten and consolidated using contemporary APG and WARPIG coverage; clarified the competition formats and eligibility rules, retained the complete leading results, and expanded the documented trade show, industry conference, awards and international participation.

Admin: Created a year-specific article for the 1998 ZAP International Amateur Open using contemporary APG and WARPIG coverage; added the event format, eligibility rules, division results, sportsmanship awards, trade show and industry conference.