Almost Famous Paintball League

Almost Famous Paintball League (AFPL) is a paintball tournament organisation associated with regional competition in California and the development of the Redzone playing format. Its events have included three-player and five-player competition, divisional RaceTo tournaments and regional series under the names SoCal Chaos and NorCal Havoc.[1][2]

History

PBLeagues records document AFPL-associated competition by November 2012, including the Walk On Nation three-player series at Total Combat Paintball in Chula Vista, California. A January 2013 event offered Division 4 three-player competition.[3]

The league subsequently organised events across northern and southern California. Its 2018 calendar included SoCal Chaos tournaments in Oceanside, NorCal Havoc tournaments in Fairfield and AFPL3 events in Lake Elsinore. AFPL3 events were also listed in Mesa, Arizona.[1]

John Arquilla was identified as the league's president in contemporary coverage of an international AFPL tournament announced in Cancún, Mexico, in 2015.[4]

Playing formats

AFPL has offered several formats and player divisions. At the 2016 Havoc opening event in Hollister, California, the programme included Division 4 RaceTo-3, Division 5 RaceTo-2 and a separate three-player Redzone competition.[2]

The AFPL3 series provided three-player tournament competition. Its July 2018 event at Jungle Island Paintball Park offered Division 4 RaceTo-3 matches and Division 5 RaceTo-2 matches, with different match-time limits for each division.[5]

Redzone

Redzone is an alternative format developed by AFPL in 2013, according to a retrospective account published by ARC Airsports. It uses a buzzer at the centre of the field as a scoring objective, with a successful activation worth two points. The central objective gives teams an additional reason to advance and contest the middle of the field.[6]

AFPL incorporated Redzone alongside its other tournament formats. The announced programme for the 2015 Cancún event included an open-class five-player Redzone division, while the 2016 Havoc event listed a three-player version.[2][4]

International events

In January 2015, organisers announced an AFPL tournament for 28 February and 1 March at the Centro Deportivo de Alto Rendimiento in Cancún. The proposed programme included five-player Division 4 and Division 5 competition alongside Redzone. Karla Andrade, Jorge Castañeda and Erick Argüello were named as members of the organising committee.[4]

See also

• Speedball
• RaceTo
• Karla Andrade

References

1. AFPL (Almost Famous Paintball League): event archive. PBLeagues.
2. AFPL HAVOC Event #1. PBLeagues, 30 April to 1 May 2016.
3. WON 3man Event #2. PBLeagues, 12 January 2013.
4. Torneo internacional de Paintball en Cancún. Revista Expresión del Sureste Mexicano, 20 January 2015.
5. Almost Famous Paintball League (2018 July 29). MCS.
6. Partners: The Syndicate and Redzone format. ARC Airsports.