Houston Texas Paintball Series Rules

HTPS IS EVENT PAINT ONLY TOURNAMENT SERIES

CHRONOGRAPH SPEED WILL BE 300 FEET PER SECOND OR LOWER

Firing Modes

All Divisions

NXL 10.5 Balls Per Second Capped

Lower rate of fire will be allowed

Age Restriction/Classification

Rookie

This division is for players with little to no tournament experience. All players must have an APPA ID and must be under a ranking of D5. All players will not move up during the season unless they play a division above Rookie. The top 4 teams in the division at the end of the season HAVE to move up to D5 the following year. This division can have one player with D5.

Division 5

This division is open to all ages, and one D4 player will be allowed. Some national event playing experience is permitted based on your APPA ID level.

Division 4

This division is open to all ages, and one D3 player will be allowed per roster.

Game Roster Lock

Rosters will lock a week before the start of the event. All players and staff should be on the roster before this date to prevent any additional fees.

After this date, any changes to the roster will incur a $20 fee to add a player and will be done on the day of the event. No exceptions.

Game Format

We will be using a format for prelim play similar to the NXL. All teams will play a single team ONCE during the preliminary round, with a minimum of 8 games (depending on the number of teams registered). This allows for more dynamic play and not beating one single team.

Once teams move into the playoff rounds, we will switch to a round – 2 format. A team will play a single team in a best out of 3 game. The first team to score 2 points wins the match. There will be no ties or non scoring games during any part of the day. Teams will play the point again until a winner is decided. If no winner is decided, we will play one-on-ones.

The scoreboard speaker of each field will begin a game by giving a thirty-second warning so that both teams are made aware the game will start in 30 seconds.

Game Start

The start of the game will be signaled by the scoring board buzzer.

Prior to the game starting, all players are required to touch and hold their barrel tips to the starting gate.

If a player is not touching the starting gate at the start of the game, that player will be eliminated immediately.

Out of Bounds

Each field will have a designated sideline out of bounds. Out of bounds is designated anywhere behind the starting box.

Game Completion and Scoring

A game is completed once any of the following occur:

The flag is hung successfully on the opposing team’s flag station
The game time expires.
All players on both teams are eliminated. This will result in a tie game.

Once a player hangs the flag, game time is stopped, and the player is checked for any paintball related hits. If the player is shown to be clean, the flag is considered successfully hung, and the point is given to that team.

If the flag is hung and the player is shown to be hit, that player will receive a minor penalty, and one player on his team will be removed off the field allow with the flag carrier. If there are any other players to continue, the game will resume. Otherwise the game will result in a no point.

Emergencies

In case of an emergency, all games will be stopped and temporarily postponed until the emergency is handled, and the playing fields are safe for the games to restart.

Clothing & Protection

Players can not wear anything that has the color pink, orange, or yellow on it.

This is to keep the color of the paintballs from blending in with the color of the gear being used.

Some exceptions can be made for sponsorship logos but the logo must be small enough for the referees to distinguish between the logo and hit on the player.

All players will be required to wear long bottoms and a long-sleeved top.
Players are only allowed to wear two layers for the top.
Head gear will be limited to a maximum of 3 layers with no exceptionally padded items on the head.
1 Pair of Knee Pads and one pair of arm pads are allowed per player.
All players are required to wear paintball industry produced facial protection.

Penalties

A player will receive a Minor Penalty if any of the following but not limited to occur.

If a player is marked and continues to play paintball with an “Obvious” hit, this player will be eliminated and an additional teammate will be eliminated.
An obvious hit includes anywhere on the body and equipment EXCEPT for the paintball harness and pods.

Physical Contact Penalty

Players are not allowed to touch one another once the game begins. This includes but is not limited to players who are checking their other teammates before hanging the flag to complete a game. You are able to give a visual check, but you are NOT allowed to touch the players on your team before the game is called Game Over. If a player is seen touching another player prior to the end of the game, the player who was touched will be eliminated immediately.

Paintballs

The Houston Texas Paintball Series is an event paint only tournament series. This means that the players are only allowed to use paintballs provided by HTPS.

If a team is caught using outside paintballs, said team will be disqualified from the tournament. All purchased paint and entry fees are non-refundable.

Xball Format

Rosters:

Team area allowed a maximum of 17 people on a roster
A Maximum of 12 players on the roster
No more than 12 staff on the roster

Marker rules:

Markers are to be set under 300 FPS
10.5 BPS

Player Attire:

Long sleeves are required
No more than 3 layers
Pants are required
Yellow and Orange is a protected colors

Game Structure:

Based on the number of teams, each team will play every other team in their bracket

Teams will play points until a winner is awarded victory
Each team will start with 5 players at their respective starting gates
All barrels should be touching the starting gate
Each (game) is comprised of several points
Each game is 10 minutes long
A point is awarded to a team if:
- The team hits the opposing sides buzzer and the player that hits the buzzer is “clean”
- The opposing team concedes the current point
A team wins the game if:
- Time runs out and they have higher number of point wins
- A team reaches 5 points above the other team
- A team forfeits
If both teams have an equal number of points after time has expired
- There will be an additional 3 min overtime point
- If there is a tie during the overtime point a 1v1 will take place until a winner is found
- Buzzer hits are not required but can win the 1v1
- If a player is found with a hit during the 1v1 they are eliminated and the opposing team will get the point.

5 Man Format