Paintball Magazine Paintball.Media January 2018 | Page 24

THE
LARGEST
PAINTBALL best in its day. And in 2017 those things are
TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY
still true. But now the event has the added
The World Cup historically has been the most
anticipated paintball tournament annually in
the history of the game since its inception
in 1990. In addition to being the longest
running paintball tournament, it has been
far and away the best attended event in the
world nearly every year since the event was
introduced by Jerry Braun 27 years ago at
his field, Survival New York, in Newburg, NY.
Twenty seven years ago teams and players
made the trip to New York to play the World
Cup for the prize money, which was the largest
prize purse of any event in its day—and they
came for the competition, which was the
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draw of its great location in sunny Kissimmee
Florida, its proximity to Disney, the plethora
of inexpensive hotels and house rentals, the
multitude of divisions teams can play in, the
league’s ownership and management, the
multi-faceted media coverage the event
receives, the huge tradeshow and the game
format(s).
This year a record 578 teams traveled to
Kissimmee’s Gaylord Palms Hotel from
32 different countries near and far , for a
chance to grasp at international paintball
acclaim, fame and some of the hefty prize
packages —and who knows,