Intro
What do the NXL , the PSP , the NPPL , the Lively Series and the first-ever paintball series , the National Survival Game , all have in common ? They ’ ve each held multiple national-level paintball tournaments in Chicago . Safe to say the Windy City is a huge part of tournament paintball history — and that ’ s without even mentioning that Airgun Designs , makers of the 68 Automag , PMI , the largest paintball products distributor in its day and Air America , leaders in compressed air technology for paintball all come from the Chicagoland area as well .
So it would come as no surprise to most that the National Xball League ( NXL ) would make Chicago one of their yearly stops on its five-event circuit since the league ’ s inception . And here we are again for the league ’ s fourth event of the season in 2024 for the NXL ’ s Windy City Major , held at the very familiar Chicago-Gaelic Park in Oak Forest , Illinois .
All year the NXL has been drawing massive team counts at their events , and Chicago certainly followed suit with 261 teams competing in 17 divisions , from Professional Xball to novice three-versus-three , and everything in between .
The Pro Division
The main event at each NXL event is always the Professional division , where the top 24 teams in the United States ( and the world ) compete five times each season . By the fourth event of the year everyone begins to pay attention to the season rankings . Winning the season rankings ’ title in the Pro division not only gives a team bragging rights ,
Photo by Danny Knuit