The start of something Red…

There is a saying in China: “He who doesn’t reach the Great Wall is no hero (Chinese translation : 不到长城非好汉 )”. This famous saying by the founding father of the Republic of China, Mao Ze Dong depicts that one cannot be considered a hero if he has never been to the Great Wall of China at least once in his life time. As shameless as it can sound, the very same proverb may be used on a paintball enthusiast about his visit to Singapore’s Red Dynasty Paintball Park. If visiting the Eiffel Tower of Paris unlocks your discovery for the City of Lights, if travelling to the ancient Pyramids of Egypt aligns the luminescence of your path to sunlight, if a trip down the famous Stripe of Vegas stakes your claim at the wager with the famous saying of “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” then making your pilgrimage to Red Dynasty Paintball Park is a paintball player’s journey. When visiting Red Dynasty Paintball Park for his paintball clinic in 2017, the most famous and legendary paintball player of the world from San Diego Dynasty, Mr. Oliver Lang described Red Dynasty Paintball Park as “Class, Triple A… his home field”. He added “You don’t see many paintball fields like this… I have been to many, many, paintball fields” (Watch from YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMQykSXZfTs). It certainly took us a while to remind him that the field is called Red Dynasty and not Red Dragon as he conveniently calls it. Certainly, we were not surprised when he associated the Red Dynasty to being a Dragon when his team, San Diego Dynasty has a Dragon for their team’s mascot.

What started off as a hobby to its owners (Ben and Jane) soon became a reality when there was no avenue in Singapore to practice their trade for the game. Red, being one of the colours on the national flag and the word “Dynasty” which symbolizes the start of something new became “Red Dynasty” and VOILÀ. The words “Paintball Park” was added to make it sound more wholesome. There were several other options in the like of “Cheap Paintball” and “Best Paintball” but no-brainer names were thrown out of the window by Jane. And yes, those names were served cheaply… looking back, we are glad that logical thinking prevails and absolute rubbish names were not considered. In December 2007, the company was registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) in Singapore and opened its doors for business. With slightly more than a dozen paintball markers to offer for group reservations, Red Dynasty Paintball Park provides a source of fun for corporate team building via shooting paintball as its main element. Our first part timer, Thomas was hired after he conceptualized an advertising banner during his job interview. In the beginning, groups were relatively small and easy to handle. As good words go around, we were beginning to serve larger groups by the hundreds. The pioneers players from the Red Sevens team (Singapore’s first competitive paintball team) were the very first batch of facilitators at the field and helped in their many ways to promote paintball to the visitors.

Today, Red Dynasty Paintball Park has the most number of paintball arsenal in its stored inventory which is unmatched by any paintball operators in Singapore and some say South East Asia. Through years of promotion, development and tons of advertising and marketing, one of the most radical paintball games ever held in Singapore, was Operation Stronghold held in 2015, a military simulation paintball battle held between a group of 200 players in a 3 hours long mission. While the numbers might not be close to being impressive to most big game organizers across the world (the biggest ever recorded paintball game was organized for 4500 participants known as Normandy Invasion in 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEGPd-CQBH0), in a country where land is of scarcity, it was an excellent feat which will be talked about for many years. Red Dynasty Paintball Park at Cage Sports Park, Bukit Timah with its 2 internationally sized artificial grass turf fields are also gems for the Asia paintball industry where international paintball competitions are held regularly. The 2016 Paintball Asia League Series (PALS) Singapore edition saw the participation of 39 paintball teams from countries such as USA, Australia, Thailand, Guam, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia coming together to participate in a 3 days tournament. Red Dynasty Paintball Park at ORTO, Yishun (Formerly known as Bottle Tree Park) is the first ever Close Quarters Battle (CQB) paintball field in Singapore with a mock up ruined village known as DynastyVille with rooms and walls for tactical clearance and invasion and how can one forget about the life sized Abraham tank which sits at the end of the field. Other attempts in bringing paintball games closer to the hearts of Singaporeans saw Red Dynasty Paintball Park in locations such as Jurong (Fairway Club), Sembawang (Focus Adventure) and Tampines (Bike Park).

If Mao is a paintball enthusiasts today, he will definitely be at Red Dynasty Paintball Park enjoying his paintball games (we hope). While many overseas visitors will recognize the transformation of the Marina Bay area over the last decade and admire the Central Business District (CBD) as a signature scenic view of Singapore when they visit country, Red Dynasty Paintball Park has stood the test of time with these many transformations. Unknown to many paintball as a recreational activity in Singapore started in 1999 (for almost 20 years!!!) by Power Paintball Park located in Sentosa. If there is a timeline for team building activities in Singapore, paintball shooting is definitely lined before your visit to Universal Studios Singapore, solving clues in Escape Rooms, shooting bots with Virtue Reality, baking Roti Prata in a Culinary class, bumping one another with Bubble Soccer, play Robin Hood with Archery Tag, cosplaying as Chuck Norris (maybe…) and yet the most disappointing part of all, there are still many people out there who have no single idea of what paintball actually is, most commonly call paintball as pinball… Come on.

Through the game, a paintball community was forged and if there is a term such as “the weekend warriors”, this sport is definitely not short of any. Every weekend, “warriors” in all shapes and sizes, old and young, sick and healthy, males and females play this adrenaline rushing game at Red Dynasty Paintball Park known as the “Sunday Skirmish”. Old birds (a Hokkien dialect slang for seasoned and experienced) or young apprentices, there is a room for everyone. Paintball as a sport has certainly stolen the hearts of many as a community building sport. “No discord, no concord” is the exact proverbs to describe this amazing game. As magical as it may sound, this game has unquestionably and undoubtedly bring people together like no any other sports, ask any regulars at the field and they cannot clearly explain why this is so. If the Romans like to gather at the Colosseum, Red Dynasty Paintball Park is the modern day Colosseum where players use paintball markers (gun) is instead of ancient swords and axes as their weaponry of choice. And oh yes, how can we forget the glamour, the pride, the glory, the honour, the happiness to forget that 10 minutes of life reality that sucks you dry during the weekdays.

Is playing paintball for the fearless?

If there is one thing that humans fear more than death, it is public speaking. At Red Dynasty Paintball Park, public speaking is simply a walk in the park for our facilitators. Many have came through our doors and walked away conquering their inner demons and went on to become very successful in life. If going through National Service can transform a teen into an adult then going through a safety briefing dealing with “fearless beginner players” who has little (trying to be respectful) or no regard for game safety can make a quiet facilitator shout at the top of his lungs and still needing to put on a weary smile at the end of the game for your senselessness action of removing the safety mask halfway through the game. Our facilitators are trained to deal with the toughest situation with scenario simulations where quick and responsive action can mean saving a life! There is a saying among them, “Calling emergency number 995 for a sprained ankle is what a noob would normally do”, our staff have your safety as their utmost priority. Facilitators know that there is no such a thing as “I don’t know” because “I don’t know” means you are not well trained but rest assured that all your questions about paintball will always be answered and attended to. Our motto of “Customer is not always right but they will surely be treated right” is what every facilitators remember close to their hearts. Collectively and unanimously, we nicknamed our staff, “The Ironmen” (after professional paintball team, Ironmen who coincidentally dons red colour for the jersey), for many have walked through the Red Dynasty gate and emerged a champion in their very own rights. The lucky (or unlucky) ones are now fathers and mothers, with most championing their own footing by learning the Book of Life. Their ever-longed journey to adulthood were mostly well spent in Red Dynasty Paintball Park. With this, we salute them all, with a few special mention: a stand up comedian, a vaping entrepreneur (who still wipes), a Singh who could not pronounce “10 seconds”, a soon to be father who was the most hardworking of them all and constantly checking his watch, a 24/7 delivery man…

What is the real value of a paintball game? One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

While some will value paintball as simply as plain shooting, paintball is actually far more than mindless and aimless shooting. Playing paintball builds leadership, trust, teamwork, communication, problem solving, confidence and decision making among its participants. If plain shooting covers all of the above mentioned traits, then yes, paintball is about plain shooting but it is really not so.

These are values that one can find while working in a perfect environment. Constant displaying and preaching of these learning attributes to your Human Resource Manager and behold that big bonus at the end of the year (trust us). Corporate team building and cohesion has gone beyond a simple outdoor event where participants sweat together, eat together, run together and play together. These days, activities require participants to put on their thinking hat to plan and devise strategic formula which triggers effective interaction among the participants and on route to success! Even better if they can think out of the box… what does that even mean? There is box outside of every box!!! These scenarios are played out daily in most corporate organization. As simple as plain and aimless shooting, paintball games require professional activity facilitation and dedicated game guidance to ensure 100% game safety. Participants are properly brief about the do’s and don’t’s of the game, explanation of the game objectives and finally equipped with a paintball shooting marker (gun) which can shoot up to 300 feet per second (equivalent of 92 meters per second) with an effective range of 100 meters to 120 meters (depending on trajectory of shooting posture), a safety mask which can withstand the direct impact of a 300 feet per second raging paintball and a chest protector which provides adequate protection for your upper body (front and back). Equipped with paintballs (see game packages: www.weplaypaintball.com/pricing-table/) and up to 4 playing fields with multiple game objectives to choose from, a day of 100% guaranteed fun will soon “en suite”. If paintball is not for the faint-hearted, Red Dynasty Paintball Park offers other team building and cohesion activities such as laser tag, bubble soccer, archery tag and foam dart games, complement these activities with food catering such as cold pressed juices, finger snacks, Bento sets, buffet party or barbecue grill, a normal recreational paintball game transforms into an opportunity for birthday parties, corporate outing, social meetings, stag parties, school orientation, cohesion events and many, many, more.

Finally, playing paintball at Red Dynasty Paintball Park is simply beyond the mere dollars and cents, it is beyond the number of paintballs that are allocated to you, it is beyond who shoots who… it is about a full paintball gaming experience that we want you to embrace and feel at the end of it all. To the thousands and perhaps millions of players who have left a mark (pun intended) with us over the last decade, playing paintball at Red Dynasty Paintball Park and continue to make us the most popular paintball field in Singapore, we want to say thank you!

This article is contributed by Red Dynasty Paintball Park. For information on the different game packages, please visit www.weplaypaintball.com