SUBSCRIBE TO PBUK

 

Call BZ Paintball on 01642 605000 to subscribe or buy copies of PBUK. Discount is available on bulk orders for sites, retail shops and teams. Limited back issues may be available.

 

A brief history of PBUK

 

Paintball UK Magazine was launched in February 2003 at the Phoenix European Indoor in Birmingham with Mark ‘Spud’ Reed Team Illusion gracing its first cover.

 

It was created to cover all aspects of British paintball and over the past seven years has established a steady following in the scenario, site and domestic tournament scenes.

 

Issue 1 featured the Killer Clowns, Ian Crossland of Dam Dangerous and South Park II: Kenny’s Revenge. Liz Fuhr, of the Dawn Raiders and later the 6E Chicks, kicked off a great series of articles on the logistics of running a paintball team and Richard Kirke, captain of the Durham Uni Paintball Team started a regular column reviewing gear.

 

The big spread in Issue 2 in March 2003 was the European Indoor itself, won by K2 from Manchester. Dave Stewart of Outkast joined the PBUK team to write a regular column and this mag saw the first appearance of the infamous Jose Dominguez.

 

Russell Rulebook joined us in Issue 3 and he was talking about clothing rules back then! PBUK that month also featured a survey at the Series 2K3 tournament showing that the Autococker was the most popular marker, used by 73 players out of 207, beating the Angel and the Impulse.

 

In Issue 4 we launched the Britney Quest that was to send Brit ‘ballers all over the world in the quest to get snapped with a famous person – the competition eventually won by Cook$ who stalked the Hoff to win an Ego.

 

Nick Jenkinson joined the crew for Issue 3 with a great new cover design. Inside we had the Dutch Masters from Amsterdam, the Fall of the Roman Empire scenario game and a tournament roundup from around the UK.

 

Issue 8 was the Manc Union edition featuring the PA Cup with a rundown on all the teams that went on to take part in the Paintball Association League the following year. By issue 14 in March 2004, the PA League and the Fantasy Paintball was in full swing, with each issue of PBUK featuring stats and tables on the performance of players and teams. In issue 20 that September, Birmingham Phoenix were crowned Motorola Paintball Association National League Champions and Marc Beer of Leeds (Back), Rich Quest of Liverpool (Mid) and Dave Lloyd of Leeds (Front) were top of their respective tables for fantasy paintball performance points gained throughout the 2004 season. Around this time PBUK was also featuring life coach Jan Sayer and personal trainer Craig Twigg with articles on paintball as sport.

Al Murray joined the team at PBUK in Issue 21 in October 2004 with the first in his series on scenario paintball and in January 2005 we launched a new glossy image for PBUK in Issue 23 with a new logo and a new feel to the publication.

 

From Issue 19 to 25 Rob Bowey edited Game On, a back page fun section in PBUK that was superseded in April 2005 and Issue 26 with the reappearance of Jose Dominguez and his Back Passage that went on to push the boundaries of decency, discussed the dolphin/French conspiracy, gripped everyone with his Rasmuscopes, presented his balanced approach to world religion and avidly followed the career of the Sugababes.

 

Throughout 2005 and 2006, PBUK followed the Eclipse PA League with fantastic photos by Matt Pritchard and great commentary from Blackpool Inferno manager Rob Yates. We covered international tournament with Billy Webb’s Millennium Series diary and regular reports from Chris Edwards. We also carried on our dedication to woodland and scenario paintball and in Issue 34 in January 2005, Going Postal’s Ash joined us a Walk on news editor, joining Al Murray and Cambo in producing some great woodland content for the mag.

 

At the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 PBUK hooked up with Extreme Sports to promote paintball to a wider audience and launched the initiative with an exclusive interview with Al Gosling in Issue 44. Throughout 2007 and 2008, PBUK continued to cover sup’air and woodland paintball. The magazine was distributed by BZ Paintball and in 2008 Paintball-Media Ltd was brought in to manage advertising sales. In 2009 a new emphasis on field operations was introduced to provide specific content aimed at site operators and the magazine reached its landmark Issue 50.