English
In 2023, December will once again be all about the X-Days for the German paintball scene. As every year, Germany's largest paintball trade fair opens its doors for two days on the first weekend in December in the tranquil town of Waldems am Taunus. For our article, we sent our colleagues Kevin and Gene to collect pictures and videos for you on site. Here is the report.
It is the beginning of December and, as has been the case for 18 years now, a large part of the active paintball scene is making the pilgrimage to the X-Days, Paint Xtreme's in-house exhibition, on the first weekend in December. "Everything is the same as every year" is something that some people might say or think, but not this year. As X-Days organizer and Paint Xtreme managing director Lars Herzig put it so beautifully: "The X-Days have come of age!" By this he is not only referring to the 18th anniversary of the exhibition, but he is also taking a look at the very interesting and, above all – at this point in time – still completely open future of the X-Days. After a four-hour drive through Germany, which has been surprised by the onset of winter, we park our Sprinter directly in front of the multi-purpose hall in Waldems. A banner on the facade and a few familiar faces assure us that we are in the right place. We go to the entrance. After queuing for ten minutes, we get our wristbands and enter the hall.
Right next to the entrance is a stand from the Gel Blaster brand. This is basically a type of paintball for the next generation: Gel Blasters are electronically powered and resemble futuristic water pistols. The pellets fired are almost tiny in their basic form. However, if you put them in water, they absorb to a size of around seven to eight millimeters and form a gel-like projectile. The Gel Blaster is a child-friendly toy – similar to NERF guns. The range of the Gel Blaster is not particularly great, but they are excellent for fun in the living room or garden, especially since they leave neither paint nor residue. There is also a shooting range with electronic targets for testing. Here you can compete against each other and see who is more accurate.
Directly opposite the Gel Blaster stand is a small catering area with food distribution. Here you can get drinks and various hot meals to go. Beer and mulled wine are also available. We grab a coffee and head left into the main area. First we pass a stand with home and self-defense products. Here you can find products from Pepperball and Umarex, as well as various airsoft pistols and rifles. You can also buy knives here. Next up is a large stand from Tasmanian Tiger, where you can buy almost the entire range in various camouflage variants.
A little behind Tasmanian Tiger, the Planet Eclipse brand presents itself with a fine selection of woodland accessories and markers. So if you fancy an EMF100 or ETHA, you'll find what you're looking for here. We fight our way through the crowds in the corridor to the other side, where Magfed.de has set up a large stand in cooperation with the Magfed Team RS-OPS. Here you can find everything from First Strike as well as all the brands from the scenario area. The guys from RS-OPS advise every customer and give tips and tricks on the right equipment. Here we also overhear one or two anecdotes from past event appearances by the traditional team. Anyone who has ever been to the X-Days will know that the hall is divided in two in the middle. At the top of the stairs you have a good overview and can look down onto the exhibition section below. This is also where the auctions, which take place several times a day, are held. Behind the stairs is the second part of the hall with further exhibitors. Once at the top, we find a small photo booth for souvenir snapshots. Visitors love using this. Behind it is the Enola Gaye stand with a wide range of smoke grenades, flashbangs and other pyrotechnic equipment.
The large SBG stand awaits us directly opposite. As every year, the Big Game scenario has once again pulled out all the stops at this year's X-Days and is providing one of the largest stands of the entire event. In addition to current SBG merchandise and information about the 2024 events, there is also a Jägermeister stand. Of course, the stand is popular and always well attended. We grab Bertl Wolowitz, the organizer of the events, for an interview. You can find this in picture and sound in the aftermovie for this year's X-Days on our YouTube channel. But we are far from finished. In the upper area of the hall there is everything that is of any importance in the paintball scene. Virtue, HK Army, DYE, Shocker and Luxe, as well as the mask manufacturer Push and the paintball manufacturer Tomahawk are represented with their products. So if you are just in the mood for paintball and all the cool brands, you can really let off steam in this area of the hall. The German Paintball League is also taking part. Sven Reimann is available to answer any questions and gives us a little insight into the 2024 season.
The atmosphere on site is very good again this year. Familiar faces such as "Braveheart", "The Captain" and Sven Lachmann lead the event, moderate the raffles and are also present everywhere else where paintball is discussed. And so over two days, in a great mood and good atmosphere, people talk shop about paintball from morning to night, make contacts and exchange opinions and ideas. Now let's move on to the future prospects: As already mentioned, the X-Days have come of age this year. What does that normally mean? – That's right, you're an adult and you're moving out into the world. That's exactly what the X-Days want to do in the future. Organizer and event manager Lars Herzig didn't want to reveal exactly what that means for the event and how the X-Days will continue in the future, but he did let us in on a few interesting details. Since this longer statement would unfortunately go beyond the written scope here, we have packaged it for you in our X-Days video on our YouTube channel. There you will get all the information first hand. Feel free to take a look.
We would like to say goodbye to the X-Days and are excited to see what happens next year with a new concept, new venue and certainly many other changes. We wish the organizers every success and all the best.
