The Tippinators Paintball Team from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, are very proud to be the Canadian Factory Team for Tippmann Sports. As such, the Tippinators are asked to test prototype markers and give real world feedback to the design team at Tippmann.

Tippmann Sports has produced high quality paintball markers like the 98, SL-68 II, Pro Carbine, A5, Phenom, and FT-12 for over 25 years. These markers are some of the most rugged and reliable on the market. Now Tippmann's ruggedness, reliability and quality have been put into the first paintball marker designed for any style of play with the all-new Crossover.

The Crossover--a sleek, lightweight, center feed marker that embodies woodsball durability with tournament speed and agility--was most recently tested by the Tippinators. The marker is smaller than any other made by Tippmann and is of comparable size to other tournament markers.

After the testing was complete, the team received an order of Crossovers just in time for the start of the tournament season. The Tippinators planned to put these first production run markers to the ultimate test, and be the first team to take the Crossover into rigors of league xball.

The fast pace of each point, and the chaos in the pits between points, over the course of a 50 minute xball match puts stress on seasoned players, and proved equipment. The Tippinators planned to take the untried Crossovers into competitive xball play after only one practice to get familiar with the new markers.

Canadian Xtreme Paintball League’s Atlantic Division MXL Event 1 held on June 23, 2012 at Armymans Paintball in Truro Nova Scotia was the first opportunity for the Tippinators to give the Crossovers a real test.

Tippinator Ken Gardiner, a six year xball veteran of the CXBL, AXBL and MXL, was impressed with the performance of the Crossover. "I have had the opportunity to use a wide variety of markers from all the leading manufacturers over the past six years. This year I was handed a Tippmann Crossover right out of the box with only an adjustment to fire mode and rate of fire." Gardiner said, "The marker chrono’d consistently within 7 fps and ran smoothly, point in and point out, for the entire day."

The markers performed magnificently for the entire team. CXBL event paint for the 2012 season is GI Sportz 4 Star Tournament Grade; in the past the Tippinators would not be able to shoot such brittle paint in their high pressure 98s. Ten players used Crossovers for the day, shooting a total of 22 cases of paint without an issue. Every Tippinator who played with a Crossover was impressed with the marker's performance.



Gardiner summed up the feelings of the entire team, "The performance of the marker allowed me to make eliminations early in points, shoot tight lines and hold lanes to lock down zones. The Crossover performed as well as, if not better than, markers valued at over $1000."

The Tippmann Crossover’s first step into the world of tournament paintball was an unqualified success. Tippinator Captain Bruce Johnston offered a different insight into the Crossover, "If this marker can keep an average player like myself in the game a little longer, I shudder to think what a truly talented player would be able to do with a Crossover in their hands."