History Of Paintball Pistols And Paintball
Workers from the forestry department, who marked trees for trails and research, used the first paintball pistols in the early 1970s. Who would have known back then that today over five million people use paintball pistols playing paintball in the United States alone. Back then in the 1970s, ranchers also started marking their cattle using paintball pistols as an alterative to branding their cattle. As these two groups got together at social occasions, a friendly competition developed between the groups using their paintball guns. They soon gathered in the woods, divided into their two groups and played until the last man was standing.
First Patent
James Hale of the Daisy Manufacturing Company secured the first patent on a paintball pistol in 1971. Additionally, the Nelson Company was the first company to commercially manufacture paintball pistols.
Capture the Flag
This game was invented by Bob Gurnsey and Hayes Noel. Even to this day it is the most popular game played in paintball. In fact, it was the first game played in Rochchester, New York, when the first paintball field opened in 1982.
The objective of the game, of course, is to capture the other team's flag without getting hit by a paintball pistol pellet. Participants are required to call themselves out when they get hit. In 1983, the first national championship was held with a $14,000 cash purse. Today's competitors go after prizes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars using the best paintball pistols money can buy.
Charles Gaines
Charles Gaines was the first to come up with the idea of marketing the game of paintball, under its official name, "The National Survival Game". When paintball first was played in the early years it was a survival of the fittest or every person for himself game.
IPPA
The International Paintball Players Association was founded in 1988 as a non-profit association dedicated to the education, growth, and safety of paintball. This organization was instrumental in pushing for mandatory use of goggles to prevent a paintball pistol's pellet from hitting the eyeball.
NPPL
The National Professional Paintball League was created in 1993 and the Pro-Am Series begin at different sites around the United States.
The sport of paintball continues to grow at a very rapid pace around the world. Improvements in paintball pistols and other equipment make paintball a very sophisticated adventure game. Although paintball pistols are unlike military pistols, playing the game teaches military strategy and team unity.
