The Rules and History Of Paintball
The Sporting Goods Manufacturers' Association estimates that five million people play paintball annually in the United States -- not bad for a sport that is only 40 years old.
History of Paintball
The forestry department started using paintballs in the early 1970s to mark trees for research and trail planning. At about the same time, ranchers started to use paintballs to mark their cattle as an alternative to branding. Since everyone knew each other, it did not take long before the ranchers and forest department employees would get together on the weekends and shoot paintballs at each other.
The history of paintball as we know it today starts in 1971 when James Hale of the Daisy Manufacturing Company developed and patented the first actual paintball gun. Two other notables in the history of paintball are Bob Gurnsey and Hayes Noel. Both are dually credited with creating the guns that shoot the paintballs and a game called "capture the flag."
The Nelson Company was the very first commercial manufacturer of paintball guns in the history of paintball. Another milestone in the history of paintball occurred in 1982, when the first paintball field opened in Rochester, New York. It was soon after that the first indoor arena opened.
Capture the Flag
The first organized game in the history of paintball was played in June of 1981 when twelve people headed for the woods to play "capture the flag." Today, this is still the most popular game played by paintball players. Two teams start a distance from each other, then try and capture the other team's flag. As players get hit with paintballs they are required to call themselves "out."
National Survival Game
In paintball history, the idea of marketing the game under its official name of National Survival Game is accredited also to Charles Gaines. When it was first played, paintball was a survival of the fittest and every one for themselves game. Today paintball is more of a team game.
In 1983 the first NSG championships were held with a purse of $14,000. Today's purses can reach into the hundreds of thousands dollars. In 1988 the International Paintball Players Association was founded.
Military Training
Our country's military history shows paintball being used as training for actual combat. The guns they use are different from their normal ones, but by playing paintball they learn strategy. Soldiers improve their ability to avoid getting shot and grow stronger as a group.
