| Paintball is a sport in which participants | | | | purchased a pistol and had a duel in what |
| use compressed air guns called markers to | | | | became the very first game of paintball. |
| shoot paintballs (marble-sized, .68 caliber, | | | | Gaines won. |
| gelatin capsules filled with colored | | | | |
| polyethylene glycol "paint") at other | | | | The friends quickly realized they had a |
| players. It is in essence a complex form of | | | | created something special. In the following |
| tag, as players struck with paintballs during | | | | months, they devised basic rules for the game |
| the game are eliminated. | | | | fashioned along the lines of capture the |
| | | | flag, and invited friends and a writer from |
| Paintball draws a wide array of players | | | | Sports Illustrated to play. They called their |
| worldwide, and the Sporting Goods | | | | game "Survival." The article on paintball was |
| Manufacturer's Association estimates that | | | | published in the June 1980 issue of Sports |
| approximately 10 million people play annually | | | | Illustrated. As national interest in the game |
| in the United States alone. | | | | steadily built, Gaines and Noel formed a |
| | | | company, National Survival Game, and entered |
| Insurance statistics show that paintball is | | | | a contract with Nelson Paint Company to be |
| one of the safest sports in existence, safer | | | | the sole distributor of their paintball |
| even than golf. | | | | equipment. |
| | | | |
| Games can be played either indoors or | | | | Thereafter, they licensed to franchisees in |
| outdoors and take various forms. Rules for | | | | other states the right to sell their guns, |
| playing paintball vary widely, with most | | | | paint, and goggles. Due to their monopoly on |
| designed to ensure that participants enjoy | | | | the market, they turned a profit in only six |
| the sport in a safe environment. | | | | months. |
| | | | |
| The sport requires a significant amount of | | | | The first games of paintball were very |
| equipment and has even developed its own | | | | different from modern paintball games. |
| slang. | | | | |
| | | | Nelspot pistols were the only gun available. |
| History Paintball began as a simple hunting | | | | They used 12-gram CO2 cartridges, held at |
| game between two friends in the woods of | | | | most 12 rounds, and had to be recocked after |
| Charlotteville, Virginia. in 1976, Hayes | | | | each shot. |
| Noel, a stock trader and his friend Charles | | | | |
| Gaines, a writer, were walking home through | | | | Dedicated paintball masks had not yet been |
| the woods and chatting about Gaines' recent | | | | created, so players wore shop glasses that |
| trip to Africa and the thrill of hunting | | | | left the rest of their faces exposed. The |
| buffalo. Eager to recreate the adrenaline | | | | first paintballs were oil-based and thus not |
| rush that came with the thrill of the hunt, | | | | water soluble; "turpentine parties" were |
| and inspired by Richard Connell's The Most | | | | common after a day of play. Games often |
| Dangerous Game, the two friends came up with | | | | lasted for hours as players stalked each |
| the idea to create a game where they could | | | | other, and since each player had only a |
| stalk and hunt each other. | | | | limited number of rounds, shooting was rare. |
| | | | |
| In the months following that fateful day, the | | | | Between 1981 and 1983, rival manufacturers |
| friends talked about what sorts of qualities | | | | began to create competing products, and it |
| and characteristics made for a good hunter | | | | was during those years that the sport took |
| and a good survivalist. | | | | off. Paintball technology gradually developed |
| | | | as manufacturers added a front-mounted pump |
| They were stumped, however, on how to devise | | | | in order to make recocking easier, then |
| a test of those skills. It wasn't until a | | | | replaced the 12-gram cartridges with larger |
| year and a half later that George Butler, a | | | | air tanks, commonly referred to as "constant |
| friend of theirs, showed them a paintball gun | | | | air".These basic innovations were later |
| he had found in an agricultural catalog. The | | | | followed by gravity feeds and 45-degree |
| gun was a Nelspot 007 marker manufactured by | | | | elbows to facilitate loading from the hopper. |
| the Nelson Paint Company and was used by | | | | Eventually, the manual "pump" marker was |
| cattlemen to mark cows. Noel and Gaines each | | | | replaced altogether by semi-automatics. |