| Paintball is growing leaps and bounds in popularity | | | | Nelspot 007 marker guns from the Nelson Paint |
| these days. Ah, but where did it get its start? The | | | | Company. Before long they had created a game that |
| origins are fairly humorous and had nothing to do with | | | | they called Survival. The game was featured in an |
| the game we have today. | | | | issue of Sports Illustrated and was led to a sudden |
| In the 1950's, the Nelson Paint Company began | | | | increase in popularity. Bob Guernsey, one of the original |
| manufacturing a product designed to be used by the | | | | inventors of the game formed a company called The |
| Forestry Service to mark trees from a distance. The | | | | National Survival Game Company and entered into a |
| product was a capsule filled with paint that was shot | | | | contract with the Nelson Paint Company. |
| from a gun using compressed CO2. The paint marking | | | | These early games were played much differently than |
| device was all used by ranchers to mark cattle. This | | | | today's version of Paintball. The play areas were much |
| product was manufactured and sold by the Nelson | | | | bigger and each player had a limited amount of paint |
| Paint Company for a couple of decades fulfilling its | | | | capsules which meant much stalking and very little |
| rather limited function. Paintball history, as the history of | | | | shooting. The paint in the capsules was not water |
| an extreme sport began with the idea of three friends. | | | | soluble and left quite a mess in the play area. There |
| Three men, Hayes Noel, Bob Guernsey, and Charles | | | | were often what became known as "turpentine |
| Gaines were discussing Gaines' hunting trip to Africa | | | | parties" to clean up after games. |
| and Richard Connell's book "The Most Dangerous | | | | In a few years, rival companies began to develop new |
| Game." This book was about men hunting each other | | | | technology and produce new products intended for |
| for sport, and the idea intrigued the three friends. They | | | | Paintball. The Splatmaster was introduced in 1985. It |
| began to find some way to do this in a game form | | | | was the first marker gun intended specifically for |
| where they could experience the adrenalin rush, but no | | | | Paintball. A man named George Skogg came up with |
| one would be hurt. A fourth friend showed them the | | | | the modern gelatin water soluble capsule and provided |
| paint marker guns in a catalogue and the idea of | | | | the formula to the Nelson Paint Company who began |
| Paintball was born. | | | | producing them just for Paintball games. The sport |
| The first Paintball game was played on an 80 acre | | | | took off from this point and grew to its current |
| wooden cross country skiing course on June 27, 1981. It | | | | popularity. Today, there are over 11.4 million Paintball |
| was a game of capture the flag and the players used | | | | players in the United States. |