May 1981

Paintball began in New Hampshire. The principal creators were Bob Gurnsey, a sporting goods retailer; Hayes Noel, a stockbroker, and Charles Gaines, a writer.

June 27, 1981

The first game played: 12 players competing against each other with Nel-spot 007s pistols. The game was capture the flag. The winner captured all flags without firing a shot.

April 1982

The first outdoor playing field was opened in Rochester, NY, by Caleb Strong.

1982

Charles Gaines marketed paintball as the National Survival Game (NSG). PMI (Persuit Marketing Inc.), was founded to market and distribute paintball products.

1983

The first NSG National Championship was held with a $14,000 cash purse. The first outdoor paintball fields opened in Toronto, Canada.

1984

Paintball started in Australia under the name of Skirmish Games.

Nov. 1984

The first indoor playing field opened in Buffalo, NY, by Caleb Strong.

1985

The first outdoor playing field was opened in England.

1988

IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was founded as a non-profit association dedicated to the education, growth and safety of the sport of paintball.

1991

Paintball begins in France, Denmark and other countries in Europe.

1992-1993

NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) was founded and the NPPL Pro-Am Series started with sites around the US.

1996

Paintball playing fields, stores and tournaments can now be found in Canada, the United States, Australia, England, Scotland, Denmark, France, Holland, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Venezuela, Israel, Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

The Game of Paintball

Paintball began in 1981 with 12 competitors playing capture the flag with air-powered pistols. Since then, the game has exploded into a multimillion-dollar sport with amateur and professional tournaments across the United States and in Europe, offering cash purses and prizes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Daisy (manufacturer of pellets, B.B.s and air guns), Crossman (manufacturer of airguns), Scott USA (manufacturer of ski poles and goggles) and JT USA (manufacturer of motocross safety equipment) are just a few of the companies that have expanded into the paintball world. Today, tournaments are sponsored by companies such as Budweiser and Pepsi-Cola.

Playing the Game

What is paintball? Well, combine the game of capture the flag with chess, mix in hide 'n' seek and add a large dose of adrenaline. Paintball is challenging and fast-paced. As few as two or as many as eighty can play. The basic game has two teams, each with its own flag station and matching color armbands. Each team starts at its own flag station. A starting signal is given and each team tries to reach the other team's station, grab the flag and race back to its station. When a player gets tagged -- hit by a paintball -- he/she is out of the game. If a player is carrying a flag when tagged, he/she must drop the flag at that spot, then leave the game.

Playing fields

Playing fields vary in terrain and in management. some fields have fixed stations and play areas for simple operation. Others rotate stations or change play direction every three months. If a field lacks vegetation, owners may use old tires, wood pallets and plywood to create forts, bunkers and other places for players to hide. A good field will provide a day of excitement, challenges and fun.

Bunkers

Bunkers are man-made structures on or in the ground. These are highly defensible positions used as stepping-stones for advancing or retreating.

Flag stations

Each team starts at its own station. One or more players stay near to protect the flag.

Boundaries

Each field has well-defined boundaries marked by colored tape or ribbon. Players must stay within the boundaries.

Referees

Referees are on the field during the game. They check players to determine if they have been tagged. Refs can and will remove players who violate safety rules.

Tagged

A player raises his/her hand to show he/she has been hit.

Tagged players

Once a player has been tagged, he/she cannot talk to or signal players on the field.

Tournament games

Tournaments have five- and ten-person team categories. Ten-person teams play the basic capture-the-flag game. Five-person teams play a variation known as center flag. Teams play against each other in sets, two games per set. Points are given for flag capture, flag hang, number of opponents tagged and for winning a set.

Limited time

Games usually have a time limit of 20 minutes. this speeds up the action and prevents a game from dragging on for hours.

Equipment

The basic equipment needed for play is: paintball safety goggles and face mask, proper clothing (camouflage jacket and pants, old fatigues or plain old blue jeans and a jacket), extra paint tubes with paintballs and the desire to have a great game!

The Paintball

The paintballs are not made of paint. They are soft gelatin capsules (the same gelatin as in Jell-O) containing a mixture of vegetable oil and food color. They are nontoxic and biodegradable. Paintballs are encapsulated by the same machines that make bath beads and vitamin capsules. R.P. Scherer, the world's largest encapsulation company, was the first company to produce paintballs. Today R.P. Scherer has facilities in North America and Europe dedicated to manufacturing paintballs. 1.5 billion paintballs are produced per year in Asia, Europe and north America.

Paintgun Types

The guns of the paintball world vary from the basic pump pistol to the high-tech semiautomatic.

Semiautomatics

Semiautomatic guns have a paintball loaded into the gun automatically after the gun fires. The gun can shoot paint as fast as the player can pull the trigger.

Pumps

Pump-action guns have a manual pump mechanism that loads the paintball into the gun. The player must pump-load after every shot.

Velocity Check

To check the velocity at which a paintgun is firing, a chronograph is used. The radar chronograph uses a small Doppler radar to measure the velocity of a paintball. The paintball is fired over the machine. The radar picks up the paintball and records the speed of the ball on a digital display. If a gun is firing paintballs at over 300 fps, it is adjusted to lower the velocity. The first chronographs used light. The paintball was fired over the machine. Light entering the machine was broken, starting a timer. The machine measured the time the light was broken and calculated the velocity of the paintball.

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