A Game Of Solitaire Survival Turns Into A Paintball Team Sport

The game of paintball began in 1981, as a small friendly game of survival between to paintball teams made up on close friends. In 1976 three, men created a mental challenge game of discussing survival and hunting tactics, each trying to create a better scenario that the other two friends. Often times, trying to determine who would be the ultimate champion if the skills and techniques were actually put to the test was frustrating to the three of the men. One day, a friend discovered and shared with the three men a marking weapon that fired paintball gelatin capsules. The current practice for the marker was as a tool for farmers and forestry workers to mark cattle and trees that were far off in the distance.

The History Of Paintball Reveals A Team Sport In The Making

In it’s beginning, paintball was played with a gun type weapon, called a marker. These markers were Nelspot pistols and were the only type of paintball guns available. Each weapon held a maximum of 10 paintball gel capsule and had each marker had to be physically tilted by hand to roll the next round into the chamber. In the beginning, the specially designed paintball masks had not yet been created, so shop safety glasses were worn to protect the eyes. Each player had one marker that was used as a defense weapon more than as an aggressive hunting weapon. The idea of the original game was survival more than elimination and the game was individually motivated. The paintball teams of today were a creation that developed later as the games began to focus on elimination more than survival skills.

Paintball games, rules, course designs and fashions have changed considerably since a small group of friends played a game of survival. Today, what began as a small game between friends has grown into an industry that claims over 10 million players in the United States alone.

Paintball Enthusiasts Fall Into Four Categories

Paintball players generally fall into four categories, recreational, tournament, scenario and woodsball. These four classifications differ greatly from one another. Of the 10 million people that play paintball, only about 15% play more than 15 times each year. The recreational player makes up 85% of the players that play less than 15 times per year. These are people who attend paintball parties, participate in urban playing fields on an occasional basis or those that own entry-level equipment and play occasionally with friends on private land.

The other 15% of players fall into three diverse categories woodsball players, tournament players and scenario players. These are dedicated paintball players that often join a specific paintball team and travel to game locations in their area. There are professional, semi-professional and divisional leagues that hold tournaments involving established paintball teams. These teams often join national leagues such as the National Professional Paintball League or Paintball Sports Promotions in the United States or the Millennium Series in Europe.