from Paintball-tips& tricks The history of paintball is rather brief. Compared to other sports it is relatively new. It's origins only go back as far as 1980 when James Hale of Daisy Manufacturing invented and patented what would become the first paintball gun. However, Hale did not invent the paintball gun with the idea of fun and games in mind. The original paintball gum was used for marking trees and livestock in the field. It was not long before the history of paintball took a more interesting turn. The history of paintball as a recreational sport began only a year later. In 1981 the first game was played by twelve competitors in New Hampshire. This game was played with paintball pistols that were usually used by the foresting industry for marketing trees and was a game of "capture the flag." This first game was the brainchild of Bob Gumsey, a sporting goods retailer, Hayes Noel, a stockbroker, and Charles Gaines, a writer. The winner of that first game was an initiate named Ritchie White who apparently captured all of the flags without firing a single shot! The next big development in the history of paintball was the opening of the first outdoor paintball field in Rochester, New York by a developer named Caleb Strong. He later became the head of PMI Northeast along with Charles Gaines. This company now practically owns the entire paintball industry. * In 1982 Charles Gaines marketed paintball as the National Survival Game. 1982 was also the year that the media began to pick up on the novelty of this sport that was written up in Sports Illustrated. * In 1983 the first NSG National Championship was held with a $14,000 cash award for the winning team. Also that year saw scores of outdoor fields opening for the first time in Toronto, Canada. * 1984 was a landmark year in the history of paintball when Caleb Strong opened the first indoor playing field in Buffalo New York. In the next two years, paintball also caught on as an extreme sport with national leagues in Australia (under the name of Skirmish Games) and England (under the moniker The Ultimate Challenge.) * In 1998 the IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was founded as a non-profit association dedicated to the education, growth and safety of the sport of paintball. Oddly paintball did not take off in France, Denmark and other countries in Europe until 1991. * I992 saw the formation of the NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) and the NPPL Pro-Am Tournament Series in Reno, New York, Boston, and other major cities in the United States in Canada. * In 1993 the NPPL "DC Cup" was aired live on ESPN from Washington D.C. This year of mass exposure in the history of paintball also introduce the sport to the web. www.warpig.com was introduced to the world as the world's first Internet paintball site. Since 1996, paintball has risen to be the world's third most popular extreme sport with tournaments played in over 60 countries. 1998. Focus International staged the largest indoor paintball tournament ever in the Skydome in Toronto, Canada. PCRI. Paint ball is also big business for manufacturers of goggles, inflatables and guns. Giant corporations such as Pepsi-Cola and Budweiser beer often sponsor tournaments. It seems that the history of paintball has certainly come a long way since its inception as an agricultural and forestry aid in 1980. Paintball History - How it all started !! from Paintball-guns.com 1970 James Hale of Daisy Manufacturing, invented and patented what would become the first paintball gun. This original paintball gun was manufactured and used by farmers and ranchers for marking trees and livestock. May 1981 Paintball began in New Hampshire, U.S.A. the principal creators were Bob Gurnsey, a sporting goods retailer Hayes Noel, a stockbroker Charles Gaines, a writer June 27, 1981 The first game played: 12 players competing against each other Using Nel-spot 007s pistols The game was capture the flag The winner captured all flags without firing a shot! 1982 The first outdoor playing field was opened in Rochester, N.Y., by Caleb Strong Charles Gaines marketed paintball as the National Survival Game (NSG) PMI (Pursuit 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 November 1984 The first indoor playing field opened in Buffalo, N.Y., by Caleb Strong 1985 The first outdoor playing field was opened in England 1988 IPPA (International Painball Players Association) was founded as a non-profit association dedicated to the education, growth and safety 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 U.S. The History of Paintball April 30th, 2009 in Pop Culture History by Garrett Danielson Twenty years ago you could purchase a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk, a hamburger, and a liter of coke for less than five dollars. However, in 1989 you could not make $100,000 a year traveling the world shooting people with balls of water soluble paint. Paintball is the third most popular extreme sport in the world behind inline skating and skateboarding. Although a relatively young sport by most standards, this game did not come to be the phenomenon it is today overnight. Paintball guns, or markers, existed before the game of paintball. Starting in the early 70s, the air-powered guns were used to mark trees and livestock in the field. Early models shot streams of paint, but were soon redesigned to shoot paint pellets. The pellet design was advantageous because they could be shot further than a stream of paint and were able to clear obstructions. Besides, who would shoot a Super Soaker over a BB gun? Because their sole function was to leave semi-permanent marks, paintballs were made from oil-based paint. Markers were mass produced by Daisy and Crossman for the Nelson Paint Company and became popular in both the livestock and forestry industries as tools for field-marking. Much like the concepts of significantly more dangerous and less successful games, the idea of paintball originated in the presence of alcohol. Hayes Noel and Charles Gaines fantasized over a bottle of gin about a stalking game they could play with their friends. A friend recommended they use Nelson paintball markers and before long Hayes Noel and the third founder, Bob Gumsey, wrote up the rules for the game. In June 1981, the first game took place in an eighty acre forest in New Hampshire. The competitors consisted of the three founders and nine friends ranging from a New York film producer to a farmer from Alabama. An every-man-for-himself, capture-the-flag format was used. Within weeks, one of the writers from the original twelve participants published an article in Sports Illustrated raving about the adrenaline rush he experienced playing the newly invented National Survival Game (NSG). Gumsey, Gaines, and Hayes responded to the widespread popularity of the article by selling NSG starter kits that included a Nelson pistol, paintballs, goggles, a compass, and a rule book. In 1982, Gumsey opened the first commercial paintball field in New Hampshire. The game was still called NSG and Nelson remained the dominant franchise in the industry. Since 1982, paintball has evolved substantially. The game is now played globally, both recreationally and competitively. Most recreational play takes place in the woods, but competitive paintball is now played in an arena type setting with inflatable bunkers. Tools of the trade have evolved with these new formats. High-end markers now cost from $500 to $1,500 and are capable of shooting more than 15 balls per second. The projectiles are now completely biodegradable and are filled with water soluble paint instead of oil based paint. A competitive player can easily spend several hundred dollars on a basic set of equipment. A multi-million dollar industry has developed as people have continued to step onto paintball fields and step off with welts and smiles. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and sponsorships are awarded every year in tournaments. The first professional league emerged in 1992. Today there are two thriving professional leagues, the United States Paintball League (USPL) and Paintball Sports Promotions (PSP). Although most professional players are not paid enough to make a living solely from playing, in 2006 paintball took a huge leap toward becoming a mainstream sport when professional player Oliver Lang took an offer to play for the Los Angeles Ironmen for an annual salary of $100,000. As one looks at how far paintball has come in a fraction of the time that most mainstream sports have existed, you wonder what might be possible twenty years in the future. Invest in your future; play laser tag. |
THE HISTORY of PAINTBALL from Google search |