The game of paintball has become a growing phenomenon as a form of recreational sport in the Unites States, and other parts of the world. It is estimated that 5.4 million people played the game in the United States in 2007, with over 1.9 million playing at least 15 times.

The game of paintball has a very interesting concept and is increasing in popularity because it allows players to get out their aggression in a fun and most importantly safe way.

In the early 1970’s Charles Gaines, Bob Gurnsey and Hayes Noel used the paintball gun which contained capsules with thick oil based paints as a tool for marking trees and livestock, they later thought of a new way to use the guns and thus the sport of paintball was born.

The original name for the sport was “The National Survival Game”; this is because its purpose is simply to survive. There are no official statements about when or why the name was change but over time it simply just became know as paintball. The gun remained the same however there was a need for paint fill that would come out of clothing and off the skin easier, today the balls are made with gelatin skin capsules filled with a water- soluble marking dye.

The game is played by picking teams; each team member has a gun and a certain amount of paintballs, the aim of the game is to eliminate as much people as possible from the opposing team without getting hit with a paintball. Whichever team has the most surviving members in the end wins the game, there can also be variations to the game where a time limit can be set, or different objectives can be put in place and the first team to meet all the objectives claims the victory.

The first professional game of paintball was played in the 1980’s by twelve competitors in New Hampshire; it was a game of ‘Capture the Flag’, in this version of the game two teams start a distance from each other, then they try and capture the other team’s flag. As players get hit with paintballs they are required to call themselves “out.”

The opening of the first outdoor paintball field by developer Caleb Strong in Rochester marked a big development in the history of paintball. Strong; along with Charles Gaines continue to play a monumental part in the paintball industry.

The history of paintball has made a complete turnaround from its original concept of marking lifestock; it is the third most popular extreme sport and has been played in over 60 different countries. It has gotten so popular that it is even being used by the military as a form of training for actual combat.

The countless amounts of people who continually play this sport declares that it one of the most interesting games ever and that it teaches basic survival skills and promotes good clean fun and a healthy dose of team work.

Author Bio: Mike regularly writes for ProlificPaintball.com, they carry such paintball equipment as Paintball Guns and the Invert Mini, as well as many other items from a variety of manufacturers.

Category: Sports
Keywords: Paintball Guns, Invert Mini