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History
of Paintball
1970
James Hale of Daisy Manufacturing,
invented and patented what would become the first paintball gun. This original
paintgun was manufactured and used for marking trees and cattle, and was later
sold for paintball use under the Nelson name. It has also been used for marking
areas that were dangerous and areas for destruction. June
27, 1981
The first game of paintball was played with twelve players competing
against each other with Nel-spot 007 pistols. These pistols were originally used
by the forestry service for marking trees for excavation. The players included
Wall Street stockbroker, Hayes Noel, Robert Gurnsey, author of "Pumping Iron",
Charles Gaines, and nine others. The game was capture the flag. The winner, Ritchie
White, captured all flags without firing a single shot what a star! April
1982
The first outdoor paintball field was opened in Rochester, N.Y., by
Caleb Strong one of the current owners of PMI Northeast. 1982
Charles
Gaines marketed paintball as the National Survival Game (NSG). PMI (Pursuit Marketing
Inc.), was founded to market and distribute paintball products. Articles about
the first game, written by the actual players, were published in Sports Illustrated
and other national publications. 1983
The
first NSG National Championship were held with a $14,000 cash purse. The first
outdoor paintball fields opened in Toronto, Canada. 1984
Paintball
started in Australia under the name Skirmish Games.
1984, November
The first indoor playing field opened in Buffalo N.Y., by
Caleb Strong. 1985
The
first indoor playing field opened up 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 tournaments in Reno, New York, Boston, and other cities around the
U.S.. 1993
ESPN
filmed and aired PCRI's NPPL "DC Cup" in Washington D.C. suburb, Bowie,
Maryland. This was the first time ESPN covered paintball. 1994
Warpig
(www.warpig.com) introduced the first Internet paintball site. 1996
ESPN
and Paintball Sports produced and aired the ESPN World Championships of Paintball
from Orlando, Florida. 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. 1998
Focus
International staged the largest indoor paintball tournament ever in the Skydome
in Toronto, Canada. PCRI, Airgun Designs, and Worr Game Products produced the
first and largest to this date, technical certification conference to train paintball
store and field owners on teching their paintguns.
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