Over 20 years ago, the game's original three inventors, Bob Gurnsey, who was a sporting goods retailer, Hayes Noel a stockbroker and Charles Gaines the writer, took to the woods to hunt each other down. The trio set out the rules of the sport (many of which are still adhered to today) and paintball was born.
Twelve players battled it out in the first organized game of capture the flag on June 27, 1981. Remarkably, the winner of this match captured the flags and did not have to fire their weapon.
Rochester, New York boasts the first-ever outdoor playing field for paintball, opened in April of 1982. Charles Gaines shortly after, promoted paintball as the National Survival Game.
In 1983, the first ever championship was played for a $14,000 purse. That same year the first ever international field was opened in Toronto, Canada. One year later, the game was introduced to Australia and it took off there. Again, another year later, the game hit the shores of the United Kingdom.
In 1988, the first sanctioning body for paintball, the IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was formed. Its mandate was to provide education to players, to promote the growth of the sport and to ensure safety for everyone taking part.
By 1991, paintball had taken all of Europe by storm with fields being set up in France, Denmark and other countries. It set the foothold of the sport for years to come.
The National Professional Paintball League was started in 1992 in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois and professionals and amateurs both competed in events across the United States.
While 1996 saw the disbanding of the IPPA, by this time paintball had spread across the world into 25 countries from North America to the Middle East.
Today paintball is played indoors, outdoors, major tournaments, and the market for new equipment has skyrocketed. There are several variations including woodsball, speedball, airball, hyperball, tournament play and now there is a class called "stock class paintball." We will get more into each of those later in the book.
For the serious paintball player, the equipment has provided the greatest area for improvement. Modifications can be made to their unit in the hope of improving efficiency, accuracy and reliability in their weapon.
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