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Paintball: From the Beginning

In 1977, while grilling King Mackerel and drinking Gin and Tonics on the patio of a house in Jupiter Island, Florida, Charles Gaines and Hayes Noel came up with the initial concepts of a survival game as a lark.  The idea was to come up with a game that "might contain the childhood exhilaration of stalking and being stalked, might call on a hodgepodge of instincts and skills, and might allow a variety of responses to this rich old question: How do I get from where I am at now to where I want to be?"

 May 1981 paintball began in Henniker, New Hampshire.  George Butler found the gun in an agriculture catalog. It was originally designed for marking trees and cows.  Bob Gurnsey, Hayes Noel, and Charles Gaines invented the rules to paintball.  

June 27, 1981 The first game was played.  The game had 12 competitors against each other in a capture the flag game using Nel-spot 007 pistols.  One of the most interesting facts about the game was that the winner won without firing a single shot!  The first people that played the game are:

First people to play:

  1. Charles Gaines – Writer
  2. Hayes Noel – Stock and Options Trader
  3. Bob Gurnsey – Sports Products
  4. Bob Jones – Novelist
  5. Ronnie Simkins – Farmer
  6. Jerome Gary – Film Producer
  7. Carl Sandquist – Contracting Estimator
  8. Ritchie White – Forester
  9. Ken Barrett – Venture Capitalist
  10. Joe Drinon – Stockbroker
  11. Bob Carlson – Trauma Surgeon
  12. Lionel Atwill – Writer and author of the first official book on paintball.

In April of 1982 the first outdoor paintball field was opened in Rochester, NY 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. 

In 1983 the first National Survival Game (NSG) Championship was held with a $14,000 cash prize for the winning team.  

The first outdoor paintball fields opened in Toronto, Canada.

Lionel Atwill, one of the original 12 players, writes "The Official Survival Game Manual" - the first paintball publication (ISBN 0-671-47395-6, Pocket Sports)

In 1984 the first indoor field was opened in Buffalo, NY by Caleb Strong.  

Paintball started in Australia under the name of Skirmish Games.

In 1985 The first outdoor paintball field was opened in England under the title The Ultimate Challenge

In 1988 The IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was founded as a non-profit association. This was dedicated to the education, growth and safety of paintball.  

In 1991 Paintball begins in France, Denmark and other countries in Europe.

June - July, 1992 Team Internet is formed as players prepared for the World Record Game at Jack Frost Mountain, PA.

In 1992 the NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) was founded.  This organization is still in existence today.  You can visit NPPL at the following address: http://www.thenppl.com/index2.html

The NPPL Pro-Am Series started with sites around the U.S.

In 1995 Paintball fields are open all in Europe, Asia, and South America.

In 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.

The IPPA is officially disbanded

In 1998 IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was founded as a non-profit associtation dedicated to the education, growth and safety of the sport of paintball.

Today (2001) Paintball is a multi-million dollar international sport found in countless countries all over the globe.  Tournaments are backed by tens of thousands of dollars and can pay out 100,000 in cash and prizes.