Paintball began as a way to mark trees and cattle, not as a game. How it became a staple of group days is a short, fun story.
The marker
The paintball marker came from the Nelson Paint Company in the United States. Its Nel-Spot pellet pistol was designed to help foresters mark trees from a distance, and it was also sold to farmers and ranchers for marking livestock. The date of the first marker is given as 1974 in most accounts, though some sources go earlier.
The first game
Three friends, Charles Gaines, Hayes Noel and Bob Gurnsey, saw an advert for the markers and decided to use them for a survival game. In June 1981, around a dozen people played a capture the flag style game in the woods of New Hampshire. The winner, Ritchie White, is said not to have fired a single shot.
From game to business
The three formed a company and began selling the game. In 1982 the first commercial playing fields opened, although accounts disagree on exactly where. By around 1984 the game had taken the name paintball.
Arriving in Britain
Sources disagree on when paintball reached the UK. Several give 1988, with centres in Surrey and Yorkshire among the earliest. The Yorkshire Paintball Centre in Hillam says it opened in 1988 when there were only three paintball centres in the country. Another source quotes the UK Paintball Association as dating its arrival to 1984, so the exact year is uncertain.
Paintball today
Paintball is now one of the easiest group activities to book. See our paintball page for providers, and our paintball vs airsoft guide.
Sources
- The history of paintball, Mental Floss
- Paintball origins and development, Yorkshire Paintball Centre
- A brief history of paintballing, Paintball Games UK
Dates differ between sources, particularly for the UK, so treat them as approximate.