Paintball History

Paintball is still a very young sport with a very short history compared to other sports. In 1974, James Hale of Daisy Manufacturing designed and patented the original paintball gun, which wasn’t invented for a recreational or extreme sport; however, the paintball gun, the Nelspot 007, was invented to mark trees and cattle for forestry and farming industries.

In the very first paintball game, there were twelve participants using the pump pistol, Nelspot 007. They played an exciting game of capture the flag in the forest of New Hampshire the following are some of the partakers in this game:

• Hayes Noel, he was a stockbroker.
• Bob Gumsey, a sporting goods retailer.
• Charles Gaines, who wrote for a living.
• Ritchie White, the winner of the first paintball game.

Without firing a single shot, Ritchie won the initial game of capture the flag.
In the 1980s

The 1980s was practically the beginning of this wonderful sport with many recognized events that occurred. The first exclusively designed paintball gun for playing the sport was the Splatmaster, which was invented by Robert G Shepherd on July 30, 1985. Also in the 1980s, George Skogg invented a paintball pellet recipe that was more accurate and brighter. These pellets were easily washed off with water and soap, which made preferably fitting for the sport. Mr. Skogg worked for Nelson Paint Company and this invention became the Nelson recipe for paintballs.

In the 1990s

In the 1990s, paintball had massive developments improving the popularity in this extreme sport with the very first electro-pneumatic paintball gun, the Shocker, produced. This low-pressure operation and effectiveness has developed into the new standard mechanism in paintball guns. In 1993, another event had mass influence on the growth of paintball, the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) “DC Cup” was aired live on ESPN from Washington. In 1996, paintball was raised to the third most popular extreme sport with tournaments played in over 60 countries.

In the future...

In the future, the technology on paintball guns will achieve greater accuracy, speed, and air efficiency. They will also become lighter and smaller. Due to the changes in the nature of how the games are played, participants need to be able to maneuver easier and shot faster. The paintball gun will continue to evolve as up coming technologies are introduced to the sport. This extreme sport has already achieved a great amount and will achieve even more in the upcoming years.