History Paintball

By Ferry Suwantoro

Paintball is the game that use “markers,” or paintball guns, loaded with a type of non-damaging paint to engage in all manner of hunting, war and strategic games. They tag opponents with colored markers by firing specially-made weapons. These paintball guns are filled with paint inside gel caps, are powered by compressed gas and were first used in the 1970′s for non-recreational purposes, such as marking trees or cattle. Those first types of markers had to be extensively redesigned to adjust the intensity and speed with which the gel caps filled with paint were shot, otherwise participants involved in the game would be injured quite easily.

One of the fondly remembered memories in paintball history was the very first “official” paintball game, started by 12 co-conspirators in 1981, who used the tree markers. These friends had so much fun that they decided to invest in a tree-marking paintball manufacturer, deciding from then on to sell the markers to the public as a recreational sport. A year later in Rochester, New York, the very first paintball field was opened to the public for engaging in this new sport. Since that time the sport has grown at a widely intense rate and is very popular with all manner of people, but especially young males that are interested in warfare or war games.

The sport and the paintball gun gradually evolved in a myriad of ways since those first formative years upon the field, played by 12 mutual friends. Participants in the sport began to beg for better guns, so the pump action paintball gun was designed and sold. Soon after that, people were able to modify their markers to improve accuracy and the rate of speed at which they fired. Metal parts were quickly introduced which could be replaced, so instead of having to buy an entirely new marker, one could just replace old and worn out parts. Afterward, the upgrade of constant air was incorporated, allowing for a tank of CO2 that could pump out 200 shots, as opposed to the usual 15 shots of the 12 gram CO2 cylinder.

It is not only the guns themselves which have gone through a long evolution in paintball history, but also the fields in which the sport is played, the teams and organizations that people side themselves on, as well as the media and culture which surrounds the entire sport.

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