The History of Paintball

Paintball started in May of 1981 in New Hampshire, and was said to be created by 3 men, Bob Gurnsey a sporting goods retailer, Hayes Noel a stockbroker, and Charles Gaines a writer. The first game of paintball was played on June 27th of 1981, and the game was a capture the flag format. 12 players played with Nelspot 007 pistols and the game was won by a man capturing the flag without firing a single shot!

In April of 1982, the first outdoor playing field was opened in Rochester, N.Y., by Caleb Strong. Also in 1982, Charles Gaines marketed paintball as the national survival game (NSG), and PMI (Pursuit Marketing Inc.) was founded and began to distribute paintball products.

In 1983, the first NSG National Championships was held with a $14,000 cash budget. Also, Toronto opened outdoor playing fields. In 1984, paintball started in Australia under the name of Skirmish Games. In November of 1984, Caleb Strong opened the first indoor playing field in Buffalo N.Y. In 1985, England opened their first outdoor playing field.

In 1988, the IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was founded as a non profit organization dedicated to the education, safety and growth of the sport of paintball. In 1991, paintball began to spread to other european countries such as Denmark, France and many other countries.

From 1992-1993, the NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) was founded and the NPPL Pro- Am Series started around the United States. In 1996, paintball had grown immensely and stores, fields and tournaments could 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.

From 1997-1999 Electro-Pneumatic markers came out. The PVI Shocker, WDP Angel, Smart Parts Shocker Sport, Brass Eagle Rainmaker, ICD Bushmaster 2000 and Bob Long Delta Defiant give a serious challenge to the long time dominating Airgun Designs Automag and WGP Autococker.

From 1999-2003 Paintball is growing at a steady rate of at least 30% per year. The tournament scene has grown rapidly and is still growing all over the world! Paintball has taken to the internet with many different web sites to purchase paintball products, learn about the sport and watch videos as well.

The sport of paintball has progressed immensely over the years. It is a great sport and is played today in over 40 countries by millions of people. In the last 15 years or so, paintball has become one of the most recognised outdoor participation sports. It is in the top 3 of the extremes sports in North America today, just under skateboarding and above artificial wall climbing (SGMA, 2002). It doesn’t matter whether you are young or old, all players share a common love for the sport of paintball.

What happened next (added in 2026)

This history was written in 2003. A lot has changed since, and here are the big shifts.

• Inflatable fields took over competition. Inflatable bunkers became the standard for tournament fields. Most competitive play settled on five players a side, with teams racing to a set number of points.
• New leagues. The NXL became the main professional league in the United States, and in Europe the long-running Millennium Series has since become part of NXL Europe.
• Compressed air replaced CO2 for most regular players, and fast electronic markers and force-fed electronic loaders became normal gear.
• Woodsball grew up. Scenario games with hundreds of players, milsim events with realistic rules, and magfed markers that load from magazines all built a big following.
• Low-impact paintball with smaller .50 calibre balls made the sport easier for younger players and nervous first-timers.
• Safety got standardized. There are ASTM standards for paintball goggles (F1776) and for the player safety briefing (F2801), and masks-on, barrel-covers-on and chronograph checks are the norm at proper fields.

For how all these styles compare today, read Types of paintball.