How did paintball start?

Answer 1

The origins of paintball can be traced to the 1970s with the paintball marker used to mark trees and cattle. The first paintball game was played in New Hampshire in June, 1981 by Bob Gurnsey, Hayes Noel, Charles Gaines, and nine others. From there, the sport began to popularize quickly. The first recreational paintball field opened up in 1982. In 1983, the first tournament was held, with a grand prize of $14,000. The next year, 1984, saw the first indoor paintball field. In the late 80s, paintball fields began to appear in England and Canada. By 1991, fields were opening throughout Europe. In 1992, the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) was founded and began hosting highly-publicized tournaments offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes. By 1996, paintball fields and tournaments were being established and hosted all around the world. Paintball today is played by over 9.8 million people worldwide, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association International, making it the number 3 Extreme Sport behind in-line skating and Skateboarding.

http://www.history.paintballx3.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=27

just a lil side note, the first paintball gun is the Nelspot 007

Answer 2

Paintball guns were originally invented for the logging industry to mark trees, and to mark cattle.

They were originally invented in the late 1970s. The very first paintball game was played in 1981 by twelve friends in a 100acre field in New Hampshire, USA, using Nelson brand industrial paintball guns and no safety equipment.

The first people to see the use of industrial marking paintball guns were Charles Gaines, Hayes Noel and Bob Gurnsey.
Paintball originally started to mark trees in the woods. The balls unlike today where much harder due to the fact that they where just suppose to break on trees. This later evolved into a game.