Did You Know?

1) The first paintball game was played in Henniker, New Hampshire on June 27, 1981 by Charles Gaines, the inventor of the game and 11 of his friends. Gaines devised the game as a way of settling an argument he was having with one of his friends.
Paintball guns were yet to be invented, so the participants used CO2 powered guns commonly used by farmers and ranchers to mark livestock.

2) Four of the 12 original players were professional writers and three of them subsequently wrote articles about their experience for Sports Illustrated, Time and Sports Afield. Curiously Gaines, himself a writer, was the lone holdout. Such high profile exposure created a buzz which propelled Gaines and two of his friends into a business nurturing the infant paintball industry.

3) In 1985, Bud Orr, a California machinist, could no longer stand the frustration he felt when trying to use the guns of the day and went into his shop and created the first pump-action paintball gun. He formed Worr Game Products, today known as WGP, to manufacture his design.
In just 26 years, the industry has grown from its first purpose-built paintball marker, to a competitive field in which a number of large companies each offer a full line of paintball guns for sale.

4) Paintball guns range in price from under $100 to over $2000. Can you automatically assume that the cheap paintball guns are inferior? This is probably the wrong way to pose the question. Are the guns which retail for $2000 better than their way less expensive counterparts? The answer is almost certainly yes by any objective measurement. But, the better question to ask may be this: is the most expensive gun the best paintball gun for you?
Phrased this way, the answer is much more subjective. You may simply not need the most expensive gun, no matter how good it is. The best paintball marker for you is the one that provides the features that give you the best experience possible. Your style of play and your skill set will determine what you need in a gun. From there you will be able to narrow the field from among the best paintball guns down to the gun that suits you best.

5) If you are a beginner flush with enthusiasm for your new-found sport, take a deep breath before rushing out to buy paintball guns and other equipment. You don't need the most expensive equipment. You probably are nowhere skilled enough to make full use of the capabilities of the best equipment. This is a case where good paintballs guns and good gear are perfectly fine. Give yourself a chance to learn the game and, incidentally, be certain that it's not just a passing fad, before making a major financial commitment to the sport.

6) Paintball games have evolved from the original concept of "capture the flag" into three basic formats. Woodsball is applied to any game that is played in wooded areas, as were the original games. The term, however, is becoming fuzzy at the edges, with some people using it for any game played in natural surroundings. This differentiates it from speedball, which is played indoors or on artificial fields.
The third format is known as scenario paintball. These games are more structured, more complex and more tactical. Often they are an attempt to reconstruct important historical battles. The largest of these is the annual Oklahoma D-Day event where 4000 participants attempt to stage faithful paintball re-enactments of actual D-Day battles.
Realism is an important component of military simulation battles, and participants not only dress the part, but also use weapons that mimic the real thing. Sniper paintball guns will be positioned in tall grass and more than a few "soldiers" will be found holding an M16 paintball gun that looks remarkably like its real-world counterpart.

7) What started as a simple one-off game among 12 friends in the woods of New Hampshire in 1981 has grown in just 30 years into an $800 million sports industry with 10 million participants in the US alone. Participation is growing at the rate of 13% yearly and has spread not only north into Canada, but into such diverse countries as Australia, India, Germany and Iran as well. Those who know the game won't find these facts at all surprising.