Paintball is an outdoor activity that can be played by people of all ages and skill levels. It is an intense game that requires strategy, communication, and teamwork to be successful.
It is played on fields, back yards, and woods with as few as two people or as many as 500 players at a time. The goal is to eliminate the other team by tagging them with capsules (paintballs) filled with non-toxic and biodegradable water-soluble paint that has been encased in gelatin.
The first paintball game took place on June 7, 1981, in New Hampshire. Bob Gurnsey, a ski-shop owner, wrote the rules of the game.
There were twelve participants in the original paintball game and the objective was to capture the flags without getting shot or losing your life. The first guns were pistols and pump rifles, but the sport has since developed to include a variety of gun types, including semi-automatic and fully automatic models.
A player is eliminated if a paintball breaks and leaves a mark of a specified minimum size, usually nickel or quarter-sized, anywhere on their body or equipment. Hits on the marker or the pod pack may not count, and some variations do not count hits that strike the player’s arms or legs or those that hit objects picked up at random from the field.
There are several health and safety risks associated with paintball that can be prevented by proper education, the use of safety equipment, and an open line of communication about the rules amongst players. Fortunately, the number of injuries to players playing paintball is surprisingly low compared to most other sports. According to a 2003 study, fewer than one in every 16,000 ballers ends up in the emergency room due to paintball-related injuries.