Paintball is a sport where participants use a paintball gun to shoot other players. The team who can dominate the opposing player wins.
Game rules vary by field but usually involve a goal of capturing the flag, eliminating an opponent, defending a point or area, or capturing objects in a hidden zone. The sport is regulated in many countries and can be played on indoor or outdoor fields with natural or artificial terrain.
How paintballs are made
Paintballs are spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules that break upon impact and are launched at speeds of up to 200 feet per second. The paint is a mixture of chemicals and is engineered to be released at the right time.
How to play safely
The primary safety issue is the minimum distance that a player may fire a marker from. Typically this is 25 feet. If a player goes closer they are automatically out of the game.
A player is considered hit if a paintball leaves a solid mark of a certain size anywhere on the person or their equipment. This may be a nickel-sized mark for some games, or a quarter-sized mark for most professional fields and tournaments.
How to keep the markers clean
Throughout the 1980s, paintball became more widely available and gained media attention, though it also incurred negative publicity. It was primarily sold at sporting goods stores and pro shops.
By 1986, more than 75,000 people were playing the sport in the United States alone, with the activity spreading to Canada and other parts of the world. The sport also started to appear in national big box stores such as Walmart and Target.