Paintball is a sport played by people of all ages and walks of life. It is a team sport and requires intelligence and determination, not merely physical size or strength. The sport can be enjoyed as a recreational activity or a competitive one, for birthday parties, group activities and corporate events.
Creating Paintball
The first official paintball game was conceived in 1981 by two friends, Bob Gurnsey and Bill Noel. They were playing a variation of sniper, a type of target practice, when they decided to try something different.
Players compete against each other with air-powered paintball guns, shooting at opponents by tagging them with painted pellets. The objective of the game is to capture the opposing team’s flag or eliminate them from the field by a specific time limit.
Rules and Safety
In most regulated paintball games, referees enforce safe game rules. The use of barrel-blocking equipment and protective masks are required. The sport has been called one of the safest extreme sports in recent decades, with only 0.2 injuries per 1000 players reported to emergency departments.
Quality Control
During the manufacture of paintballs, a large facility breaks up the balls into numbered lots and performs various tests to ensure that they are manufactured correctly. Typical tests include visual check of the balls for defects, a drop test to measure the paintball’s weight and diameter, and a dry-fire test to determine if the ball is still brittle when it bursts.