Paintball is a team-based, strategic sport played by people of all ages and skill levels, from casual weekend warriors to professional teams that compete in international tournaments. The game requires strategy, communication, and teamwork to succeed, and it can be a fun and exciting way for groups or families to spend time together. Although the game can be dangerous if players are not careful, it is safe when played under proper conditions with the right equipment.
While different manufacturers make paintballs, they all follow similar manufacturing processes and quality control procedures. The paintballs are numbered in a batch, and after the paint has dried, workers perform a visual inspection for obvious flaws. They then place the paintballs in a machine that packages them by weight. The cases are supposed to hold 2,500 paintballs, but they generally contain a few hundred less than that because the machine packs them loosely.
Once the paintballs have been properly packaged, they are then shipped to retail locations for sale. Some stores sell paintballs to the general public while others are restricted to licensed paintball retailers that must comply with strict guidelines regarding the sales and usage of the product. Paintballs can also be purchased through online retailers.
In the early days of paintball, most players used a standard woodsball gun called a Nel-Spot Pistol with a few extra tubes of oil-based paintballs and some shop goggles. Bob Gurnsey rebranded the game National Survival Game, or NSG, and licensed NSG franchises to those who wanted to open paintball fields and sell equipment. He also contracted with air rifle manufacturer Benjamin Sheridan to create a new pistol, the brass-bodied PG (Pursuit Gun) Pistol, which increased the rate of fire and capacity of the paintball guns. As NSG became more popular, companies began modifying the guns by adding pump handles, magazine extensions and barrel extensions.
The year 1989 marked another major shift in the sport, as Sat Cong Village introduced a field calledSpeedball. The field utilized ribbed large diameter irrigation pipe as bunkers, which allowed for fast-paced play and spectator friendly viewing. This lead to a whole new era of “concept” fields and a switch from camouflage clothing to brightly colored, eye-catching sportswear.
Today, there are many leagues and associations worldwide dedicated to the sport of paintball. These organizations range from regional and local leagues for recreational players, to nationally-recognized tournament competition and even a national high school league. Paintball is a very accessible and inexpensive hobby for anyone who wants to get in on the action, but it can be an intense sport when played professionally, as it requires both physical and mental preparation and teamwork to win.
The sport is not without its controversy, though. In 2002, a player known as the Sniper was convicted of cheating in a World Cup event by hiding in a wooded area near a field boundary and shooting at opposing players while they were in the process of moving to an alternate location on the field. This is considered to be the most extreme instance of cheating in paintball history, and it caused both the NPPL, the tournament organization, and PSP, the event promotion company, to break apart over their differences.