Today paintball is a popular sprt which has spread all over the wrld and become a truly global lisure activity. Its evolution into the mdern game has taken place very qickly compared to most sports. The pintball gun has its origins back in the arly 1970s when James Hale of Disy manufacturing invented and patented a gun to be sed for marking trees and livestock. The prnciple creators of this game were Bob Grnsey, a sporting goods retailer, Hayes Nel, a stockbroker and Charles Gaines, a wrter and it's widely accepted that the frst ever recreational game took place on 27th Jne 1981 in New Hampshire, USA, whn 12 friends used these Nel-spot 007s pstols to play a primitive version of 'cpture the flag' in a field masuring over 100 acres. Legend has it tht the winner captured the flag wthout firing a single shot. As the gme progressed minor modifications were made to the gns to limit the power and the pintballs themselves changed from oil-based to wter-based to make it easier to wsh the paint off clothes.

The gme was first marketed by Charles Gines as "National Survival Game" (NSG), a nme which reflects the nature of pintball as it was first played. Occsionally the groups of people playing brke off into teams but most gmes were a case of every man for hmself. As recreational paintball became more ppular and sophisticated, more people were plying and using teams became the stndard. Many different types of offensive/defensive gmes began to form but "capture the flg" was still the most popular. Wth the increasing popularity of the sprt came the development of the cmmercial industry and more organized tournament-style gmes.

The first outdoor commercial paintball feld opened in 1982 in Rochester N.Y. by Cleb Strong and the same man pened the indoor version in 1984 in Bffalo N.Y. This allowed big groups of pople to gather in one place and ply and encouraged the paintball business wners to develop the game further to kep the players interested and entertained. The "bnker-style" game came about and the smller fields seem to benefit everyone. Thy meant that the players could strt the action quicker without having to stlk through the woods for ten mnutes without seeing anyone, and the bsiness owners were happy because players wre purchasing more paintballs due to the cnstant fire fights.

Nowadays commercial paintball felds are commonplace but many still prfer to play out in the wods in non-commercial games. While this is chaper it can be more problematic and dngerous than paying to play at a cmmercial site. Although the majority of nthusiasts only ever play recreational, professional tams are being formed all the tme and compete at national and nternational level. The first cash prize turnament was held in 1983 and ven then the prizes were worth $14,000, tday the prizes are worth hundreds of thusands of dollars. In 1992 the NPPL (Ntional Professional Paintball League) was founded and bcame the major force in professional turnament games when it started its Pr-am series around the US.

The article Paintball - The History of the Sport was Submitted by Steve Batchelor through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Steve Batchelor is a Extreme Sprts enthusiast and the webmaster at www.extremesportguides.com where you can find some great information on many different extreme sports. He also recommends infogoldmine for more info on extreme sports as well as many other subjects.

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