The first game of paintball took place in some woods near Sutton, New Hampshire on June 27th, 1981.
The first game was the result of a bar bet of sorts. Two gentlemen, Hayes Noel and Charles Gaines had been discussing whether survival in the woods was a learned skill or simply a natural instinct. It wasn’t until somebody saw a paintball marker (used to mark cattle) in a farming catalog that the idea of “paintball” was formed. Bob Gurnsey, a ski-shop owner, wrote the rules for the first game.
The first paintball game did not have teams.
In the first game it was every man for himself. Four flag stations were set in 80 acres of woods. The objective of the game was to pull a flag from each of the four flag stations without being shot. 12 players competed in the first game.
The winner of the first game never fired a shot.
Ritchie White, a forester from New Hampshire, won the game without firing a shot. He managed to sneak through the woods without being seen by any of his opponents.
The largest paintball event had over 4,000 players.
While there’s some debate over who held the largest paintball event, at least two events have claimed attendance of more than 4,000 paintball players. Those events are Oklahoma D-Day in Wyandotte, OK and Skirmish Paintball’s ION game in Jim Thorpe, PA.
One of the oldest indoor paintball fields is located in Minneapolis.
Our sister field, Splatball Indoor Paintball, is one of oldest indoor paintball fields in the world. In fact, they may be the oldest.
Paintball is safer than any sport commonly played in school.
It’s true, paintball has one of the lowest rates of injury. In fact, you’re more likely to be injured while golfing or bowling than you are playing paintball. Even cheerleading has a higher rate of injury.