A Brief History of Paintball
Paintball was originally designed for shooting trees and livestock from a distance.
The game was invented in May 1981 in New Hampshire by Hayes Noel, a Wall Street stock trader, and Charles Gaines, a field worker and author.
A debate arose between them about whether a city dweller possessed the instinct to survive in the woods versus a man who had spent his youth hunting, fishing, and building cabins.
The two men happened to see an advertisement for a paint gun in a farm catalog and were inspired to use it to settle their argument with 10 other men, all in individual competition, ultimately creating the sport of paintball.
The specific objectives of the game are determined before the match begins; examples include capture the flag and elimination. Paintball has spawned popular variants, including woodsball, which is played in natural settings and covers a large area.