The evolution of the game has been rapid from its origins in the 70s to the modern game we know today. It all started with the paintball gun. The term “marker” is a much newer term introduced to make the sport more marketable to the masses. So what is the history of this relatively new sport and how has it evolved over three decades?

The first paintball guns were used on cattle ranches in the 1970s to distinguish animals from the herd. James Hale of Daisy Manufacturing invented a gun for this purpose.

This practice soon became a game and the first recreational game of paintball was held in June 1981 in New Hampshire, USA. A group of friends used Nel-Spot 007 to play a very basic form of the game on a huge area to capture the flag.

One of the first weapons available was the Splat Master; it was made entirely of plastic. It could hold ten paintballs, was powered by small CO2 cylinders, and had a slow rate of fire. The gun had to be tilted back to drop each paintball into the firing chamber and cocked by pressing a button on the handle.

The paintball game was first marketed by Charles Gaines, a writer, as National Survival Game-NSG. It started in a very primitive way with players working individually instead of in teams. As the game evolved over time, the rules became more sophisticated and teams became a matter of course. Different types of games arose, but the “capture the flag” principle was the most popular.

As the game of paintball developed, so did the need for a more sophisticated weapon. The pump action marker was introduced with its increased rate of fire.

Caleb Strong opened the first outdoor commercial paintball range in Rochester in 1982. Two years later he opened an indoor version in Buffalo. The development of the commercial industry allowed for more organized tournament-style games, and interest in the sport accelerated. The games became more exciting as the smaller fields made the action faster.

The gun continued to evolve in line with the game of paintball. Due to the need for speed, the introduction of the 12-ounce CO2 tank with its constant air was a breakthrough, which in turn led to the advent of the semi-automatic pistol with its incredible rate of fire. Then followed the electric hopper to deal with the firepower of the semi-autos.

Today private and commercial fields are ubiquitous as the sport has attracted a large following. While most players will only compete at the recreational level, professional teams compete nationally and internationally with prizes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The National Professional Paintball League was founded in 1992 and is the leading force on the professional tournament circuit.

Today’s professional players use fully automatic computerized scoring. The Angel was the first of its kind. It was equipped with a base plate on the handle of the weapon that offered a selection of different firing modes.

There is no reason to believe that the game of paintball has completed its evolution. He’s come a long way from the cattle ranches of thirty years ago, but it’s fair to assume the sport isn’t done with its journey yet.