If you don’t fancy yourself hunting down opponents with a toy gun, if strategy games don’t appeal to you, if teamwork doesn’t interest you, if adrenalin rush is too much of a high for you to handle, paintball is not the game for you. On the contrary, Paintball is all this and much more.
It began in the US in 1981. Its inventors wanted to recreate their adrenaline filled hunting trip in Africa. Their intention was to create a game where they could form teams and hunt each other. The discovery of a gun, which could fire paintballs that was being currently used to mark buffalos was the spark the inventors were waiting for. Paintball was born with its inventors deciding that the teams would use guns, which would fire paintballs at opponents and the team that succeeded in eliminating their opponents wins.
Paintball is a team game patronized by about 10 million people, in the US alone, today. Although a gun is used to spray paintballs on an opponent, the game is safer than a game of tennis. Played both indoors and outdoors, Paintball is growing with the addition of new variants and new rules as is what happens to any sport which becomes popular.
Any game requires that it be should be played by observing certain minimum rules and safety regulations. Paintball requires that adequate clothing gear be worn to protect one from the flying paintballs. Also, a goggle system to keep the sprayed paint when a player is hit into his/her eyes is mandatory. Head gear protecting the entire head including eyes, ears, and neck are now available. Spectators must watch this game behind barriers that block the flying paintballs.
Apart from being a strategy game, this is predominantly a team game. Hence it is much preferred by professionals, friends, and colleagues as an ideal getaway for the weekend. Some paintball organizers conduct tournaments in wooded areas on the outskirts of cities providing the perfect reason to escape break out into an adventure-filled, adrenalin-pumped holiday.