PAINTBALL

In June of 1981, three men, Bob Gurnsey, Hayes Noel and Charles Gaines, organized the first paintball game in Henniker, New Hampshire. It quickly evolved from an experiment with oil based tree-marking pistols into an action sport using specialized protective gear and environmentally friendly biodegradable paintballs. In the 1990s it quickly swept through the world, becoming one of the three most popular extreme sports in the United States.

The premise of the game is simple - achieve a goal such as grabbing and hanging a flag. Standing in the way of that goal is an opposing team, and all of the players are armed with compressed gas markers which launch small gelatin covered spheres of paint at speeds just over 200 miles per hour. Any player hit and marked by a paintball is eliminated from the game.

While the sporting goods industry estimates that millions of Americans play paintball every year, only a few rise to the ranks of professional tournament player. The best of the best were invited to compete in the 2006 Smart Parts World Paintball Championships