The founders got with the program right away and named their first marker the “Splatmaster.” They figured they could sell the markers and paintballs in addition to licensing their game to playing fields around the U.S. They soon brought on Debra Dion Krischke , who now promotes the annual International Amateur Open north of Pittsburgh each year with DraxXus paintballs, as their public relations spokesperson.
Charles Gaines acknowledged the origins of paintball in his 1997 novel Survival Games (Atlantic Monthly Press) even though the names are changed and the ultimate action in the book is way, way out there.
For several years, the game Hayes and his business associates invented, the “National Survival Game,” which was loosely based on their original “Capture the Flag” concept, grew slowly. They had trouble convincing the mainstream press, still reeling from the hang-over from the war in Viet Nam, that their survival game was fun, that no one got hurt and that it taught practical skills. But soon, of course, like any good idea, the original disciples found they had started something they couldn’t control, something that quickly outgrew them. Survival became paintball.
Mike Ratko (left) from ProCaps in Canada has been a prime mover in the development of community standards for paintball. The ultimate result is safer play and a more widely accepted game by the general public. Dean Del Prete (right) is the President of Cousins Paintball stores and fields in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Cousins is one of the oldest and finest paintball operations in the world.
Today, the original paintball entrepreneurs have pretty much gone on with their lives and only a couple of them are directly involved in the game or the business. The game grew in popularity and evolved, but their “National Survival Game ,” popular for half a dozen years or so in the early-to-middle 1980s, was essentially static, perhaps because their founding philosophical question - “Could I survive?” - dictated a very personal, individual approach to the sport. And times changed from the stress of an international nuclear standoff to a decade of prosperity in the U.S.
A game of survival is a thrilling concept, but in the U.S. it has a tendency to be viewed essentially as a solitary, individual game. The “I” is paramount. With some exceptions such as tennis or golf, most other sports played with a ball are team events: football, soccer, basketball, baseball … even polo and water polo. Founding a sport based on the ascendancy of a single individual, who physically eliminated his opponents, like in boxing, was bound to be confining. Even hunting and archery have met those invisible boundaries. Today, paintball is larger than its founders ever imagined. In the years since the first shot heard round the world, here is how the sport has evolved.
“Survivors will always live to tell of surviving by doing just the opposite of others who have survived. Medical experts have often told survivors that by all rights they should be dead. Instead of dying they had the WILL to live. YOU, TOO, MUST ENLIST THIS WILL, that sense of self-preservation, which starts with a deep breath and the determination not to give way at any cost.” - Anthony Greenbank , pg. xi, The Book of Survival (Revised) Hatherleigh Press (WW Norton & Co.) 5-22 46th Ave. Suite 200, Long Island City, NY 11101
Style of Play: The early game was based on principles of individual initiative and individual decision-making: every man for himself. Today’s game is all about team play, communication, coordination, mutual support and certainly, just like the very first firefight, straight shootin’.
“Never surrender … unless you are completely surrounded.” Actor, author, crooner and paintball activist William Shatner of Star Trek.
Where to Play: The first recognized game in June 1981 was held in the woods on what would today be considered a “rogue field.” Just 25 years ago, there were no fields and virtually no rules except the injunction to “be a good sport.” Then, in April 1982, Caleb Strong opened the first outdoor playing field in Rochester, New York. Now, licensed outdoor paintball fields with strong insurance coverage and enforced rules for safety and play abound in the U.S. and can be found in dozens of foreign countries. There are even a significant number of indoor playing venues, tournaments and national championship events.
Marker: In the first games, players shot one ball at a time out of a see-through, gravity-fed tube that held 10 balls and stuck straight out of the back of the marker. Their Nelspot markers , such as the famous “007,” were limited by the CO2 power remaining in a replaceable 12-gram cartridge, which might deliver 30 to 40 good shots. This meant that accurate shots were more lucky rather than predictable. With one of today’s markers, like a PMI Pro TS with electronic Storm frame equipped with a 68 cu/in Pure Energy 3000 psi carbon-wrapped bottle of nitrogen or compressed air, you can expect to get between 1400 and 1800 shots, all expelled with identical velocity and a high degree of accuracy out to possibly 40 or 50 yards. And the standard loader holds 200 or more paintballs ready to rip.
THE START OF THE ADDICTION: FIRST TIME by Matthew Smith
Sweat pouring off your face, adrenaline pumping through your veins, diving into the mud without a single thought, hearing the sound of balls flying by your head, just like cowboys and Indians as a kid.
What is it that is so addictive about paintball you ask? If the pure thrill and adrenaline rush don’t appeal to you, then you better keep your day job. For the rest of us, we’ll keep our day jobs to support the paintball addiction!
What’s the strategy? For those of us with only a few seconds to decide, we come up with a little game plan. The horn blows and it is war. Running through the woods, only thinking of one thing: get the other team before they get you. Getting the flag doesn’t seem like an option until some of the opposing team members are eliminated.
I don’t think I even remember hearing my heart beat, or feeling the condensation in my mask from my breathing. I didn’t notice the mud that I was laying in until I looked at my clothes after victory was achieved. It was such a strange feeling, playing cowboys and Indians with rounds that were actually flying by my head. Not strong enough to seriously hurt you, but fast enough to sting and make you duck as far down as you can behind a tree stump.
Do I stick my head out and shoot or do I move to gain a better position?
The bunker is 60 feet away. I can barely see the four guys inside and I have no shot. I’ve already wasted 20 rounds from this spot. Pinned down by one guy behind a bunker 40 feet away. What do I do? Do I move and take a chance of getting hit or do I stay where I am. Well, I’m, no good here.
I quit firing and wait, watching the opposing team take a dozen shots at a different member of my team. This is my chance to move. Gaining 10 yards on him, there’s a small hole in his cover. Standing up with no cover, I fire as fast as I can, both at the tower and at this opponent in front of me. He is crouched down with his head almost between his knees.
I end up taking out two guys in the tower and the one in front of me, too. “They’re out, let them off the field!” the ref shouts.
Ducking to cover, the two remaining opponents in the tower never see me. Here’s my advantage. My other team members are drawing their fire and they‘ll never see me coming.
Being sneaky and cunning throughout the game is my personal strategy. I usually only take three to four shots from one spot and then I move if I can. In woods-style games, I always try to get close first and make sure I have a clear shot before firing. If I don’t get my target by the third or fourth shot, I most likely wasn’t going to get it from that position. I also know that once I shoot, my position is unsecured and I