Paintball – The evolution of the Extreme Sport
Extreme sporting is incomplete without the famous, much acclaimed sport of paintball. Paintball is an exciting and action packed sport that is played by people of all ages - from young to old - around the globe. The First Person Shootout simulation however,
has undergone a lot of changes before finding its relevant niche in modern times.
The sport came into existence when ranch owners created a way to mark their cattle by shooting different paint filled pellets at them. The game underwent another change as the army came in; using the sport as a tool for training soldiers by removing the
chance of injury and saving them from harms way, while at the same time, providing a real world simulation of a battlefield.
The sport has progressively gained popularity. Infact, in the recent past, proper tournaments to promote the sport are arranged in countries all over the world. These tournaments are played on open fields with inflatable bunkers while players wear brightly
colored uniforms. These are rather fast paced, action packed and thrilling sessions that last from 30 seconds to over 30 minutes, at times. Paintball guns these days can fire paintballs as many as 35 per second and the prices of these guns vary from 25$ to
over 2000$.
As the act of shooting paint balls is becoming a competitive activity, many teams and leagues from all over the world have come into the spotlight. It is perhaps safe to assume that this extreme sport is becoming one of the fastest growing installments in
the category of ‘Extreme Sports’. This sport is quickly drawing sponsors, publishers, advertisers and industries to it and has a growth potential that seems almost unlimited at this time. Every other day there are online paintball stores popping up and new
arenas coming into existence inviting the daring to test their metal!
The sport is played with “markers” that are usually filled with a harmless paint and people use it to play a variety of war and hunting games. The paint balls are usually gel caps filled with small amounts of paint. The guns are powered by compressed gas.
Paintball markers evolved from Gas-powered guns that were used in the 1970’s for other purposes such as those that were used by forestry groups to mark trees and trails or by the farmers that used to mark their cattle. Later, the guns were redesigned to regulate
the power and speed of the guns for the safety of the paintball.
It has been reported that George A Skogg invented a "washable marking fluid formulation for soft gelatin capsules" - a Paintball bullet recipe (U.S. patent 4,634,606 granted January 6, 1987). The fluid could easily be packed in the soft gelatin capsules.
The resultant lightweight paintballs, further improved the level of the game – Not only was it beneficial for a long range shootout but the paint stains could easily be washed away with water and a detergent which rendered the need for a clean set of clothes
before every game rather useless!
Therefore, while technology has aided 3D simulations of real time battle fields, there is still a huge chunk of enthusiasts who would rather get their clothes ‘painted’ – Sometimes, it just feels right running around with not a worry in the world for clean
clothes, all in the name of sheer harmless fun!
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