Paintball

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

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Paintball is a fast and furious sport. It is played on both a social and serious level by over 16 million people around the world (Cooke,11). It is one of the fastest growing sports on the planet. Paintball's history, games, guns, and safety are all part of the fun.

In 1970, James Hale, an engineer, invented and patented the first commercially successful paintball gun. Paintball guns were first used by the National Forest Association to mark trees that would be cut down. Then, it was used to mark cattle by cowboys. One night while sitting around a campfire, one cowboy shot another and that is how the game of paintball got started. This ?splotchmaker? can rightfully claim to be the grandfather of modern paintball guns (Peters, 73).

Over the next two decades, Daisy Manufacturing Co. Inc. of Airgun Frames manufactured these guns under contract for the Nelson Paint Co.

During this twenty year span, paintball evolved from a ?survivalist? game into the wholesome, exciting, family game it is today.

In paintball, there are two teams equipped with paintball markers. These are basically low-powered airguns that fire small capsules of paint. It is not a dangerous sport. The only real danger is getting hit in the eye with a paintball. Wearing specific goggles made for paintball easily stops this danger. This rule is strictly enforced at all reputable playing fields worldwide. Obviously if a player is out of sight of the referee and takes off his mask, then he is looking for trouble. American Insurance statistics show that it is safer to play paintball than to play golf or go fishing (Pierce, 17). Getting hit by a paintball generally does not hurt. You may get an occasional bruise, but on the whole the game is not painful. The excitement certainly...