Paintball is a rapidly growing sport that began in the nineteen eighties. Farmers used paint markers to shoot their cows and mark them as their own. People soon took the markers and used them to play war like games with each other. Since then paintball markers, or guns, have come a long way. Today, there are hundreds of different types of markers available for purchase. To start playing paintball one needs several things. First of all a person needs a marker, with that he or she also needs paintballs, an air tank, a hopper, and a mask. Paintballs are the ammo for the marker. The hopper acts as the clip would in a firearm; it holds the ammo or paintballs. The air tank is what powers the marker. Paintball games can be played with any number of people on a team and using any scenario imaginable. Often players will get together in someone's woods and just try to get everyone on the other team out. The game is easily adaptable though and could be played as capture the flag, defend the fort, or even something unusual like pretending to protect the president or some other V.I.P. Another option is to play at a field. Fields are places that are set up for people to come play at for a fee. They often have interesting structures and bunkers strewn around. These places offer referees and well laid out rules, and they tend to follow fairly strict safety precautions. .
Paintball is still evolving as a sport; it has many different avenues it could branch into. Yet, many stores and officials have started trying to make new rules confining paintball. Some level of regulation for the game is acceptable though. In all truth, a five-year-old should not be playing around with these things. The problem only arises when these new rules go too far and do more harm than good. Many of them are over restricting and do not allow potential players to get involved in the game. These restrictions placed on the sport are unnecessary and should be eliminated.
