Paintball evolved over the years from its sole purpose in the 1950s to mark trees for the forestry service to today, the third most popular extreme sport behind inline skating and snowboarding.  In 1981, 12 friends played the first game of paintball.  They created their own rules as they went along.  They played capture the flag, a game where two teams attempt to capture a single flag and hang it in the apposing team's base.

As you would expect, the technology behind paintball products gradually developed as the sport became more popular.  The first recreational paintball players used pump action markers (left) that required the player to pump the marker one time for each shot.  The players could fire a maximum of 3 balls per second.  The competition paintball players today use semi-automatic electronic markers (right) that can fire a maximum of 20+ balls per second and cost up to $2000.