Who Started Paintball?

[LAMANTEthePBguy]

I was just wondering who actually invented it. I've heard two different stories and just wanted to get it right.

The first story i heard was that the guns were used to mark cows and one guy thought it would be funny to shoot another guy and it escaladed from there.

The other story i heard on a company's website. i tried looking for it again but couldnt find it. it said that the guns were used for marking trees for the phone company and that one day a guy decided to have a game with modified tree markers.

just wondering if anyone knew how it really got started.

[Rock_Bottom]

Its easily possible that both are true, but I would go with The Cow story because I don't think anyone would modify the tree markers just to play a game with them.

[Creek]

Hayes Noel and Charles Gaines founded the game. George butler found the marker in a agricultural catalouge thats was used by cattleman to mark cows. There was a interview by Adam W. Cohen with these guys a few years back.

[TeamBlackHawk]

Ya, it was a bunch of farmers who invented this to mark trees, and cows i guess, and than i say this happened...

Hey fred, think fast!
Hahahahahaha.. it's bleeding
Cool... lets go run around the woods and shoot each other!
Ok!
:|

But thats the truth cuz i got it from the PBR masters.. Tonysk8 and Cocker Kid.. ;)

[canadianpber]

i heard the tree one my dad told me it when i first started paintballin