Editing Paintball (section)

== Organized play ==
{{Globalize|section|USA|2name=the United States|date=December 2010}}
[[File:Paintballs green.jpg|thumb|Green paintballs]]
The first organized paintball game in record was held by [[Charles Gaines (writer)|Charles Gaines]] and his friends in New Hampshire in 1981, with the first paintball field opening approximately a year later in [[Sutton, New Hampshire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paintballenemy.com/history-of-paintball|title='Paintball History Sites':The Complete History of Paintball|website=Paintball Enemy|date=May 31, 2021|language=en-GB|access-date=August 27, 2021|archive-date=August 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827182744/https://paintballenemy.com/history-of-paintball/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-46033159/i-invented-paintball-to-settle-an-argument|title='I shot him right in the butt': I invented paintball|work=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=November 2, 2018|archive-date=November 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102083211/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-46033159/i-invented-paintball-to-settle-an-argument|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1983, the first ''National Survival Game'' (NSG) championship was held, with a $14,000 cash award for the winning team. {{As of|2010}}, tournaments are largely organized by ''paintball leagues''.

=== Leagues ===
{{Main|List of paintball leagues}}
A Speedball [[Sports league|league]] is an organization that provides a regulated competition for Speedball players to compete. Leagues can be of various sizes (for example, regional, national or international) and offer organized tournaments and or games for professional, [[semi-professional]], and [[amateur]] teams, sometimes with financial prizes. The first British national league was the British Paintball League created in 1989 by Gary Morhall, Richard Hart and Derek Wildermuth in Essex England.<ref name="British Paintball League">{{cite web |url=http://makrobicz.com/bpl.php |title=British Paintball League |publisher=Makrobicz.com |access-date=July 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324011233/http://makrobicz.com/bpl.php |archive-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref name="BPL">{{cite web |url=http://www.terrymartin.me.uk/paintball.html |title=Terry Reflects on early paintball days |publisher=Terrymartin.me.uk |access-date=July 11, 2012 |archive-date=November 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106050609/http://www.terrymartin.me.uk/paintball.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Midland Masters">{{cite web|url=http://www.p8ntballer-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?8606-MIDLANDS-MASTERS-2002-Series-Standings|title=British Paintball League to reach Midlands|publisher=P8ntballer-forums.com|access-date=July 11, 2012|archive-date=July 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715031801/http://www.p8ntballer-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?8606-MIDLANDS-MASTERS-2002-Series-Standings|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="inthepaint" /> As of 2017, the major leagues in the United States are the National X-ball League (NXL), Carolina Field Owners Association (CFOA), Maximum Velocity Paintball Series (MVPS), the Northern Xtreme Paintball League (NXPL).<ref name="inthepaint" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://68caliber.com/?p=5661|title=NPPL Info Dump|date=December 9, 2009|access-date=December 23, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213023221/http://68caliber.com/?p=5661|archive-date=December 13, 2009}}</ref> Internationally, Paintball League Middle-East (PALM)&nbsp; in&nbsp; Middle-East, East Asian Paintball League (PALS) series in East Asia, Hazara Series in Western Europe,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/3354589/Paintball-gunning-for-the-games.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110118071211/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/3354589/Paintball-gunning-for-the-games.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 18, 2011|work=The Telegraph|title=Paintball: gunning for the games|author=Davidson, Max|date=May 3, 2008|access-date=May 26, 2010 | location=London}}</ref> the Centurio series in [[Eastern Europe]], and the National Collegiate Paintball Association in the US and Canada (A league was also created for high school and college players, the NCPA.*Not recognized by the NCAA*). They are supplemented by various regional and local leagues spread worldwide. Within these leagues it is narrowed down further to divisions. There are six divisions from division 5 to division 1 besides various professional leagues.

=== Tournament format ===
The nature and timing of paintball events are specified by the league running the tournament, with the league also defining match rules – such as number of players per team (anywhere from 3-7 players per team), or acceptable equipment for use. The number of matches in a tournament is largely defined by the number of available teams playing. However, the NSL offers non-tournament game play where a more traditional game day format has been adopted. Two teams face off at a set time and play only one game per game day in the season as beginners play a 24-minute game and amateur and professionals play a 32-minute game, both requiring 90 minutes to resolve.

A match in a tournament is refereed by a judge, whose authority and decisions are final. Tournament rules can vary as specified by the league, but may include for example – not allowing players to use devices to communicate with other persons during a game, or not allowing players to unduly alter the layout of terrain on the field. In contrast to a casual game designed for fun, a tournament is much stricter and violations of rules may result in penalties for the players or entire teams.<ref name="PSP2009RulesGeneral">{{cite web|url=http://www.pspevents.com/uploads/PSP2009RulesGeneral.pdf |title=PSP Point Rules |date=February 12, 2009 |publisher=PSP Events |access-date=February 18, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Though tournament paintball was originally played in the woods, [[speedball (paintball)|speedball]] became the standard competitive format in the 1990s.<ref name="inthepaint">{{cite web|access-date=December 23, 2009|title=In The Paint|url=http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=13664|author=Alvania, Rebecca|date=May 23, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814162308/http://www2.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=13664|archive-date=August 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://68caliber.com/?p=5940|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709124030/http://68caliber.com/?p=5940|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2012|title=National Pump League Goes Back To Paintball's Roots|date=February 2, 2010|access-date=February 17, 2010|publisher=.68caliber}}</ref> The smaller fields made use of artificial terrain such as bunkers, allowing symmetrical fields that eliminate terrain advantages for either team; woodsball fields having no such guarantee.<ref name="stpetersburgtimes">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pdQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6610,2199580&dq=paintball+tournament+symmetrical&hl=en|title=Styles of play|access-date=February 17, 2010|date=May 18, 2006|publisher=St Petersburg Times}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Most recently, fields using inflatable bunkers, tethered to the ground with stakes, have become standard for most tournament formats; the soft, yielding bunkers reduce the occurrence of injuries, the bunkers deflate to store in a compact space and anchor to the ground with tent stakes, allowing for temporary fields to be set up and torn down with less impact on the ground underneath, and the arrangement of bunkers can be easily re-configured to maintain novelty of play or to simulate a predetermined field layout for an upcoming event.

=== Professional teams ===
{{Main|List of professional paintball teams}}
A professional paintball team is one that plays paintball with the financial, equipment or other kind of support of one or more sponsors, often in return for advertising rights. Professional teams can have different names in different leagues due to franchising and [[sponsorship]] issues.