Bob Gurnsey, one of the original guys to play paintball and realise it for what it could be, is not doing so good right now. He has been ill for a long time and it appears to have got the better of him this time.
Messages of support and thanks can be sent to paintballcreator@yahoo.com or use the contact form at http://www.bobgurnsey.com/
The Very First Paintball Game June 27, 1981:
Paintball was created from a debate among Bob Gurnsey, Hayes Noel and Charles Gaines as to who was better able to survive, a city person who had to be ever vigilant and street wise, or a country person skilled in the ways of the forest. Bob was a small businessman in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Hayes owned his own seat on the American Stock Exchange and was a trader, and Charles was a novelist and screenwriter with the Arnold Schwarzenegger breakout film, Pumping Iron, to his credit. They devised an individual game where pistols used to mark trees for felling, cattle for slaughter and telephone poles for replacement would be used to mark players out if shot. Since the debate was about survival, they called it the Survival Game. The first game was centered on the individual, where the 12 players enter a wooded area from different points and attempted to secure four different colored flags and leave the area without getting marked. They invited some friends to play the first game which included Ken Barrett, a friend of Hayes and an investment banker from New York City.
Messages of support and thanks can be sent to paintballcreator@yahoo.com or use the contact form at http://www.bobgurnsey.com/
The Very First Paintball Game June 27, 1981:
Paintball was created from a debate among Bob Gurnsey, Hayes Noel and Charles Gaines as to who was better able to survive, a city person who had to be ever vigilant and street wise, or a country person skilled in the ways of the forest. Bob was a small businessman in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Hayes owned his own seat on the American Stock Exchange and was a trader, and Charles was a novelist and screenwriter with the Arnold Schwarzenegger breakout film, Pumping Iron, to his credit. They devised an individual game where pistols used to mark trees for felling, cattle for slaughter and telephone poles for replacement would be used to mark players out if shot. Since the debate was about survival, they called it the Survival Game. The first game was centered on the individual, where the 12 players enter a wooded area from different points and attempted to secure four different colored flags and leave the area without getting marked. They invited some friends to play the first game which included Ken Barrett, a friend of Hayes and an investment banker from New York City.
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