Usually we know the origin of things that are used daily and have been around for nearly 50 years...especially if they originated in our own state.

Well, I was today years old (nearly 30) when I found out that paintball was invented in New Hampshire.

Inventions from New Hampshire, and New England:

Some of the most used items ever have come from New Hampshire and New England.

For snowboarders and skiers, that snowcat that grooms the mountain every day and night all winter... yeah, that brilliant idea came from a New Hampshire skier.

And so did paintball.

Where and when was paintball invented in New Hampshire?

According to an Action Packed Paintball article, paintball has been around for 50 years. The original intent in the 1960s was for loggers and cattlemen to use the paintball guns.

Loggers would use the paint to identify trees to be cut - cattlemen would ride horses and mark cattle.

So the shooting at people was never part of the plan...and then New Hampshire happened.

Only in New Hampshire would we think shooting painful balls of paint at each other would be a good time...but it really is!

Bob Gurnsey, Hayes Noel, and Charles Gaines were three friends who talked the idea out over beers. They wanted to have a survival game in the woods - one that felt real.

Years later, after talking through rules and logistics, Bob Gurnsey hosted the first game of paintball in 1981 throughout125 acres of woods in New Hampshire.

The concept was a mix of capture the flag and...war! And the birth of paintball began.

Shoutout to three friends having beers and creating one of the most fun games we still play today!