Paintballing in relation to the bigger picture of sport in the UK is relatively young, only appearing in the U.K in 1981.

Since its introduction to the UK in the early 80's the growth and the take up of the sport in the UK has been impressive and consistent. The paintballing days that are now being offered in the UK have been greatly improved. Where back in the 80's people would have been given guns in a field with haystacks and posts, the large paintball providers now provide whole scenario's with buses helicopters and aeroplanes as prop's. The whole industry has evolved massively with the focus shifting to providing a paintballing experience.

Currently the biggest paintball company in the world is a firm called Delta Force Paintball followed by firms such as Go Ballistic and Ministry of Paintball.

As you can see from the video above, firms and individuals take their paintball very seriously, it has become more than just a leisure pursuit or a novelty activity to undertake in the UK. There are national teams, leagues as well as a government recognised association the UKPBA (UK Paintball Association), who now have well over 500,000 members in the UK.

The UKPBA are considered by many as the regulators of paintball in the UK, promoting the sport and working to maintain safety standards across sites in the UK.

The UKPBA currently have 75 registered paintball venues on its network of sites. It ranks the companies on a number of different variables such as safety and gameplay, amd currently the only company to hold a 5 star rating is Delta Force Paintball, which means that they are considered by many including the UKPBA as the market leader.