Paintball is a sport in which participants eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with paintballs (spherical gelatin capsules containing primarily polyethylene glycol, other non-toxic and water-soluble substances, and dye) shot from a compressed-gas-powered marker.

The first paintballs were created by the Nelson Paint Company in the 1950s for forestry service use in marking trees from a distance, and were also used by cattlemen to mark cows

A game of paintball usually involves two opposing teams seeking to eliminate all of the other team's players or to complete an objective, such as retrieving a flag, eliminating a specific player,

The industry standard maximum velocity for safe play is 300 feet per second (90 m/s).