Editing Paintball in California (section)

== History ==

=== Early development ===

Commercial paintball developed in California during the early 1980s, following the introduction of the sport in the United States in 1981.

One of the state's earliest major commercial venues was [[SC Village]], originally known as Sat Cong Village, established in the Chino area by [[Dennis Bukowski]] during the 1980s.

SC Village became an important recreational and tournament venue, hosting woodland competitions and large recreational games.

Its operators also developed [[Monsterball]], an early large-scale recreational event intended to accommodate hundreds of participants on the park's extensive woodland playing areas.[1]

=== Development of speedball ===

In 1989, SC Village introduced an early version of [[speedball]], a format using a compact playing field and artificial obstacles instead of conventional woodland terrain.

The original arena included centrally positioned scoring horns that players attempted to activate while avoiding elimination.

The format was intended to create faster games with improved visibility for spectators.[2]

SC Village subsequently developed the SC Arenas tournament facility, incorporating purpose-built playing fields and training areas.

During the 1990s, the venue helped popularise [[Hyperball]], a tournament field format using large corrugated plastic pipes as bunkers.

SC Arenas became an established training location for professional teams including the Ironmen, [[Avalanche]] and San Diego Dynasty.[3]

=== Tournament development ===

California hosted professional and amateur tournament paintball throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

The [[Great Western Tournament Series]] operated events across the western United States, including a 1997 tournament at Mare Island in the San Francisco Bay Area.

That event included five-player and 10-player competitions. Teams participating included Hostile Takeover, Outta Control, Marine Team Gold and Bob Long's Ironmen II.[4]

Southern California also became an established venue for the [[National Professional Paintball League]] (NPPL).

The 2000 Los Angeles Open took place at SC Village in Corona from 10 to 12 March. Organised by [[Dave Youngblood]] of DYE Precision, the tournament featured five-player and 10-player competition.[5]

The Los Angeles Open returned to SC Arenas in subsequent seasons. In March 2002, San Diego Dynasty won the professional 10-player division.[6]

=== Huntington Beach and the Super 7 ===

In February 2003, the NPPL launched its Super 7 World Series with a tournament at Huntington Beach, California.

The event was staged near the Huntington Beach Pier, introducing a seven-player format and an emphasis on spectator access, television production and commercial presentation.

San Diego Dynasty won the professional division, defeating French team [[Toulouse TonTon]] in the final.[7]

The tournament returned to Huntington Beach in March 2004, with Dynasty again winning the professional competition.

Later in 2004, the NPPL staged its Commander's Cup championship event at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The Men won the professional division.[8]