Unknown Rebels , 1983
• Late Summer 1982 : Jeff Perlmutter , David Freeman Begin Pursuit Marketing Inc ( PMI )
In the summer of 1982 Jeff Perlmutter , David Freeman and his cousin Keith played the game at a Survival field in Wisconsin . “ I liked it , I didn ’ t love it , but we saw the business potential in it ” Freeman recalled when interviewed for the film , The Complete History of Paintball . Soon after that first game , Freeman and Perlmutter found their own paint manufacturer and marker manufacturer ( Sheridan ) and began their own survival game company called Pursuit Marketing Inc ., better known as “ PMI ”. Unlike the , NSG , PMI did not require a franchise fee or contract of exclusivity .
• March 1983 : The NSG Announces Its 100th Franchised Field
Less than a year after signing their first NSG game field , the National Survival
Game announced , via its newsletter , that it had signed their 100th field . They would cross the 350 game field milestone by the end of the year .
• Summer 1983 : The First Paintball Tournament
From the beginning Bob Gurnsey and Charles Gaines were at odds when it came to how the game was best played . Gaines loved the “ every man for himself ” type of game while Gurnsey knew that for the game to grow , team competitions had to be the standard of tournament play . In the fall of 1983 the NSG held the first ever survival tournament in the hills of New Hampshire . The best teams from the U . S . came , as well as one Canadian team called the Unknown Rebels . Games were 45 minutes long and the teams each fielded 20 players . In the end it was London , Ontario Canada ’ s Unknown Rebels that would win the event . www . paintball . media
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