The rules in Nerf wars

The downside of having cool Nerf guns that fire lots of bullets is that Nerf wars can easily just descend into a spam-fest without any sense or, after a while, fun. My need for order has led to the imposition of some rules in our household Nerf battles but they have not been really satisfying. So I set out to find some better rules.

In doing so I found Sydney Nerf Wars: A group of locals hosting Nerf battles for fun and exercise. They look like a pretty great group and I’m particularly taken with their idea of mixing Nerf battles and a Team Fortress 2 approach to classes – Foam Fortress: Sydney.

They also have a nice commonsense set of rules on their website. I’ve added in some house rules to make them more applicable in our family context:

• If you are struck by a dart on any part of your body, you have been HIT. You are to raise your hand and proceed back to respawn.
• A HIT to your blaster, or any gear you are holding is registered as a HIT to you.
• If you score a HIT on another player [your brother or father], and they continue to play, call your HIT on them
• Honesty is the best policy. If you know you’ve taken a HIT, own up and walk back to respawn [your bedroom]. This also applies when calling HITS on other players.
• Arguments over HITS will not be tolerated. Both players will be sent to respawn [their bedrooms] in the case of any argument.
• If you suspect there is dishonest behaviour among the attendees, inform an event organiser [parent]. They will handle the issue thereafter [and you may not like the consequences].
• Without suitable eye protection, you cannot participate in any events. … Removal of eye protection during games can result in ejection from the event. [and in tears]
• When a member of the public [your mother] enters the playing area, instantly yell STOP. The game will pause until the bystander [she] has left the field of play [or decided to join in].

I have had to add in one of our own too:

• There are no zombies. A HIT means you are dead and need to go back to respawn. Dead people don’t shoot [even if they are really annoyed with their brother].

The next Sydney Nerf Wars event is tomorrow at Rouse Hill (see their Facebook page for details); our next event is tonight when there’s an uncle coming to visit.