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.
It’s good to see our rules being adopted for a household setting. I hope you had fun in your home-style war!
We always do – not enough of us for a Foam Fortress: Sydney approach though.
Thanks for the free publicity! 😉 Glad you got some use out of our rules, and if your kids are aged 11+ they are welcome to come join our games! Oh, and you too, of course, we have a couple of dads and ‘big kids’ in our group as well, you’re never too old for some Nerf fun! Have a great weekend!