How to Have a Nerf War

Last Updated: July 16, 2022 Approved

Nerf wars are tons of fun to play with friends and family, or with local nerfers you connected with online. There are many different ways to organize a Nerf game, and you can play several of these in one day if you'd like to organize a big Nerf war event.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Getting Started

1
Choose a location. Nerf wars are usually more fun in large, outdoor areas, such as parks and playgrounds, but if you have access to a large, indoor space or backyard, consider them as well. Make sure the location you select has the following features:^{[1]
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- Restrooms should be available nearby. Water fountains and places to buy food are optional, but recommended.
- Cover for people to hide behind. Almost any location besides an open field will have this. You can also bring some barrels or even inflatable cover if you have a portable air compressor.
2
Choose a backup location nearby. Most Nerf wars are played in public spaces, and you may arrive to find the location already in use. Plan around this in advance by looking for a backup location within walking distance.
- Some public spaces can be reserved in advance through your local community center or school, but this is not always possible.
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3
Choose a date and time. Plan the Nerf war at least three weeks in advance, especially if you are trying to recruit new people. Choose a time slot about four hours long if you are holding a typical Nerf war. If you are recruiting more than twenty people or planning for a special occasion, you might plan a longer Nerf war, but eight hours is an exhausting upper limit.^{[2]
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- Remember to include meal breaks if necessary. Allow at least half an hour if people are bringing their own lunches, and at least an hour if people plan to eat at restaurants or hold a potluck picnic.
- Pick a time to start wrapping up, at least fifteen minutes before the official end of the war. This lets everyone help gather darts and clean up together, and avoids irritating parents who don't want to wait around for this to happen.
4
Recruit Nerfers. You can have a Nerf war with three or four players, but if you're doing all this planning in advance, you probably have a bigger event in mind. Start contacting your friends as far in advance as you can, and send out a reminder to people who haven't responded within a few days. If you'd like more players, you can try to recruit local players from the Nerf Internet Community, using websites such as Reddit and Discord.
- Be aware that Nerf players you find online may be used to a strict set of rules, and will often show up with modified Nerf guns and homemade ammo that can shoot farther and faster than regular Nerf darts. Make rules clear when you post online, but don't ban mods, since people would find loopholes around it and bring blasters like the Nexus Pro. FPS caps are a much better way of limiting power. 130 FPS is a good low-powered cap, 160 starts getting into high-powered blasters, 200-250 is in the "hyperstock" category, and 300 FPS is known as Dartsoft, since extremely powerful blasters are allowed, such as the Caliburn.
5
Announce the rules you'll be using. Once you have enough people, let them all know the rules you'll be using in advance. There are many different rules you can use in a nerf war, but the important part is to announce them in advance so everyone is playing by the same rules.
- ”West Coast rules”: Each player has five lives. When someone is hit, they loses one life. They then walks to a pre-designated respawn point with their blaster in the air. When they're in the respawn point, they can get back in the game when they leave. They can't camp the respawn point, and if you're alive and enter the respawn point, you loose a life. They leave the game permanently if he is down to zero hit points.
- "East Coast rules”: Each player has ten lives, and loses one each time they are hit. There is no respawn point, but if several darts from the same blaster hit you at the same time, this typically only counts as one hit. You leave the game once you are out of hit points.
6
Tell everyone about safety equipment and allowable blasters. Eye protection is mandatory for every person present at a Nerf war. In addition, some Nerf blasters and ammo are often banned for safety reasons, or to make it fairer for all players. These vary from game to game, but here are some suggested rules to follow:
- Homemade ammo must be tested and must not have a solid tip.
- Blasters that shoot BBs or paintballs are banned (but some wars allow gel blasters).
- Blasters must have an orange or red tip and must not look like a real firearm (no black/silver/gray/camo).
- Nerf Hyper ammo is banned for environmental and safety reasons. #teamseas
- Blasters that shoot over X FPS are banned.
7
Decide on one or more Nerf games. A Nerf war can last many hours, but usually, one game doesn't take nearly that long to finish.
- You don't need to figure out an order to play these in in advance. Sometimes it's best to see whether everyone is enjoying themselves, and suggest a switch to a new type of game once people seem bored.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Different Ways You Can Play

1
Hold a straightforward Nerf battle. You don't need much structure to have a fun Nerf war. Pick one of the rules for getting hit described in the section above before the war starts. Divide the group into teams and separate onto opposite ends of the area before you begin the game. You can even have a free-for-all, with each player fighting every other player until one remains.
- If you have a good sense of which players are better than others (or have better equipment), you can divide the group into two equal teams. Otherwise, make the teams at random, and switch the teams after each game.
2
Play Humans vs Zombies. This is a popular Nerf game that is especially useful if you don't have enough weapons for everyone. Divide the group into two teams, the Humans, and the Zombies (with less zombies than humans). The Human team has Nerf blasters as usual, but the Zombies have no blasters at all. When a Zombie touches a Human, the Human becomes a Zombie. Zombies have infinite lives. If a zombie tags a human and goes back to where the zombies started, they can upgrade, and can now only be eliminated with Mega, Mega XL, and rockets.
- Use a bandana to easily identify team members. Humans wear bandannas on their arm, while Zombies tie it around their head.
- Zombies are not allowed to use blasters even if they steal one.
3
Organize a Capture the Flag game. Each team keeps a flag (or any other recognizable object) near the "base" they start out in, but far enough away that it's difficult to defend the base. The team that brings both flags back to its own flag station wins the game.^{[3]
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- Instead of using the usual rules you decided on, when you're hit, return to your base and count for 20 seconds before returning to the game.
- Consider a 20-minute time limit to avoid the game dragging on too long. Whichever team gets the enemy flag closest to its base by the end of the time limit wins.
- For an alternative without flags, divide candy among the players. When a player is hit, they must drop any candy they are holding and return to base. Once one team has all the candy, it wins.
4
Try a quick Defend the Fort game. The Defender team gets to choose a defensive position, often a play structure or an area of high ground with plenty of cover. They switch after the defenders are all tagged out, and whichever team survives the longest wins. If the Attacker team knocks all the Defenders out of the game before then, it wins. Attackers have infinite lives, but defenders only have one.
- Optionally, you can have a Defender leave the fort and become an Attacker once he is hit three times. This may be a good idea if the Fort is especially easy to defend.
5
Play Hunter with just one Nerf blaster. This is a simple game of tag played with a single Nerf gun. When someone is hit, they take the Nerf gun. The last person to avoid getting hit by a nerf dart wins.^{[4]
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6
Play GoldenEye. Named after the James Bond video game GoldenEye 007, each person uses a low-capacity blaster (6 darts or less ready to fire without reloading) and only has 3 lives, with no time between them.
- Golden Gun is this taken to its fullest extent, with one-dart-capacity blasters and one life each. A spray-painted Jolt would be a good idea for this.
- It would be a good idea to have multiple rounds, due to the quick round speed.

Community Q&A

Question

Can I do a free for all without cover?

Community Answer

It's unlikely to work out. If you have cover, the game will probably last longer.
Question

What if I want to be with my friends in one team but some people think that's too overpowered?

Community Answer

Use a team randomizing app on a phone or iPad to split up the teams. That will make it fair.
Question

What do I need to make a nerf war fort?

Community Answer

Old cardboard boxes work just fine. Just stack them up how you want and you are ready to go.

Warnings

Make sure that you (or others if you are a host or are helping the host) are not messing with, engaging, or attacking bystanders (or players who are "out", if playing a game-mode where players can get "out") during your war if you are playing in somewhere like a public park.

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Ensure that every player has eye protection before the Nerf War starts. Getting hit in the eye will be painful and might cause permanent damage.

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Pretending to be out of the game (by raising your blaster in the air) in order to ambush another player is usually considered bad Nerf war behavior, even if it is not specifically disallowed by the rules. Target people who do this.

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If someone is yelling for help, it is a good idea to check it out or tell the host of the event. Most games have a "hold" rule, where anyone can pause the game if someone is injured.

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