NERF Dart Tag Tournament Format

 

Ready for some intense NERF action this weekend? Does your team have the right mix of speed, agility, strategy and teamwork to blast your way to victory? Read up on the tournament format below and prepare yourselves accordingly.

Objective:
Players use NERF Dart Tag blasters to "tag" opposing team players and capture their "flag".

Players:
4 players per team, identified as blue or orange (following NERF Dart Tag jersey colours).

Team NERF Dart Tag Gear:

Swarmfire x 1

Speedswarm x 1

Speedload x 1

Snapfire x 1

Sharpshot x 4

2 x 25 dart ammo belts at base

Jerseys (blue or orange) x 4

Vsion Gear x 4

All blasters start the match fully loaded.

Format:
Round robin, each team compete against 3 other teams to score points to qualify for semi-finals.

Game mechanics for each match of 3 minutes duration:

1. Players of each team start at designated "base".

2. Upon commencement sound-off by game marshal, players may proceed to attack/defend against opposing team according to their strategy.

3. A velcro dart sticking on a player's jersey is counted as a "tag". "Tagged" players immediately hold up their blaster above heads (signify "don't shoot me") and proceed back to team "penalty zone" / respawn point. Upon reaching the "penalty zone", the player must remove the velcro dart from jersey and place on "penalty zone" velcro vest to signify 1 tag scored by opposing team. Player then starts 10 second timer penalty countdown before they can rejoin the game.





Team "VIP" protecting flag

4. To capture an opposing teams "flag", the attacking players must "tag" the defending team's "VIP" with at least 3 darts from minimum distance denoted by court perimeter markings. Once the "VIP" has been tagged, the attacking team players may enter the defending team perimeter and claim the "flag" to return to their "VIP". If a player is "tagged" while carrying the "flag", that player must immediately drop the "flag" and return to his team's "penalty zone" to serve 10 second penalty countdown. Any player may then pick up the "flag" to return or capture. The team with their opponents "flag" at end of match scores bonus points.

5. Once a "flag" has been captured and re-located to the capturing team's "VIP", the "flag" may only be recaptured under the same conditions, i.e. "tag" opposing team's "VIP" before entry to claim a "flag". A player may only carry 1 "flag" at any time.

Base ammo reload belts

6. Players may reload ammo darts only from the ammo belts, placed at team "base". Darts on ground may not be collected by players for re-use during match time.

7. Players who have exhausted all ammo darts in their blasters and with no refill ammo left are considered to have ended their gameplay and to immediately return their blasters to base then raise their hands and move stand behind the "VIP". They are no longer targets to be "tagged".

8. Game ends after 3 minutes, or complete discharge of all legal ammo in arena by both teams.

9. Game marshals will call out "tagged" players by team colour and jersey number, e.g. blue 1, orange 3, etc. Players are to remember their jersey colour and number for each match.

10. Players in breach of the above rules of play may instructed to exit game or disqualified by game marshals.

Scoring for each match:

• team with higher number of "tags" against opposing team recorded from "penalty zone" scoring vest earns 2 points.
• if a team's "tags" more than double opponent's "tags", that team earns bonus 1 point.
• if both teams have the same number of "tags", each team scores 1 point.
• team capturing opposing team's "flag" earns 3 points.

For example, blue team ends with 12 "tags" and opponent's "flag" and orange team ends with 4 "tags" and opponents's "flag", then blue team earns 2 (higher "tags") + 1 (double opponent's "tags") + 3 (captured "flag") = 6 points, orange team earns 3 points only (captured "flag").

4 highest scoring teams determined by cumulative scoring from 3 rounds will enter semi-finals. In event of even scoring, tie-breakers will be teams with the highest number of captured "flags", then highest number of "tags".

Players are to collect darts from ground between each match and reload their blasters & ammo belts to reset for their match.

Players should NOT run blindly within arena and beware of safety considerations at all times.

Please heed instructions from game marshals or face the "axe" from matches by our NERF N-Forcer!

More detailed instructions on the matches will be made available in tournament day.

NOW, are your NERFers ready? Plan your team strategy in advance. But many well-laid plans fly out the window the moment action starts, so you may wish to test theories first in practice matches prior to tournament time. Standby for Tournament Day itinerary coming soon.

Excited to join the action? It's not too late. Just purchase minimum RM50 of new NERF Elite range and Vortex Pyragon products to participate in the Open Category. Register online here.

It's NERF or Nothin'!

NERF and its associated trade names are copyright to Hasbro Inc. used with permission by Outpost Events as the appointed agency by Hasbro Malaysia to organise the NERF Dart Tag Tournament Malaysia 2012.

NERF N-Strike Elite Rampage Review

Following-up from our previous review of the NERF Vortex Pyragon, our NERF Specialists got hold of the upcoming NERF N-Strike Elite Rampage courtesy of Hasbro Malaysia for our next field test:




The new N-Strike Elite series blasters adopts the orange-blue colour schemes of the preceding N-Strike Longstrike and Raider blasters.

Seen below with the Raider, both blasters look much the same from casual inspection. Afterall, the Rampage re-uses the Raider mold with design improvements internally to provide the Elite range, speed, accuracy and rate of fire.

 

The Rampage comes with a 25-dart ammo drum, this time pear-shaped and less clunky than the Raider's 35-dart whistle-shaped drum. And it includes the new blue Elite darts which contribute to increased range.

Outdoor test firing the Rampage using Elite darts yielded ranges between 50ft / 15m to 60ft / 18m when firing parallel to ground. Firing angled up from ground scored 60ft / 18m to 90ft / 27m. Slam-firing results were between 55ft / 17m to 80ft / 24m. So the 75ft / 23m ranged claimed is indeed achievable.

How much do the new Elite darts actually contribute to range? Testing them in a Raider yielded range around 50ft / 15m, about 10ft / 3m more than using Streamline darts. Unfortunately the dark blue colour of the new darts make them a tad harder to find amongst the park grass, moreso once sunlight gets dim so Elite darts are not recommended for night-time outdoor games.

If you notice something different with the vest in the background of the photos above, you are indeed correct as our NERF Specialists also got hold of the new N-Strike Elite Tactical Vest! Main differences with its precedessor is that this vest uses velcro straps instead of zipper, and replaces the holster with another ammo clip strap and plastic snap hook style clip to hang small blasters or other gear.

The Elite vest set includes new darts for the 2 standard ammo clips, of which 1 side in translucent plastic. Back of the new vest has (sadly) removed the sleeve of N-Force melee "weapons".

 

That's our specialists' 2 sen on the N-Strike Elite Rampage and Tactical Vest. Also check out what John Brenkus has to say about the Elite Series from the NERF Performance Institute:



Test out the N-Strike Elite Rampage and other new blasters at the upcoming NERF Dart Tag Tournament next weekend on 8 & 9 September 2012.

 

As always, it's NERF or Nothin'!

NERF and associated product trade names are copyright to Hasbro Inc.
 

NERF Vortex Pyragon Review

Thanks to Hasbro Malaysia, our NERF Specialists received the latest NERF Vortex Pyragon for field testing... literally! Here are some unboxed photos of the new Vortex blaster in the field:

New white-grey and colour scheme of the Vortex Pyragon matches well with the Dart Tag orange jersey.

This blaster is user friendly for both right & left handed NERFers, which dual-sided grips and clip release tabs on both sides of the blaster.

The ammo barrel is the highlight of this blaster, able to store 40 discs in auto-rotating chambers (otherwise imagine a 40-disc long clip sticking out below like a pole). After filling up 20-discs, slide a tab to rotate to the next ammo chamber in the drum.

The Pyragon fires discs much like the Praxis (sorta based on the same design) and doesn't differ by range or accuracy. The other highlight is that the Pyragon allows slam-fire for rapid discharge of 40 discs to literally swarm your enemies! The forward grip is comfortable to hold and allows high-speed slam-firing without any discs jamming during testing, as long as users slide the handle all the way and back to prime each shot.

Check out this video for slam-fire in action from both the gunner's and target's point of view. Accuracy-wise, we achieved at least a few headshots on "Toby"! Other good news is that colour scheme of the discs has also changed from green to orange, so finding discs in the park grass is now much easier.

Under firing range test, the majority of the 40-disc swarm from the Pyragon seem to land around 57 feet / 17.4 metres when fired slightly angled up. Range evidenced in photo below, although numbers of the tape is quite hard to see in this photo's resolution. But at least the orange discs are easier to spot than green!

The Pyragon works with most NERF stocks, seen here with the Praxis stock.

Colour-wise, the Super Soaker stock blends better, and the Pyragon also sits nicely upright using the ammo drum as a stand.

So it's a thumbs-up on the NERF Vortex Pyragon from our Outpost NERF Specialists and look forward to finding these blasters soon at a toy stores in Malaysia.

Test-fire for yourself the NERF Vortex Pyragon and other new blasters at the upcoming NERF Dart Tag Tournament Malaysia on 8th and 9th September 2012.

It's NERF or Nothin'!

NERF and associated product trade names are copyright to Hasbro Inc.