So now nerf is trying out speedball

[Trbo323]

Kind of. Seems nerf thinks they can create their own competitive sport and everyone should buy $130 specialized nerf guns for it

https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/nerf/nerfball

I can't link straight to the video, go about halfway down the page and there is a 20min video of a full game.

In a nutshell, 4, 4 minute quarters, eliminating an opposing player gets you 1 point, scoring a basket gets you 6. Players respawn after being eliminated. The ball can not hold still for more than 25 seconds. They say right now hits are based on the honor system but next year they will have a hit detection system up and running (I say good luck with that) but even if they can get that system running, how long before you will be spending as much on nerf as paintball?

But the whole basket idea got me thinking, this could be an interesting format for a paintball field. Get a few cheap baskets off Craigslist, 1 ball and whichever team scores a basket first wins.

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[Carp]

No thanks on the Nerf stuff. Especially if I have to sweep up my darts inbetween each match. 🤦♂️

As for the paintball version...Hurling a large ball around on a field with people trying to keep goggles/masks on. Umm....yeah that just seems like a bad idea

[BrickHaus]

The concept of shooting a basket does seem fun to me

[BrickHaus]

I'd have a bin of balls at both bases. Only one ball on field at a time per team. You ball can't hit the ground, you can pass it or carry it. If the carrier is shot the ball is dead and a new one has to be pulled from the base basket.

Work said ball to the end of the field and take a shot.

I'd have it like this too where you can attempt a long toss or you have to work under it.

[Axel]

The ball game angle is a bit silly, but foam darts have become a big deal over the last few years. Nerf isn't even the most desirable manufacturer anymore

[OpusX]

If it gets the kiddos off the online Fortcraft games and pewpew-ing in person, sure why not...

[Toestr]

Nerf did the speedball thing 10-20 years ago with the Dart Tag line. Velcro tipped darts and velcro vests.

[Jonnydread]

I was part of a test feedback group for this game they did a few years back. It was fun, but a far cry from actual paintball. I agree with OpusX though if it gets the younguns away from screens I'm all about it.

[martix_agent]

Me and my friends used to have nerf wars in the 90's at each other houses. Many darts were lost and subsequently found years later. This was before i even knew paintball existed.

Competition nerf though? Does anyone else remember the nerf video game was was basically a reskin of unreal tournament?

[Riot]

We used to play Nerf games after dark at the local castle park. It was fun.

I’ve also spent $100 on a [Halo Needler] nerf gun before.

count me in!

[glaman5266]

I'd love to get my hands on some of the Halo Nerf stuff.

[Trbo323]

No thanks on the Nerf stuff. Especially if I have to sweep up my darts inbetween each match. 🤦♂️

As for the paintball version...Hurling a large ball around on a field with people trying to keep goggles/masks on. Umm....yeah that just seems like a bad idea
]

Yeah seriously, buy darts by the case.

Shooting a basket concerns you but going for and hanging a flag doesn't? Throwing a grenade or smoke?

As long as your mask fits right I don't see any problems. If it doesn't fit right, it doesn't really matter what you are doing

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[Dusty Bottoms]

As someone whose been in the Nerf hobby a good bit with my son the past seven years, and seen how much crazy stuff has come out from other companies and individuals that AREN’T Nerf, my take on this is that it’s a Johnny come lately marketing gimmick by Hasbro to enter the performance market.

Over the past five years, ‘short darts’ or ‘half length darts’ have really become the main choice for modern, performance oriented blasters. They work well over a wide performance range, depending on the blaster and game type, and take up less space than the traditional Nerf darts so you can carry more magazines and just have a more efficient package. The development of these short dart blasters was done by individuals in the hobby years ago. They either modified existing blasters to shoot them, or built them from scratch. As the hobby grew, thanks in part to YouTube, 3-d printing also exploded and clever folks started designing and printing their own designs that they would share or sell the print files for others to create them as well. A couple aftermarket companies joined in the fray as well, creating all kinds of parts, kits and accessories for people to mod with. Nerf ignored all of this completely, and in an effort to create something they hoped would be proprietary, so they could brand and corner the teen/performance market with, they created the Rival line that shoots those dense foam Rival balls.

Rival was a success, and there’s some very imaginative and fun Nerf guns in the Rival line, but eventually aftermarket companies figured out how to copy the Rival ball and make them cheaper. Also, a few ‘off brand companies’, namely Dart Zone and X-shot, really started to make increasingly better, high performing blasters that fired standard Nerf darts, and eventually Rival balls, that would now compete with Nerf directly in Walmart and Target. All the while, the performance oriented Nerf scene, ‘Nerf’ being a generic term, kept developing and using half dart blasters more and more in their competitive play.

Finally, Dart Zone took up the performance mantle a few years ago and started releasing high performance, ‘pro level’ blasters that you can buy off the shelf at Target and Walmart. If you’ve seen a kid walking around with a orange or red quasi AR looking ‘Nerf’ gun that can snipe you from across the block then you know these things are built different! At our local Nerf wars the staff actually had to ban these types of blasters because their so much more powerful than a standard Nerf gun that it can actually hurt a little kid. It really is meant for older players, and in more of a competitive setting.

Needless to say, these high performance blasters have been a huge success for Dart Zone and other companies, and Nerf had completely slept on this. In the meantime, Hasbro came up with another proprietary ammo type and Nerf line built around it, to yet again gain a market foothold that other companies couldn’t compete in. This is called Hyberball, a smaller, almost squishy Rival ball that totally sucks and really didn’t go anywhere.

Having totally slept on the short dart focused, performance market that exploded in popularity without them, Hasbro FINALLY got on the train and created their first short dart blaster, which you see displayed in the video. Of course, knowing how late they were to the party, but having a lot of money, they created a goofy new game type to promote it and make it a proprietary game type where you can only use a official Nerf product to play it. They had done this previously, and successfully, many years ago with the Dart Tag Nerf line, which had actual tournaments you could enter in with prizes. Of course, that was back when Nerf was the actual leader in the industry, the sole super power, and there was basically no real competition to go against. Today is completely different. It’s hard for me not to be super cynical about these kind of corporate marketing gimmick plays from Hasbro because they’ve done it so much over the years.

Alllllll that being said, I would like to see a evolution, or at least experiment, with different paintball game types for competitive play. I always thought it would be cool to see a organized, mag fed game type that was similar to a fps shooter were you had different role slots to fill on a team, and each role dictated the type of paintball used. Like .50 call for short range pistol/smg type front players, standard 68 for middies, first strike for long range/back players. I’d love to see mag fed paintball guns really move away from ‘it has to look milsim’ and ‘I have to look decked out for Afghanistan’ designs to some of the crazier types you see 3-d printed in the Nerf hobby that are very cool.

[The Inflicted]

Why play paintball with a Nerf gun when you can play paintball with a nerf gun?

[OpusX]

I was wondering how long this thread could go with out you dropping this fun craziness in here. Well played.

[The Inflicted]

My finest, dumbest hour.

[martix_agent]

This is the paintball equivalent of a dewalt branded handgun.

[Toestr]

To quote Michael Nesmith: "ENERFs eNERF"

https://youtu.be/a-3eLL4LVt0?feature=shared

[markdem]

a picture of my paintball/nerf hybrid.

Nerf has come a long way and can definitely be competitive. I encourage people to give it a try. Its a great stepping stone for youngsters and the best part is I can play in the public park and nobody will complain - try doing that with a paintball gun!