It's NERF or Nothing! - REVISITED

From Mod Mania

Bold = Todd Dawosn

Normal = Rodrigo Capati

1 What is NERF?
2 NERF Gun Modding
3 Nerf Wars
4 Conclusion
5 Videos
6 References

What is NERF?

NERF is a toy created for safe indoor play that either shoots or is made of foam. The foam toys are made from non-expanding recreational foam, thus the acronym NERF. This line of toys is owned by parent company Hasbro.

In 1969 Reyn Guyer, a games inventor who was also responsible for Twister, came to a company called Parker Brothers with a volleyball game that was safe for indoor play but, after studying the game carefully, Parker Brothers decided to eliminate everything but the foam ball.

In 1970, the NERF ball was introduced as the "world's first official indoor ball". In the advertising campaign one of its main selling features was that you could throw it indoors without damaging lamps or breaking windows. The ball filled a strong consumer need and by the year's end more than four million NERF balls had been sold.

Although originally marketed as an “indoor ball” it was the versatility of the product which meant that it could also be used outdoors. The four-inch (102 mm) ball was followed closely by a larger version called "Super NERF Ball". To expand on the NERF popularity, in 1972 a basketball game called "NERFoop" was launched followed by the NERF football which quickly became the most popular.

These products all promoted non-aggressive interactive play between children and/or adults and encouraged children of all abilities to be physically active.

Parker Brothers continued to expand on the NERF line until they handed the concept to Kenner Products which was part of Tonka and, in mid 1991, Tonka was later acquired by the toy company, and current owner, Hasbro. Over the years, the company continued to further expand the product line, adding new looks to existing products.

Hasbro was renowned for producing action figures like GI Joe and Transformers which had a more aggressive appeal to consumers. The current line of NERF products began to change from passive sport balls to imitation guns (or as Hasbro likes to call them – ‘blasters’) with both dart, rocket and ball ammunition.

With the changing attitudes of the community from the 60’s and 70’s to the 80’s things became bigger and louder, as did the use of colour. Neon colours soon became very popular and this was incorporated in the aesthetics of the blasters.

Rival companies also produce similar items to the NERF Blaster ranger and are often called ‘NERF guns’ however are not affiliated with the Hasbro NERF range. Two companies that produce blasters as well are Air Zone and Buzz Bee.

Left Photo: Buzz Bee Tetra-Strike - Right Photo: Nerf Blast Fire DX 500

On a more “science-y” note the manufacture of NERF foam is produced by the reaction of polyester with a diisocyanate while carbon dioxide is released by the reaction of carboxyl with isocyanate. Polyester resin reacts with a separate compound while carbon dioxide is simultaneously released by another reaction. The gas created by these chemical reactions produce pockets of air within the polyurethane, thereby making the material soft and light.

The evolution of the passive NERF sports balls into the antagonistic imitation firearms may have been due to the change in company management or due to the change in culture towards more “war-like” toys brought about by the rising popularity in violent video games.

NERF Gun Modding

In recent times, with the surge of the “modding culture”, there has been a significant increase in NERF gun modifications and even communities or social groups being built around them.

“ ‘Mod’ is a term used to describe the modification of an object, system, or media. Modding is generally carried out by consumers and takes place after the manufacturing process is complete. “ - Scott Mitchell, Design Studies Black Board.

Modifications can either be made through its aesthetics (ie re-painting with new colours or removing/adding parts that aren’t functional); with its internal mechanics (ie replacing the spring so the gun has higher capabilities, making it shoot harder and further) or even both.

Although Hasbro products carry a moulded warning "Do not modify darts or dart blaster" imprinted on the casings of all of their NERF guns, the company has not taken any steps to design a tamper-proof blaster system such as using TORX or triangular screw heads. All you need is a every-day Phillips head screwdriver and your modding begins.

Left Photos: Stock Air Restrictor - Right Photos: Air Restrictor Removed simply by pushing pin out with screwdriver

There are groups of enthusiasts that their passion is to adapt the guns. Modifications can include removing the internal parts which restrict air, replacing springs with stronger ones and increasing the voltage in motor-powered NERF guns so that they shoot faster. Although these modifications can increase the distance of dart travel and enhance the RoF (Rate of Fire), such adaptions put the guns stock parts under great amounts of pressure and stress which end up breaking. To combat these problems experienced “modders” will reinforce locking and firing clips, replace barrels with PVC or brass tubing and even replace wiring in automatic blasters to allow for the increased voltage.

Left to Right: Stock spring, 6kg, 9kg, 13kg spring (used for longer distance and more power)

Stefan dart on the left compared to official NERF dart right

Another reason to replace the barrels of the NERF gun is so that it will accept “Stefans”. Stefans are homemade darts (named after Stefan Mohr, who developed the process) which are made using foam backer rod, BB gun bullets and a hot glue gun. The foam backer rod is a similar material and weight to original NERF darts however they don’t have a hollow center and therefore, with a tight enough barrel, can build up more pressure behind the dart upon firing. The dart is made by cutting a desired length of backer rod, inserting a BB into the end and gluing over the top of it to give the dart a head. Making your own NERF darts (aka Stefans) is not only easy to do but is also a lot cheaper than buying darts in a store.

The upside of homemade darts is that they perform much better than any official NERF darts. The increased power of the Stefans means players feel the darts when they are struck, dissolving any ‘hit or miss’ arguments when playing with others.

The downside side is the greater chance of significant and possibly life-long injuries that can result from these high powered darts such as eye damage or a ruptured eardrum.

The modifications can be subtle or way over on the other end of the spectrum where much time and money is devoted into producing machines that not only outperform anything store-bought but are also deemed works of art depending on the audience.

While the original brightly coloured NERF blasters appear to be a safe toy, the modified versions take on a more menacing and powerful nature.

Just like robots, movie violence and Halloween costumes, NERF guns are getting more realistic with each passing year. The N-Strike Stampede Blaster, the first fully automatic dart clip NERF weapon, is the most realistic to date. With a quick coat of paint and a few modifications, these blasters can evolve into realistic copies of military firearms.

Andy Sowards a geek blogger writes, “These [extreme NERF mods] take your old NERF guns lunch money, and stuffs them in a locker, successfully scarring them for life.”

A notable NERF gun modification was made by a group of game-obsessed workers of the online drink company ‘Mana Energy Potion’, when they took a NERF Vulcan and modified it to its extreme. In comparison to its size and generally intimidating aesthetic appearance, the stock Vulcan shot darts quite slowly and thus a modification was needed. The team at ‘Mana Energy Potion’ modified the Vulcan by adding extra battery packs to mechanics to increase power and its shooting rate to 500 RPM. After the initial modification they opted to mod again, adding another battery pack, changing internals and changing its aesthetic to something more menacing to produce a machine that could shoot at 600 rpm.

Nerf Wars

NERF Wars are organized events in which players are armed with NERF blasters and separated into teams and unleash a barrage of foam darts at each other.

Humans VS Zombies logo

One of the most notable adaptations of the game is called ‘Humans vs Zombies’ (HvZ). HvZ is a modified tag game consisting of two armed teams. The game’s concept began in the US and soon spread worldwide.

Humans vs Zombies was invented by Brad Sappington and Chris Weed in 2005 at Goucher College in the US 'and quickly expanded to other universities in North America. The game has been immensely popular and, much like a deadly virus, it has spread very rapidly through the internet. Currently there are over 300 universities in the US which play HvZ as well as high schools, military bases, summer camps, and public libraries.

Games are now hosted overseas in countries such as Brazil, Denmark, England and Canada. In 2009, the Australian National University (ANU)in Canberra was the first Australian university to run HvZ and since then the infection has become epidemic throughout Australia

Humans VS Zombies game

The core ethos of the game is that if a human is tagged by a zombie, that human becomes a zombie. To make things interesting however, humans are able to stun zombies using NERF blasters or socks rolled into balls. Stunned zombies will remain stunned for a length of time and will be unable to tag any humans while stunned. The humans’ aim is to survive as long as possible while zombies aim to kill all the humans. The finer details for this can vary between games.

Games can significantly range in size and duration; anywhere from under 10 players up to 2000 or from hour-long games to month-long marathons. Commonly, games occur on university campuses and run between courses, making the game something which happens around the players’ normal lives. Most games are run by ‘moderators’ who act as referees for the game and often run special missions for humans and zombies to complete. HvZ groups usually use websites to run their games as a way of recording kills and to prevent cheating; these can be as simple as Facebook groups or can be more elaborate custom game engines. Many gamers use NERF blasters, as they shoot harmless foam darts and tend to make the game a lot more fun (playing similarly to games like laser tag or paintball). This may be case if they are using non-modified blasters, but most hard-core NERF wars are played with highly modified weapons capable of inflicting pain on their “enemy”

The strong social groups that are evolving around this NERF mod/war craze are organised and promoted predominately through the internet. Facebook groups, forums, and Youtube bloggers seem to be the most popular and easiest ways for any “noob modder” to participate in these groups.

On a world-wide scale, specific internet sites are popping up to feed the madness. NERFhaven, NERFHQ, and Foam Universe are the three major sites that help NERF nerds communicate or, as they like to be known, as the NERF Internet Community (NIC).

Conclusion

The NERF craze is very popular in today’s mod culture and will only become increasingly more so. It’s this hobby’s affordability and openness to creativity that brings people into the world of NERF and will also spawn more enthusiasts in the future. The level of engagement with modding and participating in ‘wars’ sometimes borders on obsessive, but the passion clearly shows and is infectious.

Those followers of the NERF culture believe it is also a “sharing culture”, where people share ideas, share each other’s time and share the belief they are being cautious about safety. They say it’s very community driven and the ‘veterans’ won’t hesitate to help other enthusiasts get started.

Critics of the NERF war game culture are more inclined to say bringing together a group of people to “kill” each other with simulated weapons that have been performance-enhanced is breeding a more violent community.

Many kindergartens and primary schools ban any form of replica gun or action figures as they claim it is a bad influence on children and promotes aggressive interaction which often ends in a child getting hurt.

What some see as a harmless sport may in fact be partly responsible for the de-sensitising of our community to violent behaviour. The judgement of some adults or adolescents may become confused when reality replaces fantasy and the victim of a real-life shooting doesn’t miraculously get up and walk away.

When did Reyn Guyer’s concept of a passive foam ball for children turn into a simulated weapon used by “humans” to “kill” (HvZ).

Despite the craze and obsessive enthusiasm of NERF modding and NERF wars, the NERF fanatics will assure you the underlying message here is that it’s all about having fun! Or is it?