Nerf Night is a favorite of our students, one that they look forward to each year. I’ve put on Nerf & Nachos Night for the last three years, and we are looking forward to it again Friday!

We purchased:

• Nerf Elite Strong-arm Blaster–purchase directly from Hasbro to get a reduced cost, plus tax-free
• Safety glasses for each student
• Elite Darts: These darts are the best “cheap” Nerf Darts

We communicate to our students that they may bring their own Nerf Blaster (we label it with painter’s tape and duct tape as soon as they walk through the door), but to leave the darts at home. I recommend being careful about the language used for Nerf: saying “darts” instead of ammo, “blaster” or “toy” instead of gun, things like that.

Another thing that is important is to establish the rules for the evening:

1. Load the Blaster properly.
2. Wear your goggles at all times.
3. No aiming toward the head.
4. If you get hit, you are out until the next game.
5. Ricochets do not count as hits.
6. Darts that are on the ground are fair game to pick up and reuse.
7. Each round might have specific rules for that game–listen to your game leader!
8. When you are listening to the rules, Blaster is on the ground and hands are in the air. (This is so they’ll listen and not fidget)
9. Have fun!

Nerf Games

Round One – Basic Nerf

• Students will be in four teams (designated by paper wristbands)
• Students will use barriers to eliminate the other team.
• Once out, people will come to the sides of the gym and root their team on.
• You can add in bases–essentially, a target on all sides of the gym for teams to protect. If a team’s base gets hit with a dart, the game is over for the team.

Round Two – Hunger Games

• Each person gets a Blaster, and scatter them around the four sides of the room.
• Put the darts in the center of the room in the “Cornucopia.”
• Students race to the center to grab darts for their Blaster and hit each other.
• Last person standing wins.

Round Three– Zombie Nerf Tag

• One to five people are designated the “Zombies.” They each are equipped with a gun.
• All other Blasters are put into the center of the room (if students brought their own Blaster, that also goes into the center–we allow students to grab whatever Blaster they’d like, but you can have the rule that students who brought theirs get theirs).
• The Zombies hit the living with their Blasters. When a person is hit, they go grab a Blaster.
• This continues until the last person without a Blaster wins!

Round Four– Dodgeball Style

• The people are split into two teams
• Each side has a Blaster. All of the darts are sprinkled along the center line of the room, like you would for Dodgeball.
• Students race to the center to grab darts for their Blaster and hit each other. They must stay on their team’s side.
• Like dodgeball, the last person standing wins for their team! At a certain point, like when there are five or less on one side, you can call “NO BOUNDARIES” and they can cross to each other’s side.

Round Five– Capture the Flag

• For this game, the teams will use the hallways of the church on the first floor only. We close all rooms in the church, so that students don’t go in. We tell students “if the door is open, you can go in, but you cannot go into closed doors.”
• Each team gets their color of bandana for their team.
• Each team hides their color flag around the church–point each team in a general direction. Have an adult go with them so that it’s “semi-visible.”

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