Nerf meets Laser Tag this Friday!

I've been thinking of a fun way to add a "Nerf" element to our Laser Tag games and it's finally time to try it out at the last game of the season!  For those who don't know, I run an outdoor Laser Tagging group called the "Midwest Laser Tag Association" (MLTA).  We play in public parks with Hasbro/Tiger Lazer Tag-brand gear, most of which is loaned out at the beginning of each event.  It's free, it's fun, and open to anyone with an itchy trigger finger.  Each summer we host weekly games that make up our "Summer Season".  This Friday, the MLTA will wrap up it's 9th consecutive season of play with a big cookout and games going on into the evening.

The Nerf element I'm adding to this game comes in the form of a new twist on a scenario we often use.  By making use of the Nerf Dart Tag "Electronic Flag", we do Disarm the Device games.  The Defending team's objective is to keep the opposing team from disarming the device by pressing a button on top of it.  It is motion-sensitive, so it's important that the player is careful with it, or else they'll "Set off the bomb" and fail the mission.  The Electronic Flag used has a 15 minute time limit, so either the Disarm Team successfully accomplishes their mission within the time limit or the Defending Team wins if either the disarm is unsuccessful or the time limit is reached.  We actually have two of these devices, so we can also run games where both teams are trying to disarm the other team's "bomb" while simultaneously trying to defend their own.

To change things up, these games would be played out in the same way as far as the roles of disarming and defending go, but the disarm team is carrying an extra piece of equipment: a Nerf Titan.  Instead of running up to the actual device and pressing a button, the team's object ive is literally to knock the device out with the Rocket.  A radius of 30 feet is drawn around the device to mark the minimum engagement distance so that players can't just walk up and push the device over or shoot the rocket at point-blank range.  With the Titan, you have the chance to hit the device from greater distances, but there's always the chance you could miss, so getting as close to that 30 foot radius would be the ideal situation to minimize the chance of missing.  It's still a tough shot, but there's no limit to how many shots you can take at it... but with only one Rocket on hand... it's best to make that one shot count.

There are different ways to approach the game, but I think there's a higher chance of success with this if it is played out as a "Respawn" game, meaning that once players are tagged out, they can return to a designated starting point and rejoin the game.  We could also just do away with the Titan and use a couple of LTTO Tag Master Blasters with Rockets... but the idea is that ANY player can pick up the Rocket Launcher and try to make that crucial hit to win the game.  It's likely that, with this being the first time we will have tried this out, that chances could be made depending on the success we have with it.  Either way, I'm looking forward to bringing the launcher out to add a different element to our popular "Disarm" game!