The chilly weather did not deter the members of Ohio University’s Bobcat Blasters and visitors as they gathered for a Nerf gun war this weekend. After an introduction and game explanation in Walter Hall at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, the participants soon took to the campus to commence their game.
Brian Leonard has been playing the game for nearly 10 years, ever since he was introduced to it when he attended the University of Pittsburgh.
“They have been doing games such as this since I believe the early 2010s,” Leonard said. “I went to my first one in the spring of 2016.”
Leonard explained the rules of the battlefield for participants willing to partake.
“If I mechanically explain it, it would be like a game of Infection Tag, Sardines in a Can, stuff like that,” Leonard said. “Where one person starts as ‘it’ and when you tag someone you stay ‘it’ but everyone else also joins that team.”
While the game may be competitive, participants get to experience a real-life action game and get to bond during gameplay.
Josh Rubin, an accountant from Cleveland, attended Case Western University. Rubin explained that is where he got involved, as Case Western was one of the first schools to start playing. Rubin said his favorite thing about Nerf Wars is having fun with his friends.
“This is going to be a smaller game,” Rubin said. “But there’s often games of two, three, even 600.”
In 2018, OU hosted a Nerf war game of 800 players. There were 57 people registered for the game this weekend. Despite this game being smaller in participants, it still took time, dedication, and planning to bring forth. Michael Lacek is an engineer who helped with the planning and organizing of this Nerf war.
“We’ve been working on it on and off since Christmas,” Lacek said. “There are other events that take significantly longer. I’ve had the chance to be involved in running ones that were 200 plus attendees, and those are like a year to 18 months to plan.”
Lacek also discussed how the Nerf gun wars are open to any student looking to get involved in campus activities.
“Events like this are a weekend, and some people will only come for a day so it’s very easy to just try that,” Lacek said. “I know the club has stuff to loan out so you can literally just show up, and at the end of the day, it's a fancy game of tag.”
Nerf gun wars are a special event, as they allow students and visitors to bring their favorite games to life.
“The community surrounding it is really cool … you hear people talk about playing video games and stuff like that, but it is a different experience getting to experience that in real life,” Lacek said.
Bobcat Blasters provides students with a fun, lighthearted game, offering an outlet to relieve stress and have fun with fellow Bobcats. At the end of the weekend, attendees dispersed throughout campus to do a mass cleanup of any remains of the game.
“There is a lot of time that is put into making sure we keep campus clean,” Lacek said. “We are well aware that it can very easily just look like littering, and so there is a lot of dedication to that.”
Attendees always welcome students who are eager to get involved and encourage Bobcats to come out for a game.
“Bobcat Blasters … is a wonderful way to take a break from school, have fun and just let loose with friends,” Lacek said.
