What is archery tag?
Archery tag is a relatively new sport which originated in the United States. The overall sport is comparable to paintball but instead of paintball markers a bow and arrow is used. Archery tag is a team-based action sport where it is all about reaching a game objective. Of course, in order to safely practice the sport, you need the right equipment. Here’s what you’ll need:
Bows:
To safely play archery tag it essential that you use bows that are specifically made for archery tag. Regular bows used in target archery are generally too powerful to shoot at each other. One of the most popular bows used for archery tag is the Rolan snake . These bows are made from a strong polymer composite and are therefore almost indestructible. The bows are also easy to use for right-handed as well as left-handed archers. The bows are available in 18, 22 and 26lbs and in three different colours. Outside of the Standard Rolan snake there is also a special kids bow available which is shorter in length and has a lower draw weight of 15lbs.
Arrows:
In order to actually use the bow you of course need the proper arrows. These arrows should be made for archery tag to guarantee the safety of the players. The arrows have big foam tip to prevent injury when hitting other players. Besides the specially designed tip the arrows also have rubber vanes and a thicker nock to make the arrows more durable. You can find the arrows here
Protection:
Even with special arrows and bows it’s still essential to wear the proper protection. For safe games every person on the playing field should wear a impact rated mask like this These masks are made for impact sports like paintball, airsoft and archery tag.
Targets:
When playing certain game modes, special archery tag targets are required. These targets can be used for new element in regular games to add some variation within game modes. The special archery tag targets can be found here.
Game-modes
When you have the proper equipment it’s time to play some games! You can make the games a simple or as elaborate as you want, here are some of the popular ones to get you started!
Deathmatch:
By far the easiest game to play and a great way to start!
Both teams start on opposite sides of the arena, the arrows are scattered around the field for players to grab. As soon as a player is hit by an arrow, he is out of the game. The game end when all the players in 1 team have been hit. One optional addition to this game would be that when one player catches the arrow from an opposing player the opposing player is out of the game or a teammate of the catcher can be brought back into the game.
Target deathmatch
This is a slightly different version of Deathmatch, in this game there are different archery targets like these placed on both sides of the field. To win the players must hit all the players of the opposite team or hit all the enemy targets.
Capture the flag
This game can be played with either one or multiple flags. The objective of this game is to get as much points as possible before the time runs out. Points are scored by bringing a flag back to your own base.
When a player gets hit by an arrow, he must respawn at a set respawn point. If the player that is hit was carrying the flag, he or she must drop the flag and then respawn.
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