Mall of America Nerf Arena Grand Opening Announced

The newest Nerf Arena in the Midwest is now officially set to open at the end of this month. Tactical Urban Combat just solidified a Grand Opening date of December 28th and are offering free nerf gameplay from 10am to 3pm. Nerf and laser tag combat in the Mall of America is about to be a reality.

We've been tracking some awesome developments from the already successful business in Minnesota. Tactical Urban Combat has been running a nerf-only location at Eden Prairie Center in a suburb of Minneapolis since October of 2017.  They have their own scenarios like a custom version of capture the flag and their own concoction in a game-style they call Sabotage.

Check out the Grand Opening announcement below (from their facebook feed). We also get a look at the laser tag system they'll be using.

I love CEO Dustin Shallenberger's energy. Also the Grunt Style shirts are sick. If you haven't watched some of his facebook videos and live updates on the Tactical Urban Combat page, I would highly recommend catching up. He's shown passion every step of the way, often doing his transports and builds far into the early mornings to get this opening on the road.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can get a team up to Minnesota in time for the Grand Opening. In fact I'm writing this from Florida between work trip duties. I'm really stoked to check out the new digs soon, though!!

OFFICIAL Touring Nerf Arena Warfare?

Some great news for any warriors that have been following Nerf's foray into formalized arena combat. They are making their US debut this December (2019) to kick off a 2020 tour across the US and Canada. Tickets go on sale on October 28th! The LA Event starts December 7th with future dates still to be announced. Check out the link at the end of this article for more!

Now, this isn't to be confused with the Nerf Xperience Arena that was launched in Singapore earlier this month and is said to be coming to the US in late 2020. That's apparently a whole different thing. Those will be permanent "Family Entertainment Centers".

As for this touring experience, a release from the PR folks says there will be a huge stage inside a 50,000 square foot pop-up. "Surrounding the stage will be three themed arenas: Urban Playground, Strange Cargo, and Blast Man Standing, where visitors team up and compete in various challenges powered by various NERF-centric equipment."

New Channel Trailer Out!!

I hope all our warriors are getting the chance to check out the new channel trailer.

I worked on it going into the weekend. It shows off some of the cool gameplay we've taken part in and also points out how we've gone across the US to show off some of the Nerf news and arenas. Please make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell on youtube to get all the updates from us!

The Thunderdome

Warriors, if you haven't heard of the Thunderdome, you should check out the concept.

It takes the idea of a Nerf Arena and puts that right in its creator's back yard. Literally. It's a Nerf arena in a guy's back yard of his house. But that's just what physically exists in Springfield, Missouri. The concept is what creator Rob Lehr does with his love of Nerf and his unique space. Unlike other, commercial arenas, Thunderdome is meant to be free to those who participate in it. Lehr says he wants to spread the concept around to other communities by helping people to start their own clubs too. It's more than just a Nerf Arena. Lehr explains loads more about it with me in the interview we sat down to do this yesterday morning. Check it out:

More info after the jump!

Detroit Dart Club

Greetings Warriors! As you know, we've been monitoring businesses popping up all over that offer NERF warfare as a service. A few months back, Vas the Stampede over at Foam From Above pointed us in the direction of the Detroit Dart Club. This past January, we had a chance to travel there and see what it's all about.

Connor McGaffey is bringing his dream to life. Detroit Dart Club started up in August of 2014 and has been making great strides ever since. Check out the episode after the jump!

The Tag Zone

Been working on a fun edit this past week about another indoor Nerf arena; The Tag Zone. This place has all sorts of coolness with their themed fields and military-styled depot. The owner sat down with us for a few minutes back in June and I finally got this episode done for you to enjoy:

In the video, he talks about how all they use right now are modified Big Bad Bows and Nite Finders because it makes things simpler. These days the Blazin' Bow and the Firestrike or Sidestrike are close equivalents. What are your go-to "easy" blasters when you want something simple and "deadly" (old or new)?

I really enjoyed talking with Johnny Basco. He's got so much motivation and won't let anything slow him down. Between his military service and his genuine excitement, he brings a unique thing to the table in Seattle. I personally recommend giving the Tag Zone a go with your friends if you get the chance.

On another note:
You know, I wish they still made the NERF flags regularly available too. They've come in handy in our own games and folks like those at Tag Zone put them to good use too. You don't really need a branded flag, but they are nice for their settings and sounds.







~Chris

Road Trip

Hey Warriors!

Writing to you from the airport in Seattle right now. Moved my brother out this way over the weekend and decided to include a couple of blog-related stops on the way.

Sadly, I missed being able stop in at Dart Zone Meridian in the Boise area. They had a glow-war night on Friday that I wanted to check out. Such is the life when making a road trip. I did get to take a selfie in front of the sign and will be back to check it out!

The Dart Warz/Dart Zone warriors tell me that the Nerf Ninja was out in full force this weekend. I'm in the process of editing some commercial work for dartwarz.com and some war footage for the blog too! If you never got the chance, you should see the video episode about the Dart Warz folks here:

Yesterday, I got the chance to swing by The Tag Zone in the Seattle area. Tag Zone is another indoor NERF battle business, but built with a slightly more militaristic approach. We'll have to tide you over with these images while I catch up on all sorts of other work and life.

I fly back to Colorado Springs tonight and get right back to work at the day job. Keep your eyes open, though. Rumor has it that I'll be heading to the other coast soon! ~Chris

Extreme Indoor NERF - Dart Warz

Warriors, a couple of weeks ago we got a great tip from @thelomdr on twitter. I had heard rumors of a NERF arena in Colorado, but hadn't seen the evidence for myself. Turns out that they had opened an arena (Dart Warz Centennial) up the road from our mountain division in November and have been serving up local NERF fun since then. Stanton and Randi Wilkerson were awesome enough to invite us up for a tour of their facilities.

These are some of the same people who brought the world Dart Zone Meridian in Idaho -which is incidentally in the process of a name change to Dart Warz as well. They've had two years there to perfect the process and bring it over to Colorado. Check out the exclusive video to see what they've brought to the NERF Community!