How to Play Archery Tag!

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The battlefield where you get to shoot your friends!

We all know about paintball, dodgeball and laser tag; but do you know about Archery Tag? Archery Tag is an awesome combat game where two or more teams fight each other using bows and arrows. But don’t be scared, there’s no blood involved and we don’t even leave bruises (not like paintball – ouch)!

The arrows used in Archery Tag games have great big marshmallow-style tips making it much less painful than paintball! You get to shoot your friends (or your boss!), there’s no pain involved and you feel like Robin Hood. I bet we caught your attention, so let’s get into the equipment and rules of this fantastic game!

Equipment

1. Bow – a basic lightweight recurve bow.

2. Arrows – patented ‘safe’ tips, carefully weighted and spined to match the bows.

3. Mask – even though ‘head shots’ are illegal in the game, a bit of extra protection never went amiss.

Rules

To play this game, we need teams. The minimum number of people needed to play is 8 in order that we can split the group into two teams of 4 people each. This is the absolute minimum needed to play – the standard number of people per team is 5. Once teams are sorted out, they need a team name. This is when Archery Tag gets creative (no, we’re not divulging our best team names for you… you have to come up with them yourselves although do feel free to give us your best effort in the comments!)

Can and can’t do’s

Can: – Shoot everyone who wears a mask. – Move around your side of the battlefield. – Stay behind the barricades or not. – Collect as many arrows as you can. – Deflect arrows using your bow (be careful the marshmallow tip doesn’t hit it).

Can’t: – Shoot someone who doesn’t wear a mask. – Cross to the enemy’s side of the battle field. – Move barricades. – Load or shoot in ‘No Man’s Land’ central zone. – Dry fire a bow (shooting without an arrow loaded). – Head shots.

Game play

Games last for 5 minutes or until one team completely knocks out (tags!) the other. At the beginning of the game, each person has 2 arrows to shoot. Sometimes, there will be extra arrows placed in ‘No Man’s Land’. These arrows can be picked up by any team (you can’t be hit whilst in No Man’s Land but you might need to arrange for covering fire to get safely in and our from behind your barricade).

Once the game starts, each team tries to tag as many enemies as they can. If an arrow hits you or your bow, you’re out. This means you have to move to the side (keep your helmet on!) and wait until your team mates save you.

How can my team mates save me I hear you ask? Well, there are two foam 5 spots targets – one for each team. If your team mate shoots out a spot you’re back on side. Once this happens, the first person to die is the first to go back into the game. Good.

But, what if you have dead team mates but you don’t have any dots left to shoot at? Well, our crack-team of only slightly-bribeable referees will be replacing them as fast as you can shoot them but, there’s also another way to save team mates!

You or your team mates just need to catch an arrow in mid air (piece of cake)! You need to take care not to be hit by the tip when you’re attempting this otherwise you’ll tag yourself. If an arrow bounces (hits a wall, the floor or a barricade) and then hits you, it doesn’t count as a hit and you carry on playing. However, if it hits a team mate and then it hits another, it’s a double kill! If an arrow bounces (hits a wall, the floor or a barricade) and then you catch it in mid air without touching the marshmallow tip, it is valid, so you’ve just saved a team mate! Well done!

Games move fast so we recommend loose clothing and staying on the ball as we rotate teams on and off the courts. Our maximum group size is 25 people and we have it all pre-organised tournament style to guarantee an even number of games in the style AvB, CvD, BvC etc. We play at a great indoor spot in Whitechapel with a bar and a Thai food concession. Yes, we could play in the rain.. but why would you want to when you can guarantee the weather and have a quick half-pint while the other teams are out there ‘killing’ each other?

Do you have a group of friends? Are you organising a stag party or having a birthday in the near future? Archery Tag is a fantastic option to have a great time while having fun and getting yourself moving – which is always good! And, there’s always the possibility of a Zombie Apocalypse to consider – getting in a bit of practice at a moving target beforehand won’t do you any harm at all.

What are you waiting for? Book a session today! Fully online booking system – get on that date checker now!

http://www.2020archery.co.uk/archery-tag