In the year 1970, Nerf introduced a simple foam ball to play indoors and it became an instant hit. Ever since, Nerf has released innovative, well designed and safe toys for kids all around the world. Though they manufacture a wide variety of playthings, Nerf Blasters are their flagship toys and are immensely loved and played with, by little ones and adults alike.
Nerf is actually an acronym for “Non Expanding Recreational Foam”, the foam that’s used in producing the darts that are fired from Nerf blasters and other Nerf products in general. This material paved way for the creation and acceptance of gun toys for kids to play with. Being non-toxic and soft, but durable, they made the perfect choice for blaster ammo. The older series of blasters were quite subtle and low-powered. But in recent times, with the release of Elite and Rival series, Nerf has outdone themselves in producing the best gun mimicking toys in the world.
The Nerf blasters in themselves are not simple pretend toys that fire lazy shots as one might expect. They are more of a of simulation of various real-life gun designs, but with a huge emphasis on safety. The blaster models mimic various types of guns ranging from shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, snipers and even bull-pup models. Nerf attachments that accompany the blasters, or retailed individually, allow players to customize their weapons. Attachments come in the form of Stock, barrel extensions, laser sights and scopes, magazines, ammo drums and so on.
The core operating mechanisms are two basic types. One is a direct plunger system which utilizes a spring action primer to create high air pressure to shoot out the dart. The second is Flywheels. The foam dart is forced between two rotating wheels thrusting it out the nozzle. The first is a simpler manual load and shoot model while the second model can emulate semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons. In addition Flywheel blasters are electronic and require batteries to operate. Nerf has left the choice to the consumer to decide between mechanical and electronic blasters and purchase as per their convenience.
Do take a look at different series of Nerf and our reviews for top favorite blasters. Have fun Nerfing… 😉