How was the word "nerf" born?

[Hello_Moto]

title is self-explanatory....being pondering about this conundrum for a while.

i always associated "nerf" with little kiddies firing polystrene missles at one another from oversized multicoloured plastic bazookas......

enlighten me please.

[Da_Fish]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerf_%28computer_gaming%29

[Langy]

I'm not sure how the company came to name 'Nerf' but in computer gaming, the word came from the fact that the company purposefully made their toy guns less powerful than they needed.

[silver falcon]

i find this ironic because at the height of the nerf gun fad, they were releasing over powerd toys which were chain fed machine guns firing foam darts... i was laughing my ass off for hours watching that commercial. one kid is spinning a crank fed gun and watching as the other runs in teror from a couple dozen darts.

[voidlore]

Nerf guns are made to be soft-hitting and safe for the kiddies. Incidentally, you can "buff" Nerf guns by cutting out all the air restrictors and whatnot; they become quite powerful.

[The Collector]

When a weapon is 'nerfed', it is compared to shooting a foam dart in place of the weapon; thus, that said weapon has been rendered weaker/useless.

[Hello_Moto]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerf_%28computer_gaming%29

is there anything that this big (online) book of answers does not cover?!

[The Collector]

Yes.

Spoiler

Me.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

/me ponders

the article kind of sucks, though..

[HunterX]

Um, originally, Nerf made indoor/outdoor sports equipment not the dart guns. They made balls out of the new wonder material of the sventies foam rubber. You could play inside without breaking the antiques with the ball. Of course you could slam into the lamp and break it while tackling your brother, but the ball wouldn't break it.

[Tails]

Why you stuck up...half-witted...scruffy looking...nerf herder!

[Riess]

Who's scruffy looking?

[JAL-18]

I'd just as soon as kiss a Wookie

[A176]

How was the word "nerf" born?

"Nerf is a foam-plastic material used in childsafe toys. Produced by a division of Hasbro, the Nerf line contains hundreds of projectile-launchers.
Originally introduced by Parker Brothers in 1969 as an indoor-safe ball created by Reynolds Guyer..."

[Dante]

How would one...buff a nerf gun?

[SquidDNA]

[hiddensmoke]

hmm screw-driver.... that sounds like an IDEA!

[silver falcon]

LOL
"killing me wont bring her back"

[Tails]

[Salty]

Hmmm... I consider looking on www.wikipedia.org . It's gotta be there somewhere.

[Azara]

i swear the wikipedia knows almost as much as robert frazer - the resident fluff god

[Salty]

That is because it is the collective minds of many genius philosophers.

Whereas Mr Frazer is just a bloke behind a keyboard who doesn't get out much.

[Hablacraja]

Ah shit, my friend's little brother got that gun in the PA comic for christmas and I completely forgot that I wanted to buy one. I would buy real guns, but I have nowhere to keep them.


Just look at it. I couldn't stop playing with it. I'm going to Toys R Us tomorrow.

[SquidDNA]

Technomagi gets +200 points for having read the thread.

[One step away]

Its funny what you find on google when searching for 'nerf'.

[Harmanoff]

indeed.

[Anthonace]

I have a bunch of nerf guns that fire 10 darts in rapid sucession, and they sound pretty menaccing when they do it too. Sadly, they have been removed from the nerf range, despite the awesomeness.

[One step away]

If thats the nerf-dildo I dont wanna see the 'buff-dildo'

[Paladin]

Habla: I took two of those guns to a party last year... The darts were all lost by the second or third day.

Was fun though.

[One step away]

How long was that party exactly? :S