The Nerf mark has been bringing Kyd effervescing fun for over four decades now , but the fellowship ’s chronicle might not be as familiar to you as the perfect technique for a smash Nerfoop dunk shot . Let ’s take a face at the Nerf nitty gritty .
It Was Supposed to Be a Volleyball Game
Although Nerf has become the go name in squashy backyard warfare , its radical were decidedly less vehement .
Inventor Reyn Guyer had enjoyed early achiever by create the game Twister , and in 1968 he started Winsor Concepts to stargaze up novel toy and game mind . While work on a caveman - theme biz , one of Guyer ’s team members began bouncing one of the game ’s foam “ rocks ” over a net . The designers realise that they were onto something and began develop a whole business of game based on foam ball .
Guyer initially take the game musical theme to Milton Bradley , the society that had found a hit with his Twister invention . The game giant passed on Guyer ’s introduction , though . Undeterred , Guyer then pitched the froth game to Parker Brothers .
Parker Brothers was n’t unhinged about the actual game , but they loved the idea of a foam testis that Kid could safely play with indoors . The company decided to commercialise just the bollock as its own toy . In 1969 Nerf made its unveiling in the figure of the four - inch polyurethan froth Nerf Ball , which Parker Brothers dub “ the domain ’s first indoor ball . ” After the plain erstwhile Nerf clump became a runaway hit , Parker Brothers contracted with Guyer to make the wider array of froth secret plan that he had originally envisioned .
The most memorable of these line extensions was surely the Nerf football , which bounced onto the panorama in 1972 . The Nerf football in reality map a bit of a technical modification for the Cartesian product line . Parker Brothers made the original Nerf balls by spin around foam on a lathe and cutting it with a composition of hot wire . Making the football , on the other hand , entailed pouring liquid foam into a mold . The resulting ball had a thick outer masking that aid it behave like an ordinary football .
Some of the other Nerf spinoffs go bad to reach the notoriety of the Nerf football game . By the time the fourscore roll around , Parker Brothers had started make up things like Nerf Pool , Nerf Ping Pong , and , of course , Nerf Table Hockey . The company even started a wrinkle of Nerful military action figures that front like anthropomorphic Nerf glob .
The Nerf trade name has deepen hands several times over the years . In 1987 Tonka purchased Kenner Parker Toys , the then - proprietor of the Parker Brothers brand , and in 1991 the sword moved again when Hasbro acquired Tonka . Hasbro has keep back onto the brand and helped it flourish ; a 2010Business Weekreport peg the Nerf division ’s annual revenues at $ 150 million .
“It’s Nerf or Nothin’!”
Nerf ’s major coup for a whole genesis of shaver , though , was its presentation of foam munition . Sure , flip a Nerf football around was fun , but shoot your buddies with lenient foam balls ? That ’s real amusement !
In 1989 Nerf debut the Blast A Ball , small pinkish cannons that fired golfball - sized foam projectiles , but the 1991 insertion of the Nerf Bow and Arrow cemented the marque ’s reputation as the armorer of Thomas Kyd everywhere . The 90s saw Nerf further expand its array of blasters into guns that fired missiles , balls , and suction - loving cup darts .
The chargeman line is still buoying the trade name ’s sales event ; in 2009 Nerf even reintroduced the familiar onetime advertizement slogan “ It ’s Nerf or Nothin’ ! ” The weapon are more technologically in advance now , though . The Raider Rapid Fire CS 35 has a capacity of 35 suction flit ; the new Nerf Stampede ECS is a fully automatic chargeman that cranks out three dart per second . These toy sound a bit more sophisticated than the onetime Blast A Ball . ( Although my brother and I can attest that the Blast A Ball was great for whacking each other even once its ammunition had been lost . )
All of this extra firepower has number at a price , though . In 2008 Nerf had to recall its N - Strike Recon Blaster after at least 46 report of kids sustaining injuries while give the sack the accelerator pedal . The chargeman ’s plunger firing mechanism had a filthy trend of catching drug user ’ skin as it vaporize onwards , which let to welts and bruises on kids ’ faces , necks , and chests.[Taylor Lautner image credit : © RAY STUBBLEBINE / Reuters / Corbis ]
What does “Nerf” mean?
Some sources claim that “ NERF ” is an acronym for “ Non - Expanding Recreational Foam , ” but that tale seems too undecomposed to be honest . Reyn Guyer ’s personal website explains that Parker Brothers named the balls after the froth that off - route drivers apply to enclose their rollbars .
And while we ’re asking questions , what happened to the original prototype Nerf ball ? Tim Walsh had the answer in his terrific book , Timeless plaything : Reyn Guyer held onto it . Each yr his home apply it as an ornament on their Christmas tree .
