Archery Tag – How to Play the Fun Sport

Arrow, Hunger Games, Robin Hood – real heroes shoot with a bow! In the new fun sport Archery Tag, archers compete in an epic battle. With bow and arrow, 2 teams compete in this fun sport, which is comparable to laser tag and paintball.

In the successful series Arrow, the sexy hero shoots his way into the hearts of series fans with bow and arrow. Like Robin Hood, he sometimes fights topless (to the delight of all women) and hits the heart of the ecstatically enraptured series fans with his arrow. A real hero.

And in Archery Tag you also feel a bit like a hero when the foam-padded special arrow hits its target. Because similar to Laser Tag and Paintball, the goal is to defeat the opposing team with a weapon.

Tactics, strategy, skill, fun – Archery Tag, as the sport is also called, brings everything we love in a team sport and is my favourite as our new discovery in fun sports 2017.

What Is Archery Tag?

Archery Tag is a mixture of paintball – only with bow and arrow – and dodgeball.

This fun sport is played with non-hazardous arrows and a special bow, and you wear a helmet with a visor to protect your face. Two teams compete against each other on a playing field that is transformed into a course with inflatable obstacles in all possible shapes. The players on both teams aim at each other and try to shoot each other down – and dodge the arrows.

For whom this sounds dangerous: Apart from face protection, you don’t need any safety equipment – Archery Tag is completely harmless!

How to Play Archery Tag – Gameplay and Objective

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• Players: 5- maximum 6 per team
• Equipment: Bow and arrow, face mask, obstacles
• Sportiness: medium

1. The Start of the Fight

Archery Tag can be played indoors or outdoors on a field divided into two equal parts. Each team is only allowed to move in its half of the game and, as in dodgeball, try to hit the opponent from there.

At the beginning, all arrows lie in the middle of the field on the centre line. The bows, on the other hand, lie on the border or on the respective boundary line of the playing field of the team. This is also where the teams face each other at the start.

One player counts out loud 3-2-1, calls “Go! And on the signal, run to the centre and get arrows. Only then does everyone run to the perimeter and secure a bow. Then each player is free to move around within their field, hide behind obstacles, shoot, cover each other and try to defeat the opposing team.

2. Take Out Opposing Players

Two teams of 5-6 archers each compete in Archery Tag. As in dodgeball, one objective of the game is to hit the opponents with the special arrow, because then he is eliminated from the fight. This applies no matter where the arrow hits him and even if the arrow touched the ground before. A player is also eliminated if the opponent catches the arrow from the air.
The playing field is usually about 16 m by 32 m (smaller or larger fields are also available) and there are many obstacles to hide behind and avoid the arrows or jump on to get a better view.

3. Shoot the 5 Targets of the Opposing Team

At the same time, both teams try to shoot at five targets of the other team, which are five round circles on a movable wall that you can shoot. If a player on your team hits one of these spots, then a player who has already been eliminated may return to the game and rejoin the fight.

4. Winning the Game

There are two ways to win the Archery Tag Battle: Once, the team that has shot down all members of the opposing team first wins. The second way is to hit all 5 targets or spots of the opponent first.

Where Can You Play Archery Tag?

Archery Tag is still a very young fun sport – it has only been around since 2011. It gained popularity through the success of the Hunger Games films and since then there have also been the first opportunities to try out the sport in Germany, for example in Dortmund, in Tirsching in der Oberpfalz, in Sindelfingen and and Wildberg in Baden-Würtemberg or in Ahlen in North Rhine-Westphalia and other locations in Germany.

You can find offers here:

JOCHEN SCHWEIZER Geschenkgutschein: Arrowtag

Erlebnis-Gutschein von Jochen Schweizer - Zum Verschenken oder Selbst-Erleben

25,90 EUR

There are also some places in Germany where you can rent the equipment! This is usually cheaper – all you need is spray chalk for the playing field – and you can get started on a meadow or sports field.

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Image source Cover: By Tibor Kovacs under CC BY 2.0

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