Nerf Wars
Kip

 
Attending Nerf wars is a very fun way to get off the couch and run around for a couple of hours outside. I have been attending them fairly regularly since the fall of 2009. Usually, the best way to get into the hobby is just to gather a couple of mildly-interested friends, head over to a public park and start flingin' some foam. The parks are public areas so it's perfectly legal. Unfortunately, being a public nusiance is not. With this in mind, try to stay away from innocent bystanders, lest you miss one of your friends and end up blasting somebody's two-year-old. 

Another suggestion, refrain from yelling obscenities or explicitly violent things as you chase your friends down. Also, pick up your darts. They are not biodegradable, and if it gets to be too big of a problem, park officials will probably get angry. Once you have memorized all of the rules above, set the date and time and invite plenty of people. The more the merrier, usually! 

Also, think a little on gametypes you may want to play, and bear in mind that objective based gametypes are usually more enjoyable. Objective based gametypes are just what they sound like, instead of running around shooting endlessly at your friends, objective based games have you trying to complete a task.

 Here's an example: 

Attack the princess/Alamo 

Requirements:
-Some sort of wall-type structures (cardboard boxes, etc.) 
-Some sort of large, durable object to be the princess. It should stand up on its own and be 3 feet tall or so. The time I played, we used a plastic snowman holiday decoration for the princess.
-A stopwatch or something to keep time. 

Objective:
Capture the princess! In this case, capturing simply means kicking her over. 

Set up a barricaded-in, fortressey-type-thing in the middle of your playing field. This will be the Alamo! Make sure it provides cover while still being easily accessable by the other team. Don't make it completely walled-in. Divvey yourselves up into two teams: one defending, one attacking. 

The attackers get only one life and have to walk to a predetermined point to respawn. The defenders get the advantage of having cover, 3 lives and only have to count to 15 once they lose all of their lives to respawn. 

Whenever you are hit, you lose a life. 

Set the timer to 10 minutes or so, and the game begins! 

The attacking team launches their assault on the Alamo and the defending team attempts to fend them off until the time limit is up. The attacking team can knock down the princess using any means possible, by shooting her, by kicking her, or (my favorite) by seizing control one of the mentally weaker opponents' minds and using him to tip the princess over. If they manage to do this by the end of the 10 minutes, they win! Yay! Then you switch places and *Richard Attenborough voice* the hunter becomes the hunted ... 

For more Nerf war sideas, check out what the Nerf wars wikipedia page has to say about gametypes. 

Well, that's about it! Follow the main steps and find some gametypes of your own and you should have a great little weekend outing in the making. Be sure to invite as many people as possible, most likely some will not be able to attend, and having too many players is almost always a better option than too few players.

With that, remember these words: "If you organize it, they will come ..."