Archery Games - Padded Arrow Sport

Padded Arrow Sport

A growing subculture sport activity has recently spawned, over the past 50 or so years, evolving into an organized, if somewhat dubious system of live action combat. A variation of the roleplay-based LARP, Live Action Wargaming consists of individuals or often groups, numbering from fifty to over three hundred people, dressed in authentic armor and wielding padded sports weapons.

Some systems allow for the use of real bow and arrows in this sport, by limiting the bow draw weight from twenty to forty-five pounds and using blunted, coin-tipped arrows with heads wrapped in open-cell foam padding, thus producing a 'safety arrow'. It should be remembered that these are actual bows and arrows used, so precautions must always be taken and equipment checked frequently.

Unlike other modern-day uses of archery, 'foam archers' must face the difficult use of a far more clumsy projectile with a maximum effective range of perhaps only fifty or sixty feet. Rather than standing still, fantasy sport archers must face the challenge of hundreds of armored players, charging and competing on an actual sport battlefield, while effectively releasing shot upon shot during 'battle', without themselves being attacked or removed from the game, through an 'injury' point system or actual real life injury. Often, such archers are found on the field, releasing arrows as they run.