13 teams convened for the highly anticipated return of VC Cup Nerf.
Following the disappointment last year, which saw Nerf games struck from the scoring table due to some participant confusion around the rules, which meant the event was almost impossible to marshal effectively, staff were delight to see it return again this year, for a second bash! Learning from the mistakes of the previous year, Luke and co. came up with some creative ideas that still incorporated the chaos and fun of Nerf but would allow for more structured games and points scoring systems.
Day 1
To start, participants were walked through the appropriate safety procedures regarding the use of the Nerf equipment and were allowed an initial “free for all” game with unlimited lives to get used to the equipment and the chaotic atmosphere. Once staff felt more comfortable, the scoring games commenced. With four teams playing each hour, two teams combined to create one team of eight, who would then go head to head with another combined team of eight. Each participant was provided with two bibs indicating the lives they had. Every time they were shot, they had to retreat to their homebase and place one of their bibs into a blue bucket, showing they had lost a life. Once they had placed both bibs into the bucket (indicating they had been shot twice) they were then out of that game. Games lasted for four minutes, and were scored as such:
- If all team members lost both their lives, the opposing team wins, the lives lost from the winning team were then also counted
- If there were surviving team members from both teams after 4 minutes, then the winner was determined by the amount of lives lost per team, whoever lost the most lives lost that game
At the end of day one, Liquorice All Sports and Infomanics were tied in first place with 16 points each. Rivals Living La Vida Mocha were only one point behind with 15 points, putting them in a great position for day two.
Day 2
With lots of points still to play for, the Sports Development team introduced two new games into the mix, include Capture the Flag and Medic.
Capture the Flag
For capture the flag, each player had two lives. A bib of their own teams colour was placed in the opposing team’s safe area. The aim of the game was to run from your end to the opposing teams, retrieve your coloured bib (the flag) and return it to your own base. The players again only had two lives so could be eliminated if they were shot on two separate occasions. The team who returned their flag to their base won!
Medic
Another fun and innovative game introduced was Medic. In this game, both teams appointed a “medic”. The medic had “reviving powers”, and anyone who had been shot could be revived by the medic. The catch however, was that every member only has one life, including the medic. When shot, a player had to stay where they were shot and were asked to “dramatically fall to the ground”, which led to some hilarious acting displays by staff members.
However, if the team’s medic was shot, this was bad news, as players must then try and preserve their one and only life. Any players waiting to be revived when the medic was shot, would immediately be declared ‘dead’ and must exit the game. The team that eliminated all opposing players or had the most members left, won the game!
After two days of exciting Nerf action, points were awarded, resulting in another joint win! Infomaniacs and Living La Vida Mocha, who pushed a head of Liquorice All Sports, one of the leads from day one, walked away with the maximum 20 points each! Second place was also joint between Liquorice All Sports and U Bunch O’Kents, who started day 2 a whopping eight points behind the leaders. Third place was also shared, with Marlowe’s Marauders and Chipperfield Circus who walked away with 18 points each.
Overall, this was a fantastic event, with everyone keenly embracing their inner child to the frenzy of Nerf. Unlike the previous year, there was lots of fair play and honesty on show which was great to see. The fairplay award for this event went to Keepers of the Keys who played extremely fairly and honestly which set a great example for other teams to follow.
The next event of the Vice Chancellor’s Cup is VR Beatsaber, on Thursday 28 March. Check out the VC’s Cup webpage to stay up to date with the results and upcoming events!