Xmas Office Violence

Just what every office worker wants for Christmas:

In what is rapidly becoming a tradition in the office where I work, we once again took a day out of our busy schedule to draw the blinds, turn out the lights and shoot the #!%$ out of each other.

Yes, the annual office Nerf Deathmatch took place today in an unassuming basement in the posher end of Exeter. While workers from other companies toiled away above our heads we filled up with pizza and went on the rampage.

Each year the boss goes out of his way to encourage this slaughter by buying us all shiny new Nerf guns as way of a Christmas present. It's nice to see someone is keeping the true meaning alive in the face of so much commercialism.

Meet the Retaliator

Mah ha haaaa

Yes, all Nerf guns are a little bit the same when you hold them up against one another. We've been doing this for a few years now, and I have to say the Ice Series Retaliator was a good pick. Chunky, fairly accurate with new darts, and comes with `elite` darts - not sure what that means, but they hurt quite a bit more than the normal pink darts; so it probably means that.

So, imagine a belly full of stuffed crust, a few hours of loose alliances, no rules, and extra points for face shots and you've basically summed up my afternoon. Whoever says work is a chore doesn't have enough toy guns. You'd be amazed at the stress busting effect of shooting your colleagues in the back of the head when they thought you were on their side...

A couple of years ago the boss decided to mod his gun by strapping a laser pen to it. Pretty effective in the dark (giving away his position aside); amazing none of us ended up at the eye hospital but all is well that ends well...

Then another year just myself and a director were left in the office while everyone else nipped out to Toys R Us to purchase more ammunition (it's great being a sensible adult isn't it), so we took the opportunity to build a fort in the meeting room from the boxes some servers had been delivered in. While waiting in the dark for our colleagues (enemies) to return the director mentioned we might not know who was coming up the stairs (different office, not in a basement this time), and what if it was UPS? I figured 'wrong place, wrong time'. 

Needless to say it wasn't long before a delivery turned up. We decided it was best not to take any chances, and opened fire.

Now, after we'd had a good run of trying to shoot each other in the most painful places we could hit, a new challenge was required. Just a bit of background before the video below: the boss gave us a few quid a week or so ago, to go into town and find the most terrible Christmas decorations the discounts shops could provide. Now some of those items had to pay the price.

It's worth viewing this one with sound, it's amazing how loud five Nerf guns can be. We were firing from the back of the office, some 9 meters away.

And check out the polar bear - takes the first shot right under the chin. What a trooper. It's on loop if you miss it the first time.

Enjoy All!