How NERF became the world’s best purveyor of big guns for kids:
It may seem silly to take this stuff seriously as feats of engineering, but in their own way, these toys are as well designed as a Dyson vacuum. When you pick up a blaster, when you feel the heft, when you put the stock to your shoulder and wrap your fingers around the handle, when you chamber a dart and pull the trigger and the dart comes flying out with that immensely satisfying thunk, it doesn’t feel like what you’re holding is just some cheap hunk of plastic. And every detail of that experience has been meticulously designed, engineered, and tested.
If you’re interested in NERF, engineering, or design, make sure you read the full article over at WIRED.
I can’t believe how complicated the NERF guns look now. Pictured is a N-Strike Elite Hail-Fire Blaster which can hold 144 darts across 8 removable magazines (they call them clips haha) that sit in a rotating drum. Crazy stuff, I’m really not surprised that company pulls in $400+ million per year.
Thoughts?