Bubble Soccer at Archers Arena Toronto: Get Ready to Roll!
Hey there Toronto, are you ready to roll? Quite literally! We're talkin' Bubble Soccer at Archers Arena, where we take the fun and frenzy of football, and crank it up a notch. Or two. Or three. Time to put your game face on and get ready for some bubbly, bouncy, boisterous action!
At Archers Arena, we're all about having a blast, and Bubble Soccer is just the ticket. This isn't some ho-hum, run-of-the-mill game. Nope, we're all about turning things on their head. And with Bubble Soccer, you're literally doing just that. But hold on, we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Let's break it down for you.
Bubble Soccer at Archers Arena is an exclusive, private event. That's right - it's just you and your crew, taking to the pitch for some pure, unfiltered fun. No need to share the glory with anyone else - this is your time to shine, with a minimum of 12 players, all the way up to a max of 16.
Think of it as your own personal playground, except you're encased in a giant bubble. Yep, you heard us. You'll be wrapped up in your own inflatable bubble, ready to charge, bump, and bounce your way to victory. And it's suitable for everyone aged 10 and up.
So, are you ready to suit up and dive into the fun and excitement of Bubble Soccer? Because we're pumped and primed to see you in action, Toronto. Let's get this bubble party started!
Want to know more? Email us at info@archersarena.com or give us a call at (647)-992-7362. For more info, check out our website https://archersarena.com
Tournament Results!
March 26th saw another combat archery tag tournament being held at Archers Arena, and once again, it proved to be a success. Our pool of competitive battle archery players keeps growing and the results of this tournament were extremely close. Our plan of splitting up old, dominating archery dodgeball teams (Blood Bath and Beyond, and Wetshots) ended up being an interesting factor for every team, but especially for the players that were always used to playing together. Facing their old teammates was “really cool and fascinating” as one of them later mentioned to me.
What was fascinating in my eyes was how differently they ended up playing among new players. Not only did they have to gage their new teams’ strengths and weaknesses, they also had to remember those of their buddies so they could exploit what information they had on them. It was a beautiful coming together of old and new discussing strategy and forging plays in order to win a match.
Furthermore, this time around we limited our archery dodgeball tournament to 6 teams, allowing rematches to better gage not only endurance, but how well players and teams evolve together. This new system was definitely a favourite for many players, along with a new twist changing team count from 6 to 5, creating a whole new level of intensity in gameplay. Each arrow fired had to count, and strategies were evolving with every round.
Some other highlights include:
- Shooting arrows at our brand new red ducks for target practice in our range to keep both mind and body warm and ready to go in between matches;
- each team had one coach to play with them, allowing balance to be had in this combat archery tag tournament while making it more interesting for every team coming in;
- retired coaches and members showed up for the tournament, and they had to acknowledge they were now out of practice and on a lower skill level than the new generation;
- an array of creative team names were had: The Lords of the Strings, Power Rangers, XxX, Shake’N’Bake, Strap-Ons, and Bowthoven’s 5th Stringphany;
- new players ended up doing great plays, wonderful headshots and fantastic catches;
- our archery-loving community keeps growing and expanding and that is awesome.
The victors were the cleverly named The Lords of the Strings (personal favourite pun), which was composed of 4 higher level players instead of the regulated 5, winning by only 1 point at 19. Second place was the less-cleverly named Strap-Ons with 18 points, a team that has been building itself from the ground up at Archers Arena with constant practice and coming out on Coach nights (every Tuesday). Goes to show that dedication really pays off. Third place ended up being a tie between XxX, and Power Rangers at 17 points.
Here’s to a next tournament just as successful! Keep a look out for it in upcoming blogs or through our Archers Arena facebook page.
Play Nerf Wars at Archers Arena!
Since we have perfected the art of combat archery tag, we at Archers Arena have decided to take on a new challenge. Nerf Wars. You heard us right. Sometime in the near future, you will be able to use our facilities to come play games with Nerf guns!
Since we like to guarantee high quality experiences, we have obtained some of the best equipment on the market. We want to insure that the guns won’t jam because of faulty ammunition, while also leveling the playing field so players aren’t at a disadvantage because of the weapon they choose. All of our main guns are going to be Rival series, such as the Artemis for close quarters, and eventually the Nemesis for sniping up in our towers (when it comes out in Canada). In certain game modes, we might either include a Triad EX-3 Elite as a sidearm, or maybe have you play with it as a “Golden Gun” type of weapon. Last but not least, our Strongarm is a mix of both worlds; small, yet packs a punch and has more ammunition than the Elite.
We are coming up with a ton of different and innovative game modes we cannot wait to test out. As mentioned previously, our “Golden Gun” beta involves our little pistol. Every player starts with one bullet, the idea being one shot, one kill, and last man standing wins, in a Golden Eye Nintendo 64 themed game style. With our bigger guns, we are obviously planning some team matches, such as “Medicine Ball”, where there is a healing ball passed around that can be used to heal your teammates, where the goal is to capture the enemy’s ball before they get yours, or even “Team Deathmatch” where you group up into teams of 2-3 people and form temporary alliances with other groups until there’s only one team left standing.
We want to have a balanced session focused on game-play, and create the premium Nerf experience. We went out to other facilities to try it out, and gather the best feedback, with the purpose of combining them into one epic session containing none of the downsides we experienced in our outings. Our dedication to customer satisfaction is just that high. With a group of trigger-friendly enthusiasts like us, it’s bound to be a one of a kind experience filled with different kinds of challenges and fun times. Look for Nerf Wars at Archers Arena soon for a new thrill-inducing experience!
Popular Archery Icons and How They’ve Affected Today’s Archery
Archery has come and gone from the front interest line due to its growing and receding popularity on-screen with either movies or TV series, and even in video games. It becomes super trendy, and cool, and hip when viewers see their heroes handling a bow, and then when the movie or show dies down, or the game gets old, so does the archery trend before it comes right back strong as ever. So here is a tribute to the various inspirations and forms that archery has shown through to make its place in our culture throughout the times.
First off, I am going to start off with one of the classics of our culture; Robin Hood. There have been multiple takes on this very old tale, from the Disney animated movie featuring foxes as the main characters, to the very funny spoof Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and even the more serious feel the 2010 movie featuring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett gave it. In all of them, Robin’s talents went uncontested and he managed some very impressive tricks with his bow and arrows, which no doubt have fueled the imagination of many a youth.
In the world of video games, I can go all the way back to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for inspiration. Playing as Link and shooting everything with the bow and winning challenges and competitions always gave me such a feeling of satisfaction that my own personal love for the art came from there. In more recent years, the reboot of Tomb Raider in 2013 had Lara survive with only a bow and arrows to start off her adventure, which obviously got me hooked, but so did a lot of other players from all the positive reviews the game received.
Probably one the most iconic bow-wielding characters in my opinion comes from the Lord of the Rings franchise. Being a personal favourite of mine, Legolas has all the moves down in the series and just flat-out makes archery look so damn good, and not just because of his looks. His elven efficiency and accuracy just change the name of the game, and he comes up with tactics that we can’t even begin to replicate (lack of having elephants handy being a main one), although when we play, some of us do come out with bruises from time to time, just as he will always sport one of his forehead after a battle.
There have been a lot of popular icons in the recent years popping up on screen, such as Katniss from The Hunger Games, Hawkeye in The Avengers, Merida in Disney and Pixar’s Brave and even Oliver Queen in the Green Arrow TV series, which have all fueled a different wave of archery love. People want to try it out and see how they fare at it, and generally, when archery is picked up, it’s rather hard to put back down. That being said, here at Archers Arena, we want people to find their true potential not only at archery, but at the new sport that has been created from it: combat archery tag. It brings out a whole new dimension reminiscent of video games and medieval combat. This new trend is definitely here to stay.
First Eastern Canadian Tournament. The Results are IN!
For those of you that might have missed all our original posts on the subject, on the 5th of February 2017, Archers Arena has hosted the first eastern Canadian combat archery tag tournament! From far in wide, Toronto has received a team from Ottawa, one from Windsor, two from Montreal, and we had five teams representing us. With intense gameplays fought, ridiculous turnabouts, quick moves and quick thinking, there is only one word we can use to describe this event: epic.
On the eve of the battle, both Ottawa and Montreal teams came to practice at the Arena, leading to the first contact between the various people who were going to play each other the next day. The comradery was frank and forthcoming, although you could tell that no one would go easy on the others the following day. It was great to see so many passionate people that just love the game of archery dodgeball, and who work at bettering themselves all the time.
When the morning came, coffee and breakfast were awaiting all the players, but the hype was already alive and going. The atmosphere was unreal, the anticipation crackled in the air as all awaited to take each other on. The game was on. Bows at the ready, getting the stretches in, focus was all on strategy and gameplay. Friendly banter in the air, with the underlying current of rivalry made it even more intense, yet still fun.
Throughout the morning, the plays were non-stop. Teams were learning how to face each other and strategies had to be changed and adapted to who was playing who. Evaluating the other players and understand how they play combat archery tag, and how to counter them was not an easy task, but it had to be done in order to win the tournament! After the first few rounds that comprised Round Robin style of play, Toronto came out on top with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, while Montreal took 4th and 5th.
However, in a complete change of pace during the finals, Montreal worked together for an epic comeback to win the tournament, and won against the newly reformed team Kyron’s Angels, known previously as Wetshots, which did end up winning our 7th local tournament. As prizes, Montreal Originals ended up going home with six of our beautiful, hand-painted 26 pound bows.
All there is left to say is that it was truly our pleasure to host such great teams from all over. All we can hope for is to have an even broader turnout from more Canadian cities in the next major tournament, which will be hosted sometime during the summer. We will be working out, and standardizing, Canadian rules so we can all train and play in the same frame of mind. Looking forward to the next epic combat archery tag Canadian tournament!
Teams at the 1st Ever Eastern Canadian Combat Archery Tournament
As we have been posting about for the last few weeks, our first ever Eastern Canadian combat archery tournament is coming up in just a few days! Teams from all over are coming to our Archers Arena facility to play each other in what promises to be the most exciting tournament we have hosted thus far. From far and wide, here is a quick look at the different establishments and where they hail from.
For Toronto, represented by yours truly, come our two champion teams: Wetshots, and Bloodbath and Beyond. Both these teams are used to playing each other in our local tournament, and perhaps that will offer them an advantage during play, already knowing previous applied tactics. Although Bloodbath is the older team, having more experience playing together by coming to multiple tourneys we have held over time, Wetshots is comprised of younger talent that keeps growing and surprising everyone. Both teams always end up meeting each other in the final rounds and always offer quite the spectacle when confronting each other.
Coming in from Ottawa, we are happy to present to you Archery Games. This establishment has been open since the 21st of August 2015, meaning it opened its doors pretty much at the beginning of the new trend wave that would bring combat archery tag (also referred to as archery dodgeball) at the top of the new and fun things to do around the city. They also have managed to branch out all the way to Calgary, in a real testament to both the increased love for combat archery tag and the potential for growth this new sport really has. The capital of Canada will be represented by two teams.
Representing Montreal, Combat d’archers are sending two (or three) teams, which will add a little bit of French spice in this mix. Perhaps they will even be using their language to communicate without any other team necessarily understanding them, which would evidently provide an advantage, and perhaps push other players to come up with a strategy to counter this. Having been there myself, I can attest that they offer completely bilingual services, and are very pleasant people to deal with.
Next up, from London (Ontario obviously, for now), we are receiving two teams from Hood Archery Games. Looking up their website, reading “You’re not going to have quite this much fun anywhere else in London, Ontario, that much we can guarantee” made me definitely want to go check out their location. Their whole website gives off a very friendly yet professional vibe that induces a sentiment of trust that a good time will be had.
Last, but not least, Clever Archery in Waterloo is still in decision about sending in a team. What is really cool about them is that they can move around and bring their setup to you if you want to host an event say at your school, or at your workplace. They can accommodate any kind of venue, but details will have to be worked out through them.
In total, we are looking at eight to ten teams to represent eastern Canada in our tournament, all of which have really good setups in their respective town. This promises to be a very intense, competitive field laid out for the tournament. It is a huge step forward in the history of combat archery tag. Perhaps in a near future, we will be able to expand even further out and reach the higher goal of eventually getting a national championship, with teams hailing all the way from Vancouver. Until then, we will keep you posted on the results of this event, which takes place on the 5th of February.
Archers Arena for Kids Birthdays: Safe and Fun for Everyone
Being a kid, everybody always went off and played their own little stories where they were always the hero, regardless of if it was a romantic princess story, fighting off robots, riding dinosaurs, or even surviving in the wilderness with animal companions. At some point in time, every child has heard the tales of archery icons such as Robin Hood, Legolas, or even Katniss Everdeen. Archery has effectively grown into an activity numerous kids crave to try their hand at. What better way to give them an awesome birthday present than by allowing them to let loose their inner archer? Here at Archers Arena, we are always more than happy to oblige, and here are a few of the reasons why you should bring your child here to come try out his skills at archery dodgeball.
Safety First
We are completely aware of the fact that bows and arrows are still, in fact, weapons. In regards to that, we ensure that our training along with the equipment we provide allow for safety for and from players. Our staff is knowledgeable and patient, and have quite the knack to deal with hordes of kids who cannot wait to start shooting arrows. Although we do have a set program on how to teach newcomers, we always adapt to every situation, and kids are no exception. We know the attention span is small, so we focus on the important parts of the teachings and guarantee that they can effectively shoot arrows at each other, all the while being safe about it. We also have smaller bows to accommodate our small friends.
Private Group/Fun for Everyone
Because we want to make sure that everyone is getting the most out of their session as possible, we tend to ensure that kid bookings are private, even if it isn’t necessarily asked for. Let’s be honest here, we don’t want adults to overpower the children, and on the other hand, it’s simply not as fun playing with kids that can barely shoot straight. That being said, if there is a situation where we have no other choice but to combine bookings, we limit the draw strength of bows for the adults that will play along with the kids, therefore ensuring that no one gets hurt. This also applies to adults who are part of the booking who want to play with their kids.
Party Room
Another strong reason why you should bring your kids’ group of friends here is because we do have a party room where all the festivities can take place after the combat archery tag session. Depending on the booking you make, there will be warm pizza delivered just as the kids are done playing, and we have a large fridge that can accommodate a birthday cake. There is also the option of bringing in your own food, and arrive early to decorate the room as you like; it’s yours for a whole 45 minutes after your hour and a half session, to relax in and enjoy as you please.
In the end, wither you are still a kid at heart or not, there is always a nice sentiment of joy that comes along when you see a child truly having fun. The innocence, the wonder, and the brightness in their faces when they are handed bows and arrows always adds a little something extra to the experience. Furthermore, I can attest that every single session I’ve held with a group of kids, wither it was for a birthday party or just for fun, everyone always left with a huge smile on their face, and that includes the parents that were there to accompany and supervise, regardless of if they played combat archery tag with them or not.
Combat Archery: 4 Reasons You Should Make Archers Arena Your New Gym Membership Option
If you’re like me, then you need motivation to work out. I find that going to a gym doesn’t cut it simply because it’s no fun. Running on a treadmill blankly staring at a TV (if you’re lucky), pedaling your life away without moving an inch, lifting weights over and over, I get bored rather quickly of the mind-numbing, same old, same old routine a gym offers. That’s why I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to play sports, where you have a clear and fun motivation to get active. Here is why getting a membership at Archers Arena for combat archery tag will save you the boredom of an average workout session.
Cardio
If you’re playing the game properly, you will be constantly on the move. The more you’re moving, the harder it is to get a good shot at you. There’s also an initial sprint for the arrows in the safe zone at the beginning of every round. If you get to play full court, which means both of our courts combined, then you have two courts you need to cover and access at different points in the game to either press on the offensive, or support the defensive. It does require fast reflexes and quick moves because enemies can (and will) shoot at you cross-court. Dodging is a must if you want to survive long.
Upper Body
As mentioned previously, if you’ve never used a bow before, you will be surprised at all the muscles involved in the form. To have all of your power in a shot, you need to fully draw your bow. The only way you can properly do that is actually thanks mostly to your back, but also your shoulders, arms, and chest. We have bows that are 22, 26, and 29 pounds. Most competitive/athletic players end up using the 29 pound bows, which means every time they shot someone, they’re doing an upper body rep of 29 pounds. It might not seem like a lot, but in a session of an hour, you will easily have fired off close to 100 arrows. That’s close to 100 reps of 29 pounds in an hour.
Lower Body
As much as shooting is fun, you do need to pick up the arrows that you want to shoot. This implies that every time you reach for an arrow, you will either be lunging or squatting to reach. So if you take our earlier 100arrows per hour shooting statistic, it would mean you are performing around 100 squat and/or lunge throughout your hour session. In addition, when you are dodging, you are simply dropping out of the way, and demanding your muscles move quickly, so there’s constant use there too. And then there is hiding behind bunkers. None of them are tall enough for people to comfortably stand behind them to be hidden, which again would involve you to get down however you choose. However, when you go down, you must come up and muscles do come into play. It might not seem like much, but you do feel the burn the day after.
Benefits
Other than the physical benefits of playing combat archery tag, there are also a lot more reasons to choose to get the membership here at Archers Arena. There are constantly more players getting high on the game, which ensures that the quality of gameplay on Coach Nights always exceeds expectations. We encourage playful competitiveness by still playing our hardest, but also taking it easy when the time or the situation calls for it. You will also get to meet and get close to our already existing and expanding pool of members and coaches. Best way to learn and get better is to interact with stronger players on and off the court. We’ve created an atmosphere of kinship here where everyone is friendly and warm toward one another. On a more technical note, you also get the chance to drop in once a day on existing sessions at no extra cost.
When it comes to combat archery tag, I find it to be a very effective workout because not only is it fast-paced stop and go, but you get to work some muscles you didn’t even know you had, especially if you’ve never handled a bow with arrows before. It helps build a strong core as well as develop quick reflexes, flexibility, and agility. Archers Arena also provides a great atmosphere to play and grow in. Just be prepared to work up a sweat when you come and try it out.
Hear ye! Hear ye! 'Tis Tournament time! Again.
Due to the great success that was the last combat archery tag tournament at Archers Arena, we are now officially introducing our next event! This one is happening on the 22nd of January, and we are expecting a fierce competition once again. Players coming in have stepped up their game, and it gives the event an intense, competitive level of gameplay. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
Our latest tournament has been held on the 27th of November, in which we had a full roster of 9 teams competing. All of the teams were of high caliber and the competition itself was incredibly close. Every win had a huge impact on the score board, and yet, the spirit of comradery was incredible to witness. As intense as games could unfold to be, every team was a good sport, win or lose.
In our previous tournament, Wetshots had claimed the title of champions, but it was expected that Bloodbath and Beyond, our dethroned champions, were going to come back, bows blazing. Indeed, in a breathtaking finale, both teams ended up with a one point differential, which effectively returned the crown to the hands of its original owners: BB&B.
In a spectacular array of arrows fired, dodges made, headshots, bow shots, rolling catches, and overall archery excellence as well as incredible agility, speed, and skill, this tournament brought a whole new dimension to the sport of combat archery tag.
If you are new(ish) to the sport and still want to get a feel of what a more competitive gameplay entails, but with lesser stakes, we do have our Coach nights every Tuesday where you can come play for 20$ from 7 until close alongside both coaches and members. This is the perfect time to train and improve your archery skills, where we can show you the ropes of real combat archery tag, and develop tactics for you to get better. Come become a pro at quick-drawing and catching arrows while creating bonds with people who are just as passionate about the sport!
As is tradition, Archers Arena top coaches always face the champions at the end of the tournament. Needless to say, we are still undefeated after 8 tries! Here’s to us hoping to get an actual challenge next time around. So tell your friends, and come show us what you’re made of!