Ultimate Berserker

I saw this blaster sitting on the shelf at Target and new immediately what I wanted to do with it. We have indoor wars at family gatherings all the time and this is what I needed.

1. To be able to use all kinds of darts.
2. Arrowstorms or Big Bad Bows are usually present so I wanted to able to fire arrows.
3. Something that is strong and accurate, but could still be used with the kids.
4. And for everyone else to be intimidated! :-)

Check, check, check and definitely check!

Easy to open.

The spring is strong and doesn't need changing.

The air seal is great. Again, no change needed.

The way the airflow is designed on this blaster is weird. Instead of the airflow being forced out of the front of the barrel, the barrel end is plugged. There are holes on the sides of the barrel/air restrictors so the air flows out of the sides and somehow still manages to get decent ranges while stock with the original missiles and darts provided. Changed that! Marker barrels are quickly becoming my favorite barrel material for what I like to do with the blasters. They are so easy and cheap. I used to use Rose art markers until I found new ones at the 99 cent store.

The tricky part was finding a barrel material for inner pump barrel. I knew I wanted to be able to shoot the old Nerf arrows/toysrus air zone arrows and be able to fire streamlines/suction cup and whistle darts, but I couldn't find any mods that did this. Yeah I basically wanted it all from one blaster. Even an e-mail to one of my favorite modders didn't help. So I made my way down to Ace Hardware and a really cool employee helped me go through all the materials they had. We found a 3/4" Outer Diameter aluminum tube that worked almost perfectly. The shell wasn't as thin as I would have liked because it didn't fit onto the existing barrel. I had to sand down the old barrel with my dremel to get the new aluminum barrel to fit. Although this aluminum works I plan on doing this mod a couple more times and dealing with the sanding of the inner barrel is more time consuming than I want. Any suggestions? Is there a thin walled 3/4" OD petg out there somewhere?

This was the result.

Lord of the Rings Slot Machine WMS Review

I found a new fun slot machine that I thought I would share. I haven't played another slot machine like it. It's the Lord of the Rings by WMS games. It's a penny slot machine and the minimum bet is .40 cents. You can bet up to $4.00 a spin on most machines or 10 times.

You sit in a chair that is equipped with speakers right near your head. You not only see and hear what is happening during spins, but also feel the bass hit when certain things happen. I'm trying to be vague on purpose because I don't want to ruin the first time experience I had for others who might try the game. Let's just say that the speakers add a lot to the experience!

When you first start playing you are presented with the option to sign in. Basically you create a username that can be used to save stats from your time played. The main reason you want to do this is to unlock new bonus games. There are two bonus games that you start with and if you never create a username those are the only two you will ever play. There are a total of eight bonus games that can be unlocked by accumulating miles. Miles are awarded randomly during game play. The game tells you "you have this many miles until you unlock the so-and-so bonus." The game also keeps track of other awards won by completing certain objectives or your highest payouts from bonus games, etc...

Aside from the bonus games there are also 5 different power spins that are randomly awarded to you after a spin is completed. These spins are accumulated and are free to use whenever you like. You want these. They give you a better chance of making more money.

Bonus Booster -- Normally you need to hit 3 rings on the game board to initiate the bonus game. When you activate this power spin you only need to hit one ring! Almost a guaranteed bonus game!

Frodo Wilds -- During this power spin all of the Frodo symbols become wild and pay out 2 times if they hit any winning combination.

Random Wilds -- Randomly 1 to 5 of the columns become completely wild!

Scatter Spin -- You don't need the symbols to be lined up on a pay line to get paid. You just need three or more and the game will pay you as if those three or more were on a pay line. So if you get five Frodos spread out in a pattern that wouldn't otherwise be a win it would be if you had this power spin initiated.

Win Multiplier -- Activate, spin, and if you win a multiplier will appear that will multiply your wins by a certain amount (up to 25 times).

My family is a bunch of nerds and we are Lord of the Rings, gambling and slot fans. This game was easy for us to try. But even if you aren't a fan of all three it's worth checking for the pure entertainment value, and who knows, maybe you'll get lucky.

Here's a video review I posted on youtube. The video's pretty bad. Technically cameras were not allowed on the casino floor. I had it sitting on my lap and couldn't even see the screen. I guess blind it didn't come out too bad.

Nerf Arrowstorm Mod

This gun is simply awesome! It's the gun that started my family Nerf wars and my current Nerf obsession. Back in the day I had no idea that you could modify guns to make them shoot other darts. We didn't really need to. It seems to be meant for older kids. To fire it you have to be able to pull it back and younger kids just don't have the strength.

They are hard to find now. Most of the people that have them don't let go of them. You can sometimes get lucky and find them on E-bay, but not very often. Airzone (Toys R Us) re-released a very close knock off to this gun (also called it Arrow Storm) a few years ago but that one has also disappeared.

I really like this gun, as is, so I didn't want to do too much to it. I did want to see if I could get it to shoot regular darts though so I decided to see if marker barrels would fit and they did, almost perfectly. Marker barrels are just Crayola or Rose Art markers that you hallow out and use as a barrel to shoot almost every form of Nerf dart. I like them. They are cheap, easy to find, easy to use and serve my needs well.

Here's a video of what I did....



I now get 70ft+ with streamline darts shooting level. It's a beast of a gun! I recently went to Toys R Us and bought some of the Air Zone arrows to see if they would work. They do very well! I get better ranges with those arrows than I do with the old school ones or the ones that come with the big bad bow.

Roll Down, Spin to Win, Hit the Jackpot, etc...

There are a lot of these types of games where you are using a racquetball to roll and get into different slots. They are usually found in arcades for tickets, but you can find them in some midways for stuffed animals as well. The technique is the same for all of them. You need to find a way to put some speed behind the ball. At a higher speed the ball will make contact with the upper glass and stay in position. If the ball goes down slow then you lose control, it's going to bounce everywhere and it's a game of luck. That's not what we want. We always want these games to be games of skill.

Here's a video of my technique and then I'll explain a few of the games.



If I'm in an arcade I'm always looking for these games. They usually have jackpots and are not won that often. There are a lot of occasions when I win the jackpot and have to explain to the attendants what to do because they have never seen it before...

The game on the left is called Spin to Win. There is a center wheel that starts in a random position. The different slots you are aiming for move that wheel. So there's one that makes if randomly spin (we don't want to use that if we don't have to), one that moves the wheel 1 slot to the left or right, one that moves the wheel 3 slots left or right, the middle no spin slot and a bankrupt slot that moves the wheel to one of two bankrupt positions and takes away and tickets you may have accumulated. The way you win the jackpot on this game is by moving the wheel so that you are positioned on the jackpot after you use your 3rd ball 2 or 3 games in a row depending on the machine.

Example: You initially land on jackpot. You roll 3 balls that all go into the center "no spin" slot. That's 1 game. Put another quarter in and do it again. That's 2 games. Yay Jackpot!! Or you may have to do it one more time.

Each attempt is probably going to be different because the starting position is random.

The center Rainbow game in the picture has a very simple strategy. Win the jackpot by hitting each slot once during one game. If you hit the same slot twice the game ends. The more slots you get the more tickets you get.

Hints: If the game is level the two outside slots should be easy. Just put the ball on the side and let it go. If it's level the ball should stay on the wall. 2 down! I use both hands for this game. These games almost always have 7 slots. Numbering them from left to right I will use my right thumb (and the left side wall) for slots 1 through 4 and I will use my left thumb (and the right side wall) for slots 4 through 7. I can use either hand for the middle slot. The more pressure you apply on the ball against the wall the farther towards the middle slot it will go.

The game on the right we'll call Hit the Jackpot although I think that's just a sign used to get your attention that there is a jackpot and not the actual name of the game. Anyways, using the technique it's easy. The slots are worth different values. With 6 balls you have to accumulate a score of under 10 or over 32 two games in a row.

Example: Game 1 you hit 6 6's for a score of 36!! Nice perfect game! That's one game. Game 2 you roll 34. You got 5 6's and messed up on one ball that luckily went into the 4 slot! That's game 2. Yay jackpot! Now the game is making a loud annoying noise and the attendants will probably be staring at you like you broke their machine... Most of the games don't pay out the jackpots and you will need to explain what you did to them so that they can write you a voucher for win.

So good luck and win lots of stuff! Please feel free to ask questions or come back and tell me about your wins!

Wacky Wire

Growing up I spent way too much time in amusement parks, carnivals, arcades, etc... I loved and still love playing games that give me tickets or stuffed animals. At one time I was mastering and beating games that were giving out huge stuffed animals (or lots of smaller ones) that I was able to then turn around, sell them and make some extra money. I wasn't able to retire obviously, but my passes to these amusement parks were paid for and every family member, girlfriend, friend, etc... had every stuffed animal or redemption prize they could want.

Wacky Wire was one of the first major games I learned. When I say major I mean that winning this game back in the day usually meant winning a stuffed animal the size of an adult. The huge snake I use as a target in my Nerf videos I won for $2.00 at wacky wire. I haven't played wacky wire and lost in probably 10 years.

That's Wacky Wire. Basically you take the stick with the circle in the middle and navigate the circle around the wire all the way to the bottom without touching. The wire will be spinning counterclockwise as you try to do this. Sounds easy and it really is until you get to the bottom.

I think it's easier to explain with a visual aid. If you have a pen, pencil, stick, etc... at your desk grab it. Now hold it with both hands, holding it on each end. Now imagine there's a circle in the middle of your pen and you are maneuvering it down the wire. Got it? This should be fairly easy, but it is new so there's a chance you may hit the wire the first couple of times. No problem. A couple of bucks for a lifetime of stuffed animals. Just do your best to keep the wire in middle of that circle as you go down.

Notice how when you are going down your hands are on the left and right side of the game. This is key to learning the trick at the bottom. Now if you keep your hands in that position it's almost impossible to win this game. You're gonna just chase the wire around and around and most likely your left had will hit the bottom of the game board and you will hit the wire.

See the part of the wire at the bottom where it kinda bends in like an elbow? When you get to the bottom, be patient and wait for that elbow to face you. When it does move your left hand to the north side or back of the game. If you are still holding your pen then you will notice that moving your left hand to the back causes your right hand to move to the front. That's perfect! So instead of your hands being to the left and right (or east and west) of the game at the bottom they need to be at the back and front (or north and south).

With your left hand back your right hand is now in position to smoothly follow the wire around the bottom and into the elbow for the win!

Here's a video of it being done by DarthWill. I should of had him exaggerate the trick at the bottom. It's easier if you exaggerate it anyways, but he's been winning this game for years with me so he barely has to change his hand movement. Also, the slower the rotation, the easier it is to get away with not changing your hand position. This one was moving very slow.

Napkin Rose

I don' t know if divulging all of my secrets is a good idea, but I've been in a relationship for almost 10 years so I think it's pretty safe to assume I won' t be needing this trick on any dates any time soon. It has come in very handy. Not only for dates, but at times when friends were feeling down and needed a pick me up or to just use as a decoration this works.

Paper napkins can be found anywhere. Fast food (don't recommend this on a date, but hey, to each his own), restaurants, etc... It's super easy to make.

Step 1. Wrap the napkin around a couple of fingers

Step 2. Pinch off where you want the head of the rose to be.

Step 3. Twist

Step 4. Pull up the bottom corner to form a pedal

Step 5. Twist

And viola you're done! It takes less than a minute and can be done when she's in the restroom or even while you are talking (warning: may backfire and she may think you are being rude and ignoring the conversation--all should be well when you actually finish). Ha! As a point of interest the first person I made this for was also the first person I was with. Coincidence?

Here's a how to video.

Nerf Raider Mod

Once modded, this is one of my favorite guns! I think I have three of them now. I bought one from Target with the extra darts (70 total) and then started finding them on Craigslist. I really like the way it feels, reloads and the range I'm getting is right around 50ft. That's perfect for our family wars since I don't want to use something too powerful with the kids. The 35 dart drum is awesome! Not only do I have 35 shots before I have to reload, but since I'm right handed the drum offers me pretty good head protection from guys like my Dad and DarthWill who are usually aimed at my head whenever it pops out of our fort.

The mods are easy. I removed the air restrictor, plugged the air hole with electrical tape and added a little tape around the tube where the spring is to make sure the spring is fully compressed when ready to fire.

Here's a video that shows what I did and a before and after firing test. I think I need some more light when I'm doing the firing tests. I'm not sold on the way I'm doing it or the snake stuffed animal I'm using as a target... I was thinking a poster of a bikini model would look more interesting? Or maybe just a bikini model? Any suggestions?