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?

Golden Nugget Casino Las Vegas Review

About six months ago my extended family made their way out to Las Vegas for my Uncle's 80th surprise birthday. During that trip my Aunt said that we had to come and check out their hotel room downtown. I've been downtown. Although I like going down there occasionally for the Fremont Experience (overhead show that covers a large block of Fremont St.)or cheap deals I don't remember seeing a new construction that would warrant checking out a new hotel. I was wrong.

The Golden Nugget has added a new tower and while doing so renovated a large part of their casino. When we first entered the casino I was immediately surprised. I don't think I've ever been in the Golden Nugget. All the other Casinos in the surrounding area are older and I was expecting the same. I was wrong. The atmosphere was more like a strip casino and it's easy to forget that you are downtown. We walked to about the center of the complex and entered the pool area. The pool area is surrounded by glass, so you can see it from inside the casino. I was impressed before we went outside. The pool area looked like so much fun! There's a waterfall, a more private grotto type area and an amazing three story slide that goes through a two story shark tank. The shark tank is worth checking out on its own.

The new Rush tower (where my Aunts stayed) was incredible. You would probably need to stay in a suite or villa to find a nicer room. New everything--t.v., linen, couch, bathroom area, etc... and had an amazing view of the Strip.

Needless to say I was impressed and when more relatives came into town to visit I didn't hesitate to recommend what I had seen. It didn't disappoint. It's a great combination of higher priced quality and cheap deals. You can stay inside the Golden Nugget and get an amazing steak/seafood dinner at the Chart House or walk outside to the Fremont experience and in almost all of the other casinos find a very inexpensive meal. Usually when I'm in Vegas I want both and on the strip it's harder to find.

The only negative of the trip was the location. There is a population of homeless that surround the downtown area. Inside the casino and on the Fremont experience you really don't feel it that much, but as you walk away from Fremont street it's definitely present. I never felt unsafe, but it is there.

Here's a quick video at an attempt at a review... Sorry for the poor quality of the videos, but writing a review was an afterthought. We just had such a great time that I wanted to share.

Nightfinder Mod

The term modding or mod refers to changing a Nerf gun from it's stock or original form somehow. Usually it's in reference to making the gun shoot farther, but can also mean a new paint job, changing the barrel to shoot different types of darts, etc...

There are lots of things you can do to make a gun stronger and for that reason you want to figure out why you want to do this? With some of these guns the changes you can make range from just having a few more feet of power to being able to shoot stefans (homemade darts) that can break the skin. I've been doing a little bit of everything, but most of the changes I make are for use in family wars. There are young kids, we are usually at pretty close range and all different kinds of darts being used. I don't need much more power for most guns, but stock the guns just don't seem to be as powerful as they were when I was a kid.

Two major mods for improving power:

1. Air restrictor removal--All the new nerf guns have an air restrictor that inhibits air flow, lessens the impact of the plunger (acting like a silencer) and sometimes inhibits the use of streamlines and stefan darts (homemade darts). I recommend doing this for all stock guns. For my general use this is usually all I need to do.

2. Spring Replacement or addition--Buying a stronger spring or adding another second spring. This will get you the most drastic change in power. I have two nightfinders that I modded and used a spring purchased at Ace Hardware. They are close to the strongest guns I have modded. They scare adults. Spring replacement can be tricky. You need to find a spring that fits, (compressed and uncompressed) will provide you with more power, but also still work. With more power may come the need to strengthen other parts of the gun.

Some other things that may help are lubing the plunger tube, maximizing spring compression, plugging air holes, changing barrels, etc... Not all the guns are the same, but they are very similar. Once you get a few mods under your belt it just gets easier and easier.

If you want an easy starter gun a Nerf Nightfinder would be a great place to start. It's an inexpensive gun (can be found for $5.00 or less), easily modded and is strong and accurate. If you mess it up (i would argue that would be harder to do than modding it) then you are only out $5.00 bucks. Shoot, this gun has been around so long your niece, nephew, brother, sister, etc... probably already has one that you can work with.

Here's a quick explanation of how to mod a Nightfinder.



Here's a before and after video, as well as, some other modded Nightfinders.

Nerf Wars

I was very lucky to grow up with a very close, large family that also likes to have fun. My Grandfather is one of nine kids who most of which have large families. My Dad is one of six kids and all of his siblings (my Aunts and Uncles) have at least one kid accept for one. Ever since I can remember my extended family have gotten together at least on two major occasions a year; at Christmas and during the summer in Lake Tahoe. The immediate family gets together as often as possible for Holidays, kids Birthdays, etc... Anyways, the point is there are a lot of us, many different age groups and we all like to have fun together!

I always go out of my way to make sure that during these meetings all the kids are having a good time. That was something my Uncles did (and still do) and I want to make sure their Family experience is as good as mine was at their age. There are some things we all go and do together like bowling, eating or amusement parks, but it's always a challenge to find something fun for everyone to do, that's kid focused, while we are just at the house. Weather permitting we try to get them outside and do something sporty, but sometimes we don't have the room or it's later in the afternoon or evening and we can't. So the focus was on trying to find something indoors that everyone can participate in without spending too much money and the answer was a nerf war!!

When I was younger on one of those trips to Lake Tahoe we rented a house where all the kids stayed together. There was this long narrow loft that we all lined up in our sleeping bags and slept at night. During the day we would build a fort on each side of the loft and shoot each other with nerf bow and arrows and arrowstorms. It was so much fun that although we had a blast going to the lake, horseback riding, etc... that we couldn't wait to get back home to have our mini wars.

We started recreating these wars and what was great was that the kids already had the guns. Nerf guns seem to be very popular presents. I glanced through my niece and nephews toys and they had about 5 to 8 different guns already. If you don't have them, they are cheap. You can get a two-pack of Nerf Nightfinders for $10.00 (5.00 each) at Big Lots. There are always sales on Nerf or other foam launchers and what's great is most of the time the non-Nerf guns are made to mimmick their Nerf counterparts so the ammunition is the same size. If they are not you can always mod it to shoot the more popular Nerf ammo (more on that in another post).

We have kids as young as two and adults in their sixties who partake in these mini battles. Basically before or after we eat someone starts pulling out the guns. A room is found where there is enough space for two sides and we start splitting up. Chairs, boxes, pillows, etc.. are found for protection and it's on! We put glasses on all the kids, because in our experience the only time people were getting hurt was a shot in the eye. A few of the Nerf guns now come packaged with goggles.

We pretty much do everything the box tells you not to. It says not to aim for the face or head--we do (usually that's the only thing that's sticking out of their protected fort area). The adults aim for head shots, but try not to do that to the kids. They say not to modify the guns--we do (the newer guns just don't have the pop that we had when I was kid so we modify them). Modified, even at close range, the eyes are the only part of the body that's really going to do some damage. Use goggles or glasses!! We don't keep an actual score, but play for the fun of hearing "Ouch, good shot!" and making sure the kids have a good time! It's a blast and here's an example of a mini war...

Ultrazone "The Ultimate Laser Adventure"

Hello everyone!!! I created this blog site as a way to share all of the fun stuff I've been able to do and will do in the future. I think it's only fitting to start with the name that I created for this site. Shadowuz was developed from playing lasertag. Yes lasertag. I know what you're thinking... "Been there, done that. Yeah, yeah, black lights and shooting each other. No big deal." Well maybe or maybe not. Ultrazone was the name of the franchise. From the first moment I put on one of their packs I was hooked. I had played other systems, but there was something about it that immediately grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Maybe it was how solid the pack felt once strapped in and ready to go when other systems felt like toys or how the laser fit so perfectly in both hands. Maybe it was how the arenas were so well built while others looked like someones home in a failed attempt at a Halloween haunted house. Maybe it was the people--the employees and members (or regulars) who you could tell also loved it. There was something and I couldn't get my fill.

I played and played until I too became a member. Membership had the reward of giving yourself an alias or nickname that you would be known by. My alias was S H A D O W. All caps, spaces in between. I played more and more until I was spending so much time and money at the Sherman Oaks site the only reasonable thing to do would be to work there and get free games. I kept working and playing and made the site team (at that time every Ultrazone site had their own team). I kept playing and played in national tournaments, won huge trophies and didn't stop until I was one of the best. The different sites became homes away from home. We all knew each other, probably hated each other at first, then over time, developed respect and strong friendships that have lasted years. We were/are zoneheads.

So that's where shadowuz was developed. A reminder of all the fun had through playing Ultrazone lasertag.

With every post I'm gonna try to add a video clip. All of the other reasons I listed were part of the reason I was initially hooked to Ultrazone, but this clip shows what kept me going. The ultrazone packs were the only ones I had ever played with that you could stand off right next to another person when your lights were off. The lasers were accurate, not wide-spread and you only had 1 shot a second in an advanced game. Instead of running away and trying to hide I would be right up on you. When the pack was ready to come back on it would make a sound and the lights would come on almost simultaneously. In that moment it was a test of skill who could make a move to position their body so that your opponent would miss (shoot your arm, head, etc.. and not the lights on your pack) and you could land a shot on their pack. Covering your lights intentionally was cheating and not allowed. There were gray areas. In the motion of firing if you extended your arms across your chest it wasn't called. There were those who outright cheated and those who perfected the art of speed and motion of firing. If you were one of the best you didn't outright cheat, but you were damn close. This clip was some of the best west coast players and some cheaters of the time standing off in the lobby of the Alhambra Ultrazone site and showing off a little for the camera. Please understand that this is not the inside of an arena. The real games are in a real arena in black light with bases. In every one of those real games you would find the best players in the same area of the arena doing this and trying to prove they were the best by beating the best. Thanks to shade for the editing and putting together an amazing video even though you were also one of the best and deserved to be playing, not filming.

If you live in Southern California and are interested in playing Ultrazone then play in Sherman Oaks. Especially if you want to have a birthday party or special event! The site owner Mark is an amazing, nice man. He was in charge of running almost every major tournament I was in over the years and took over the Sherman Oaks site. Those tournaments weren't cheap and the players weren't rich. Every once in awhile a zonehead wouldn't have all the money for entry fees, etc... but if Mark was around he would find a way to get that kid playing. There's also a site in Alhambra and one in San Diego.

Url for the Sherman Oaks Site
http://www.zonehead.com/

I have to warn you that the packs have changed a bit since this was filmed. It's still a fun game, but the newer version packs shoot a more wide spread laser that doesn' t miss. It's more of a battle who can pull the trigger first and it's one of the reasons I'm almost fully retired. Almost.