APOC + BPOC 2024 Recap
The nerf hobby has many events throughout the year that bring in people from across the world. Maryland Mayhem has proven to be a huge success with its second year this past April. On the West Coast, Armageddon is back up and running, and the response from this year’s Ragnarocktoberfest weekend was very positive. However, of all the great events that we have, none have been as long-lasting as APOC(alypse).
Per tradition, APOC is held in New Jersey on the first Saturday of every August, rain or shine, and is the longest-running high-FPS blaster tag event in the United States. This event has a rich history spanning 22 years, back when much of the hobby was dominated by PVC homemade blasters, handmade darts, and uncapped FPS. When enthusiasts of the Nerf Internet Community (NIC) were few and far between, APOC was the one event where you knew that everyone would show up.
Over the years, the event has been updated to match the changes of the present-day hobby. In 2019, the ownership of APOC was given to my local group, United Nerf Ops (UNO), and this year, APOC 2024 had the largest attendance in the event’s history, with over 110 active players.
This is the fourth APOC that UNO has hosted since taking ownership in 2019. Since 2021, UNO has moved APOC from an open field to Cousins Paintball in New Egypt, New Jersey. A venue fee of $15 goes to Cousins, but you get play time for the entire day. The outdoor airsoft field that we get is massive. It has a village with a bunch of buildings for CQB, trenches, and a forest, letting you run the field super wide.
As a UNO admin, I participated in prepping for the event, spent the whole day helping run the event, and ensured everyone had a great time. We have updated the rules so that APOC does have a 300 FPS cap for short darts, 130 FPS for Mega and Mega XL, and HPA blasters are allowed with mod approval since we have a private field. UNO also brought in its own ruleset for special players, including Jedi and Shield players.
As the name suggests, Jedi use melee only and are immune to regular-size ammo (short darts, full-lengths, and rival), but they can be tagged out by Mega, Mega XL, and throwables, and they are not allowed to play the game objective. Shield players have the same strengths and weaknesses as Jedi but can play game objectives. There is also no limit on shield size, but they are restricted to 130 FPS blasters. For everyone else, you’re welcome to use whatever blaster you’d like within that 300 FPS cap.
APOC 2024 brought the heat, literally. It was one of the hottest and most humid days I have ever felt. In the upcoming week, the weather was looking pretty rough, but we did have a lightning protocol, just in case. This was the first year we’ve decided to create a dedicated medical team for the event, thanks to Archer (Sam Brandt). It was a good thing she did because one person fell victim to heat exhaustion during a game that required the admins and the medical team to attend to the person safely. Despite the potential storm and the heat, we still had a turnout of over 110 players. We ran games with an astounding 55 vs 55. It was a little tricky to get a definitive number for attendance, but with the team armband markers we gave out, we know it was at least 110 players.
When running APOC, we wanted to ensure that people got to play as much as possible. We had Death Clicks and Domination as our infinite life game modes and Flag Push as our 3:15 game mode. We don’t usually run these game modes at this scale, so it was definitely a learning experience, and we already have plans on how we want to improve. UNO also has its infamous player-driven tank, which was made by Tom and driven by his son TJ. The tank is an inflatable that has been cut to fit around the frame of a mobility scooter so TJ could drive it around the field as a game objective. Admittedly, we don’t usually use it except for APOC, and we’ve received some feedback about using the tank as a game objective.
At the end of the day, people had a lot of fun making APOC 2024 another great success. Most attendees luckily missed the absolute downpour that followed mere minutes after people had cleaned up and started pulling out of the parking lots. However, the admins stayed behind to clean up the staging area (take your trash out, people!). But we weren’t done just yet. APOC has a new companion event: BPOC.
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It has been non-stop with competitive blaster tag events since 2022, and with many APOC attendees traveling from far away, people have been vocal about wanting a companion competitive event so that they can play for an entire weekend. So, in 2023, TnT Events hosted the first BPOC, “The #1 casual-competitive event. Period.” There is no prize to be won, only for fun and bragging rights. BPOC was held once again this year and attracted 13 teams to compete.
BPOC organized the tournament around Maryland Foam Alliance’s Flag Dash ruleset but on a field about half the size. Having played at both the Maryland Foam Tournament and at BPOC, I personally prefer the BPOC variant of the Flag Dash field because gameplay felt more dynamic; players felt more comfortable moving through the denser cover, and players weren’t getting shot off the break.
Teams were made beforehand, and two pick-up teams were made at the event. The TnT Event runners and refs were efficient. They got through many games and got other players to referee on the sidelines. There were two groups in the round-robin where the top 4 teams that accumulated the most points in their bracket would become the top 8 teams to play in the elimination round. It would be Magic Smoke taking first place and defending their BPOC champion title for the second year in a row.
I had a ton of fun competing at BPOC on UNO +5. Despite many teammates dropping out at the last minute, we placed second in the final bracket. When I wasn’t on the field, I was a coach for one game, a referee for many others, and a livestream commentator for a few matches. We came up with game plans and synchronized rather well. At least, that’s until we played Magic Smoke when we forgot to adjust our strategy in the second round.
I’ve loved playing more competitive nerf, and TnT Events is putting absolutely everything they have into hosting these events. If you haven’t seen it already, TnT Events has a crazy nice livestream setup that gives different angles on the field, and recently they even started adding live commentary. If you’re curious to see what TnT Events does, check out their YouTube channel, and you can see gameplay from past events!
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APOC and BPOC weekend was crazy. It was exhausting, and the weather was disgustingly hot, but we got to see so many friends who we only see once or twice a year if we’re lucky. APOC has a lot of love and tradition behind it. Even though APOC has become pretty modernized, we respect its long history and what it has stood for in the hobby. Hosting an event with over 100 people in super-hot weather is no small feat, but I love that people still come out to play.
As mentioned previously, these events are traditionally held on the first weekend of August, but it’s consistently way too hot that weekend. With one person going down due to heat exhaustion this year and others leaving early, the admins are in talks of moving the event to later in the month. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but we hope to host APOC when the weather is cooler.
Thanks to all who came to APOC and BPOC this year! And for those that haven’t yet attended, we would love to see you at APOC 2025. Prepare to mark your calendars, and we hope to see you all next year! - OnlyFoamDarts