Nerf Zombie Spin Strike Review + Mod

Note: this got sent to me for free by Wilder Toys. Thanks, guys!

I’ll be honest: after reviewing the Nerf 360° Battlezone, I was going to combine the rest of the accessories from Wilder Toys into a single post. However, things didn’t work out that way – after barely getting to touch the Zombie Spin Strike, some pieces were aggressively loved by a four legged roommate of mine. I had already entertained the idea of replacing the targets with other pictures just for the laughs, but that gave me the excuse I needed. The result? A project that’s funny, kinda cute, and ended up being way more useful.

Oh, and the target set itself is fine, too. I just took something that wasn’t quite my thing and…made it my thing. Just keep reading!

The Target Itself

The Zombie Spin Strike unfolds once out of the package, with legs swinging out, the main shaft expanding, and a front display set in place. It takes 3 AAA batteries, has 9 slots for targets, one on switch in the back, and two buttons on the side. One, “Setup”, rotates the shaft partway to assist in setting up the targets (instead of you flipping the entire thing over to slot them in). The other, “Mode”, controls the speed setting. You can go slow, go faster, or alternate between speeds.

There’s one more factor to setting up the targets: they’re double-sided, with one side having a point value in red, the other in blue. If you’re playing by yourself, you can ignore which way they’re facing and just try to hit targets for points (the little old ladies trying to get home in the middle of the zombie apocalypse are worth negative points, by the way). If you’re with friends, you can play one at a time. OR, you can alternate which colors are facing you, play at the same time, and see who knocks out their targets first.

All things considered, it’s a pretty standard target experience, but the inclusion of different ways to play games (by yourself or with others) is a nice touch. Blaster battles are more fun with friends, after all.

THIS LOOKS CHEWY

Sadly, not all of my targets are intact. To be fair, that’s basically my fault. I know Joey can get bored, even with three cat roommates to play with, and loose cardboard is a perfect opportunity to satisfy her urge for destruction. So when the wife and I are both at work…our little supervisors suddenly become the unsupervised.

This left me with a problem (since I hadn’t fully reviewed this yet)…but also an opportunity. Why couldn’t I replace the targets? Or, for that matter, make them a bit more robust in case I wanted to use a blaster with a bit more kick?

To the Drawing Board!

Yep, time to make those 3D shapes and print them! I measured the originals with calipers, modeled them in Tinkercad (because I still haven’t made time to learn proper modeling software), and printed a few iterations until I was happy. Trying to get the tolerances just right was a chore – at first the pieces had to be mashed together, and I had to adjust the interface until they fit, but could also come apart with only a little force.

I also made transparent templates in GIMP, and used pictures of some other Nerf influencers to put on the targets. Instead of old grannies, I elected to use some of our dogs for negative point values. Because if you hit Joey, or Luca, or Jynx…you should feel bad. They’re too cute.

Note that since I modeled things to match the original sizes, the pictures have to be printed at 90mm by 60mm. The template itself is already in the correct dimensions (at 1080 pixels x 720 pixels), you just have to line up your edited picture, save, and print. I threw all the pictures into a Word document, and tweaked the picture formatting to make sure they would print right.

I ended up just coating the sides of the target pieces with a glue stick (yes, exactly like you’d use in elementary art class), and pressing on the pictures after I cut them out. Let sit for a few hours to bond, and then assemble. Since you’re not going to cut/glue perfectly, note that the finished product will fit together with a bit more friction.

If you want the files, they’re saved here. I used the tighter tolerance file, but the other one will work better with stock blasters – it’s a bit loose after printing, but holds together decently after final picture assembly.

Final Result: Target Your Friends!

As much as I don’t like making videos, I had to make one to demonstrate.

I haven’t gone *that* far yet, but I really want to see how well the new targets hold up to 200fps darts. Guess I should find my Nexus Pro X…

All in all, the Nerf Zombie Spin Strike does what it sets out to do, and provides enough options for you to actually make a game out of simple target practice. But if you end up losing pieces/having them eaten? Well, now you have options to do silly things!